<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The author behind an offensive novel depicting toddler role-play has been emotionally rattled after being convicted but spared jail for penning child abuse material.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lauren Ashley Mastrosa, a 34-year-old former marketing executive for a Christian charity, wrote </span><em><span>Daddy's Little Toy</span></em><span> under the pen name Tori Woods and published it through an online pre-release in March last year.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The book – which was read by 21 advance readers – is about an 18-year-old woman named Lucy who role-plays as a toddler with Arthur, an older man who is her father's best friend.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/rebel-wilson-to-testify-in-court-case-against-costar/a98df2f7-dac4-45c5-a62a-c6d17dad3b0f"><strong><span>Rebel denies lying about smear websites amid film fight</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mastrosa appeared for sentence at Blacktown Local Court in western Sydney after being found guilty of three child abuse material offences relating to the novel.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Judge Bree Chisholm convicted the 34-year-old and imposed an 18-month community corrections order.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I cannot justify a non-conviction ever being appropriate given the extent that the defendant wrote about sexual activity with such a young child," she said.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/lauren-ashley-mastrosa-child-abuse-novel-sentenced-for-daddys-little-toy-charge/d5651e29-9bf9-473c-b753-f182690e7c29" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Mastrosa had seemed shocked at her arrest and co-operated fully with police, she had spent months writing highly sexualised content involving a young girl that spanned chapters of the book, Judge Chisholm found.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"General deterrence looms large and the sexual exploitation of children even from such an unsuspecting defendant cannot be minimised."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mastrosa gasped, closed her eyes and covered her mouth as the sentence was handed down and she was placed on the Child Protection Register for eight years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She wore black and sat in the public gallery accompanied by her husband Adam during the hearing.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Earlier, high-profile criminal barrister Margaret Cunneen SC argued her client had simply made a mistake.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She was planning to write an erotic book, she wasn't planning to write child abuse material," Cuneen told the court.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/finance/inflation-data-march-2026-interest-rate-decision/9b34d57b-30b6-4e71-a54d-cebf4af93ec4"><strong><span>Aussies just hours from learning likely fate on triple dose of rate hike pain</span></strong></a><span></span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>There was no ongoing risk to the community as the books, which were about fictional characters, had been destroyed, the barrister argued.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"She's not a paedophile, she's someone who wrote a book which offended against the law."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mastrosa wrote the book as an escape after being diagnosed with thyroid cancer and having multiple miscarriages, the court heard.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She lost her job as a marketing executive for Christian charity BaptistCare, had been exposed to online death threats and vitriol, and would never write anything like the book again, Cuneen said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mastrosa was willing to undergo ongoing psychological treatment after being diagnosed with anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder since her arrest, the barrister added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Crown prosecutor Milijana Masanovic pushed for a conviction.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The book speaks for itself. The matter's an objectively serious one," she submitted.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The novel normalised child abuse material and fuelled the market of child exploitation, Masanovic said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She acknowledged character references shown to the court that described Mastrosa as a kind, charitable woman.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Sometimes good people can do bad things," she said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In February, Judge Chisholm found the book sexually objectified children.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The reader is left with a description that creates the visual image in one's mind of an adult male engaging in sexual activity with a young child," she ruled at the time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Mastrosa was found guilty of producing, possessing and distributing child abuse material.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She did not answer questions when departing court with her husband and her solicitor Michaela Mate stepping between her and reporters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She can appeal the ruling.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The maximum penalty for producing, possessing or distributing child abuse material is 10 years' imprisonment.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)</span></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028</span></strong></div></div>