A former government road safety officer was branded “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” as he was jailed for five years yesterday for sexual offences against an underage boy.

David Minors, 44, from Sandys, admitted sexual exploitation of a young person by a person in a position of trust, and two counts of showing offensive material to a child.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves told him he had betrayed the community.

“Good people, or people with good images, are the people who are exploiters,” he added.

“That is why it is so hard for us to trust.”

The victim, who was 14 at the time and cannot be identified for legal reasons, had a history of working with Minors in the arts, according to Maria Sofianos, the prosecutor.

The Supreme Court heard that on March 27, 2018, the victim went to see a performance at a middle school in which Minors, then 43, was taking part.

He found only Minors there, who asked about his sexuality during a conversation, and shared that he was bisexual but had to be heterosexual because he was married.

The boy found the details “shocking” but the defendant next showed him an explicit photograph of himself and asked the victim to respond in kind, to which the boy responded: “No.”

Minors pointed to a dark area outside, telling the boy to go there with him, and offered to perform a sex act, which the boy declined.

Minors persisted, opening the victim’s school shorts and performing the sex act until the boy got dressed and told him twice that he wanted to go.

Four days later, Minors sent the boy lewd Instagram messages, conceding that “you didn’t like it that much”, but saying that he had.

The boy later received an explicit video of Minors.

The boy quit attending talent training with Minors, telling his mother it was “over”.

The victim then told a family friend and on July 14 a formal complaint was made to police.

Minors, a father of three, was arrested on July 18 and items were seized from his residence. He pleaded guilty last November.

According to the Crown, the victim’s mother said the ordeal left her son fearful and troubled by nightmares.

The boy’s name and picture were also circulated on social media after Minors was charged.

The victim “believed the defendant was someone he could trust”, the Crown added, calling Minors “opportunistic and taking advantage of his youth”.

Ms Sofianos said the mother had described the boy as “traumatised” and withdrawn after being “a very outgoing young man”.

She said a psychiatric report suggested Minors lacked empathy and had portrayed the incidents as “him being pursued”.

She added: “He also described the child as his peer, which is absurd.”

Taking into account the defendant’s guilty plea and lack of prior convictions, the Crown suggested four to seven years’ imprisonment.

Elizabeth Christopher, for the defence, called for two to four years’ jail time, saying it was accepted that Minors was wholly to blame.

She disputed that Minors had attempted to shift culpability to his victim, saying he had sought psychological treatment of his own accord, and had spoken with “frankness” when interviewed for the court.

He had also been found at low risk of reoffending after a “one-off” offence, Ms Christopher noted.

From the dock, Minors apologised to the court, the community, and his wife and family, as well as the victim.

He added: “I am sorry about that incident and the hurt caused.”

Mr Justice Greaves told Minors: “It confuses the minds of ordinary citizens — how could it be that people like you could betray us so?”

He told Minors he had been “a man of the church who professes your faith not only to your congregation but to the community”, and said his acts “provide excuses for the weak”.

“You played the role of a great father and yet still you do not have the strength to see people’s young boys and leave them alone.”

The judge added: “Sometimes I look at the statute books and can’t find enough time written therein to give you.”

Mr Justice Greaves told the court he normally did not speak to defendants during sentencing.

He added: “But in a case like this, I am hoping to persuade all of you with this propensity to just please leave the children alone.”

Minors, he said, would “go to jail for a few years and come out”.

“But what you have put in the mind of this child will perhaps be there for ever.”

He said such cases showed that “it’s the people who portray themselves as the good ones in our society who seem to be doing the worst things”.

Minors received a discount in his sentence for an admission of guilt.

He was jailed 18 for months for showing the boy the photograph, 21 months for the video, and five years for sexual exploitation, to serve concurrently, with time in custody taken into account.

Minors will also be added to the sexual offenders list.

Mr Justice Greaves closed: “I hope that I have persuaded you to leave children alone and I hope that I have persuaded some others, if not all, to do likewise.”

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