A Brisbane boxer has issued a warning to aspiring vigilantes after his own attempt to apprehend a suspected paedophile resulted in a criminal conviction. Cooper Watt, 20, pleaded guilty to robbery in company with personal violence after he and two others lured the 70-year-old man to a park in Deception Bay in January 2025.
The group posed as a 15-year-old boy on the gay dating app Grindr, sending the man a naked image and arranging to meet him. During the assault, they repeatedly called him a paedophile and forced him to withdraw $3,000 in cash from an ATM. Watt was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with immediate parole and ordered to pay $3,000 to the victim.
Watt, who was 18 at the time of the incident, expressed remorse for his actions, stating in an interview that while he believed paedophiles do not deserve a 'chance in society,' his actions were illegal. He admitted he was in the wrong and acted impulsively, denying the attack was premeditated or a hate crime against the victim for being gay.
He now advises young men against taking matters into their own hands, urging them to leave such situations to the police. "Leave it to the police and don't put it in your own hands," Watt said. "It's not your responsibility, it's theirs."
Prosecutor Zachary Kaplan told the court that the assault was influenced by the "manosphere epidemic" seen online and in media like Louis Theroux's documentary 'Inside the Manosphere,' where individuals are encouraged to dispense vigilante justice.
This incident follows a similar case in Brisbane where Oliver Conroy, 27, died in July 2026 after allegedly being assaulted and carjacked in a honeytrap-style incident. Seven teenagers have been charged with his murder under new Queensland laws, facing mandatory life sentences if convicted.