Sam Chetty: 'Predatory' Sheffield paedophile befriended boy's mum online to facilitate campaign of abuse

A ‘manipulative and predatory’ Sheffield paedophile sexually abused a boy who was just six-years-old when it began, after befriending his mother on social media and disarming those around his young victim through a grooming campaign.

Callous Sam Chetty remained silent as he was sent to prison during an emotionally-charged Sheffield Crown Court hearing on November 9, 2023.

Judge Rachael Harrison told Chetty: “This was a campaign of rape and sexual abuse for a period of more than a year, on a boy who was aged six and seven.”

The court was told how Chetty, aged 30, befriended the mother of the boy he abused on social media, and soon became friends with other family members.

Judge Harrison detailed how Chetty became a family friend who was entrusted to babysit the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and began taking him to ‘entertainment venues’.

“You spent money on [the boy] and his family,” Judge Harrison said.

She added: “I’m satisfied this was grooming behaviour against [the boy], both in terms of giving him attention and spending money on him. I’m satisfied you deliberately isolated him, taking him to different locations, including your flat.”

Judge Harrison said there was ‘an element of violence’ included within the abuse Chetty subjected the young boy to, during the course of more than 30 incidents.

She added: “This was serious offending, which continued even after your victim complained about you, and had not been taken seriously.”

Judge Harrison described how, when the boy cried as a result of the pain Chetty inflicted through his abuse - instead of stopping - twisted Chetty told him to ‘shut up’.

Chetty, of no fixed abode, sought to deny his sickening crimes, but was convicted after a Sheffield Crown Court trial.

In a statement read to the court, a spokesperson for the family of the boy Chetty abused thanked the jury for ‘seeing through’ Chetty’s lies.

“He was a victim of a predatory paedophile, and I’m grateful to the jury for seeing through his lies,” the family spokesperson said.

The statement also describes how, on the surface, the boy appears to be a normal kid who is interested in spending time in his room, on his Playstation, but in reality, he is anything but, as a result of Chetty’s despicable actions.

“His childhood innocence has been taken away from him in the most horrible way…Sam Chetty has left him with psychological scars, and I’m afraid they may never heal,” the family spokesperson said.

They added that while the boy is now years older than he was when the abuse took place, he is still unable to be left, or sleep, alone; and has lost the confidence he once had.

Jurors convicted Chetty of a catalogue of sex offences, including four counts of rape of a boy under 13; two counts of assault by penetration and two counts of an offender aged 18 or over engaging in penetrative sexual activity with boy under 13, at the conclusion of a trial at the same court in August and September 2023.

Chetty also pleaded guilty to two counts of making indecent images of children after police seized his electronic devices in March 2023 as part of an investigation relating to allegations of witness intimidation and breach of bail conditions. However, prosecutor, Nicola Quinney, told the court that those allegations were not proceeded with.

Judge Harrison said Chetty’s possession of child abuse images, which were downloaded and viewed while he was on bail between February 28 and March 2, 2023, showed his ‘sexual interest in children’ was ‘ongoing’.

Ms Quinney said that in addition to the illegal images involving the sexual abuse of ‘pre-pubescent boys, Chetty was also in possession of images that ‘weren’t illegal but showed pre-pubescent boys in their underwear, or not wearing a shirt’.

Chetty’s phone had also accessed the ‘dark web,’ visiting sites sometimes used to share child abuse images, the court heard.

Katy Rafter, defending, acknowledged that Chetty still refuses to accept his guilt, including to the author of his pre-sentence report, but she said it was common for defendants, ‘particularly in sexual circumstances to maintain denials’ even after conviction.

Judge Harrison also referred to Chetty’s pre-sentence report, the author of which had concluded that his offending was indicative of a ‘manipulative and predatory lifestyle’.

Chetty has been in prison on remand since being convicted; and continuing in her mitigation, Ms Rafter said he ‘has been making good use of his time in custody’ and has got a job and has been visiting the gym regularly.

Judge Harrison jailed Chetty for 21 years, and said she considered it ‘necessary’ to impose an extended sentence of four years due to the risk of danger he poses to the public, bringing his total sentence to 25 years.

She told Chetty he will be required to serve two-thirds of his sentence behind bars, and will also be required to register as a sex offender.