Ellisha Johnston was 15-years-old when she fell in love for the first time.
“I hadn’t really had that attention from guys before… he definitely made me feel good about myself,” she told Channel Nine’s Inside Story.
The object of her affections was a handsome university student named Jayke Williams, whom she met on Facebook.
The couple’s romance developed quickly. They would speak for hours online and via text message. Ellisha fell hard and fast for her new prince charming.
But what Ellisha didn’t know was that “Jayke” was really a perverted 46-year-old father of two, posing as a young man to lure, use and abuse young women.
His real name was Stephen Grott.
Grott lived in Dalby, Queensland — the same town as Ellisha — with his wife and two daughters, who were close in age to his teenage victim.
Yet in his spare time, Grott had stolen the identity of a young man named John Noonan and created fake social media accounts under the name Jayke Williams.
For eight years, Grott posed as the young hearthrob and developed relationships with at least 20 girls and women — many of whom he encourage to send him naked images.
Ellisha was one of these girls.
Ellisha told Inside Story that “Jayke” would sometimes speak to her in a “sexual tone” and tell her she was beautiful. So when he requested nude photos — she complied.
But when Ellisha asked to meet the man she loved in person, he would always come back with an excuse, like his plane had crashed or his sister was raped. And Ellisha was too young to know any different.
After a year-long relationship with Jayke, Ellisha started seeing other people.
This is when things became ugly.
Ellisah started receiving abusive messages.
Grott posed as Ellisha and sent “violent and vulgar” emails to her school principal.
He delivered a USB full of Ellisha’s nude images to her own uncle.
He sent 70 to 80 text messages to people in their small town — some containing completely naked images of Ellisha.
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He created online profiles for Ellisha containing false details of her “crazy” sexual habits, alongside her contact details.
He proceeded to stalk Ellisha for four years, eventually driving her to attempt to take her own life.
It was only when another victim of Grott’s — Brisbane netballer Romelda Aiken — contacted police that an investigation was launched.
When authorities eventually nabbed the right Grott, he tried to pretend he was just a concerned parent. He claimed he was just a fun-loving guy who loved his daughters and was goofing around on the internet.
“The whole intent of it was to see what the people of Dalby were doing and whether they were giving my daughters a hard time or not,” he told police.
“Being a guy, maybe I said something here or there as a bit of fun.”
In January this year, Grott was sentenced to five years in prison for cyber stalking and identity theft.
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Top Comments
Grott by name, grotto by nature.
I watched this on Inside Story on Thursday night.
I really feel for this girl and for the other women he stalked,and also to the young guy whose identity he stole.
What I don't understand,is why Ellisha and her family let it continue for 4 years.
She could have changed her phone number,shut down all forms of social media etc,and cut off all forms of communication with this man. However,she did not.
This man is an absolute pig,who showed no remorse,and had he have not been caught,he would still be doing it.