Obviously I knew it was wrong. I just couldn't stop myself.
In a courtroom north of Melbourne, a twenty-four-year-old youth leader has pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a thirteen-year-old girl he deliberately sought out online — a case that now reaches beyond one man's admitted wrongdoing into the institutions that surrounded him. The Encourage Pentecostal church, where Joshua Emonson served in a position of trust over children, faces scrutiny over what its leadership knew and when. Communities place faith in structures meant to protect the young; when those structures fail, the reckoning belongs not only to the individual but to all who held the keys.
- A man who told police he 'knew it was wrong' but 'couldn't stop himself' used a burner phone, a back seat, and a position of trust to assault a child who had never met him in person.
- His guilty plea in Victoria's County Court has not quieted the case — it has widened it, drawing his church, his father, and a childcare centre into an expanding circle of institutional accountability.
- The Pentecostal peak body stood down Emonson's father, the head pastor, after acknowledging he had been aware of concerns about his son's behaviour with underage girls — a disclosure that has fractured the congregation.
- A Department of Education inquiry is now examining whether the affiliated childcare centre complied with child safety obligations after Emonson was charged, raising questions about how long risk was left unaddressed.
- Separate charges allege grooming and sexual assault of another child as far back as April 2024, meaning sentencing on June 23 is not an ending — it is one point in a legal and communal reckoning still unfolding.
Joshua Emonson knew the girl was thirteen. He arranged to meet her near Sunbury train station in February of this year, drove her to the back of his car, and sexually assaulted her. When police later asked him about it, he said he knew it was wrong but couldn't stop himself. On Wednesday, he stood in Victoria's County Court and pleaded guilty to sexually penetrating a child. His family and roughly a dozen church members sat behind him. He was taken into custody when the hearing ended.
The prosecution detailed how Emonson had used a burner phone to conceal his contact with the girl and instructed her to tell no one afterward. She told an adult anyway, and authorities were notified. The assault had taken place hours after he attended a family funeral. His defence described the offending as the product of pornography addiction — a cascading series of decisions — and noted that Emonson had since undergone rehabilitation, lost his marriage, and faced community hostility. The court heard all of it.
What the court could not contain was the institutional fallout. Emonson had worked as a youth leader at the Encourage Pentecostal church and at an affiliated childcare centre. Critics alleged the church board concealed details of the criminal allegations from parents and congregation members. The Department of Education launched an inquiry into whether the childcare centre had met its obligations after he was charged.
Emonson's father, Tim, the church's head pastor, was stood down after the Pentecostal peak body stated he had been aware of concerns about his son's behaviour with underage girls. Tim Emonson denied wrongdoing. He sat beside his son in court on Wednesday.
The legal proceedings are not finished. Emonson faces separate charges of grooming and sexual assault against another child under sixteen, allegedly occurring in April 2024 — before the assault he has now admitted to. He has not yet entered a plea. Sentencing is scheduled for June 23, but the deeper questions — about what the church knew, when, and what it chose to do — remain unanswered.
Joshua Emonson knew the girl was thirteen when he told her online he would be happy to be her first. He was twenty-four. He arranged to meet her near Sunbury train station, a suburb north of Melbourne, in February of this year. She caught the train from the city, never having seen him in person before. He drove her to the back of his car and sexually assaulted her there. Later, when police asked him about it, he said the words that would echo through a courtroom and a community: "Obviously I knew it was wrong. I just couldn't stop myself."
On Wednesday, Emonson stood in the County Court in Victoria and pleaded guilty to sexually penetrating the child. His family sat behind him—his mother, his father Tim, his brothers—along with roughly a dozen members of the Encourage Pentecostal church where he had worked as a youth leader. When the hearing ended, he was taken into custody. His sentencing is scheduled for June 23.
The prosecutor, Diana Hogan, laid out the mechanics of the crime with clinical precision. Emonson had used a burner phone to contact the girl, a deliberate choice to hide the trail. After the assault, he told her not to speak to anyone about what had happened. She did anyway, confiding in an adult who reported it to authorities. The assault itself occurred just hours after Emonson had attended a family funeral—a detail that seemed to underscore the fractured nature of his judgment, or perhaps its absence.
Emonson's defence barrister, Samuel Tovey, framed the offending as the product of pornography addiction, describing it as part of a "cascading series of events and decisions." Tovey acknowledged that his client had now accepted responsibility, had undergone rehabilitation, and recognized the damage inflicted on the victim. He also detailed the collateral wreckage in Emonson's own life: his marriage had ended, he had been expelled from his indoor soccer team, and he had endured abuse from community members. The court heard all of this. It did not change the fact of what he had done.
But the case has metastasized beyond Emonson himself. His position at the Encourage Pentecostal church—where he worked not only as a youth leader but also at an affiliated childcare centre—has triggered investigations into institutional accountability. Critics have alleged that the church board concealed details of the criminal allegations from parents of children at the centre and from congregation members. The Department of Education launched its own inquiry into whether the childcare centre had complied with relevant policies and procedures after Emonson was charged.
Emonson's father, Tim, who serves as head pastor of the Encourage Church, was stood down from his position after the Pentecostal peak body stated he had been "aware of concerns about his son's behaviour with underage females." Tim Emonson denied wrongdoing at the time. He sat in court on Wednesday beside his son.
The legal reckoning is far from complete. Emonson faces additional charges in a separate case stemming from events that predate the February assault. According to charge sheets, he is accused of grooming and committing two sexual assaults against a child under sixteen in April 2024. He has not yet entered a plea to those charges. The question of what the church knew, when it knew it, and what it chose to do with that knowledge remains open. So does the question of what comes next for a community that has discovered predation in its midst.
Notable Quotes
I needed to feel something. I knew she must have been underage.— Joshua Emonson, to police
The church board concealed details of the criminal allegations from childcare centre parents and members of the congregation— Critics of the Encourage Pentecostal church (paraphrased)
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why did he use a burner phone if he was going to plead guilty anyway?
Because in the moment, he was trying to hide. The burner phone wasn't about the courtroom—it was about the immediate aftermath, about keeping the girl quiet, about not leaving a trace. People who commit crimes often act as though they can contain them, even when they can't.
The defence mentioned pornography addiction. Does that explain what he did?
It contextualizes it, maybe. But explanation isn't excuse. Tovey was trying to show the court that Emonson had a problem that preceded this crime, that there was a pattern. That matters for sentencing. It doesn't change what happened to the girl.
His father was stood down. Does that mean the church knew?
The peak body said Tim was aware of concerns about his son's behaviour with underage females. That's a careful phrase. It suggests knowledge of something troubling, but the full picture of what he knew and when he knew it is still being investigated.
What happens to the church now?
That depends on what the Department of Education finds. If the board concealed allegations from parents, that's a serious institutional failure. The childcare centre's compliance with safeguarding policies is under scrutiny. Trust, once broken, is very hard to rebuild.
He has more charges pending from 2024. How many victims are we talking about?
At least three that we know of—the girl from February, and two more from April 2024. There could be others. That's part of what the investigations will determine.