Rachel Queen Burton, an Australian TikTok influencer, pleaded guilty to several child abuse offenses. Burton took advantage of his influence and identity as a public figure to carry out these crimes.
According to the Adelaide District Courts, in Australia, Burton repeatedly abused two minors, in addition to harassing their family and leading them to social exclusion. According to a Daily Mail report, he even drove the family into homelessness.
In order to escape his guilt, Rachel Queen Burton underwent a gender transition and started to identify as a woman. This is the side of himself he showed off on social media. On TikTok, he rose to fame. He has 36,000 followers which he accomplished by creating content around his transition and transgender status.
A tense trial
Reporters from the Australian newspaper The Advertiser described a tense and heated trial at the Adelaide Courts. According to local media, Burton appeared via video call. Despite identifying as a woman, he was sent to a men's prison.
In the courtroom, the families of the affected minors read their victim impact statements while Burton sobbed in front of the video call camera. "You are a gross, phony, self-indulgent thing who has cheated my children out of so much, and took it away from them without care," one of the children's mothers said to Burton when it was her turn to speak.
"In your online rants, you showed no remorse for your bad behavior, all while knowing what you had done … getting an audience for your false life was far more important," she said. "You can wear any mask you like, but the truth is out and everybody knows who you really are, finally."
