A St George’s man accused of blackmailing a pair of teenage girls was convicted of a string of child-porn offences by a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday.

Cahlii Smith, 30, was found guilty of charges including extortion, making child pornography, accessing child pornography and distributing child pornography.

He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced at a future date.

During the trial, the court heard from two victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, who said they knew Smith through a shared passion for music.

Both victims said they had been contacted by someone on Facebook who claimed to be a hacker that had accessed intimate images of them from their phones.

They told the court the purported hacker then demanded that they produce pornographic images and videos or he would release the materials he had on social media.

The first victim said she was contacted by the blackmailer in December 2013, while the second victim said she was contacted in the spring of 2015.

At the time, both of the girls were under the age of 16.

They each told the court that they succumbed to the blackmailer’s demands, but after several months they each cut off communications with him, only to have the materials released on social media.

Shortly afterwards, Smith cut ties with both of the victims.

One of the victims said that when she was first contacted by the purported hacker, she had contacted Smith and asked him for advice.

She said Smith had told her that if images of her were released, it would prevent her from having a career in the music industry.

As part of the investigation, police seized a laptop linked to Smith.

On the computer, officers discovered pornographic images and videos of the young girls, along with personal photographs of Smith.

A police analyst told the court that six sensitive photographs and three sensitive videos were found involving one of the two witnesses.

The images were listed on the hard drive as “created” on October 24, 2014, while the videos were “created” between August 24, 2014 and April 9, 2015.

One video and several other photographs, all of a similar nature, from the other witness were found to have been made on March 31, 2015.

The computer was also found to contain photographs and videos of the defendant, including a recorded Skype conversation between Smith and one of the victims.

On the same computer folder, officers found recorded Skype conversations between a victim and the blackmailer.

Smith denied any involvement in the scheme, telling the court that he did not have access to the laptop since the password was changed in 2011 and that he used it after that only to charge his iPod.

The defendant admitted that he had insulted one of the victims as he cut ties with her but said it was because he was frustrated with her behaviour at the time and had spoken out of anger — an action he now regretted.

He said: “It was heartbreaking seeing her give evidence. It was inhumane what happened to her.”

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