A mother is warning parents to be alert to online predators after her daughter became victim to sexual assault.

Hamish Alexander Clark, of Mount Maunganui, pleaded guilty to a number of sexual assault related charges in January and was sentenced to four years and 11 months behind bars at Tauranga District Court on Thursday.

Clark was sentenced after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual connection with a young person, four charges of indecent acts with a young person, exposing a young person to indecent material and having an objectionable publication.

In court this week, it was detailed how Clark, who previously worked as a truck driver in Mount Maunganui, masqueraded under the alias of a teenager, ‘Jack Lewis', on social media to initiate contact with the three victims, aged between 13 and 14-years-old.

He then introduced the idea of meeting an older cousin who could pay them for sexual acts. The older person in question was in fact Clark, who then arranged to and subsequently picked up the girls from school, before committing further offences.

One of the victim's parents, who wished to remain anonymous, states the 44-year-old posed as a 'cool 17-year-old boy” in order to groom her daughter online.

She is warning other parents to be mindful of their children's activity on social media and the internet.

'It's hard to put into words how much this pig of a man has literally ruined so many of our young girls' lives,” she says.

'You never think it would ever happen to your child, but it did for me.”

Detective Sergeant Darryl Brazier commands the Child Protection Unit in the Western Bay of Plenty and was involved in the conviction of Clark.

'We have real concerns about the use of social media by, for all intent and purposes, predators. It is a simple way for predators to contact or interact with young children,” says Darryl.

'Unfortunately, some young children are being duped by these people and leads to instances like those that happened with Clark.”

In court it, was detailed how Clark, an older man of heavy build, often coerced his victims into isolated settings and, as Darryl indicates, at that point the situation is far out of the child's control.

'Some of these children get into situations where they can't control the outcome,” he points out.

'They are often very young and in some circumstances, such as this one, the predator is a lot older and he is a male so they control the situation.

'Some of these children, they lose control and they don't know how to get out of these situations and that leads to offending such as this and potentially even worse.”

Darryl points out that police are increasingly seeing cases of this nature involving young children being groomed via social media. He is urging parents to be increasingly attentive of their children's activity on connected devices.

'There will always be predators out there who are waiting to take advantage of a situation with young children. They will always be there,” he concedes.

'Parents hold the key. What the parents need to do, and I urge them to do, is to regularly check their children's phones or devices to find out which sites they are visiting, who they are talking to. If the parents don't know who these people are their children are talking to then they should start talking to their children and limiting that contact.”

The mother in relation to the Clark incident echoes the importance of communication.

'I want to plead to all parents reading this to talk to their teenage girls, from as young as 10 onwards and keep reminding them people online are not always safe to 'chat' to, even if their friends say he is.

'These predators pose as cool teenage boys, but are sick older men preying on them.”

The parent, who praised the police's hard work in getting the conviction, is hopeful sharing her story will help other parents to be vigilant of the dangers posed on social media.

'I hope something can be done to raise more awareness of the dangers for our kids with social media which has given predators easy access to them,” she says.

'It is a real threat right here in our community.”

Clark will serve a minimum period behind bars of two years and six months, at which point he will be eligible for parole.