I found my teenage son Mac Holdsworth dead in his bedroom after being involved in a sextortion scam, but I was forbidden from saying anything to the man responsible for his tragic end.

By Olivia Day for Daily Mail Australia

00:01 May 11, 2024, updated 00:01 May 11, 2024

Wayne Holdsworth has never been the same since the horrific moment he discovered his son hanging in his bedroom just hours after taking his own life.

Father-of-two Wayne, CEO of the Frankston & District Basketball Association, never suspected his son Mac, 17, was in trouble.

Even in the hours before his suicide, the teen was upbeat, joking with his sister and even making plans for the next morning.

Wayne now knows that Mac had felt he was close to ridding himself of the cruel sextortion scam that had made the final stages of his life a hellish trauma.

Mac was tricked into sending an intimate photo to someone he thought was a teenager on Instagram.

Pictured is the last photo taken of 17-year-old Mac Holdsworth and his beloved dad Wayne.

Instead, the photo was given to a 45-year-old pervert from New South Wales who then used it to extort Mac, threatening to send the photo to the boy’s friends and family.

The man demanded $500, which Mac quickly sent. Then came a request for another $500.

The man told Mac that his family would “hate” him and that he would want to kill himself if the photo was ever shared online.

Mac confessed the situation to his father and the police, and when they made efforts to find the attacker, he hacked Mac’s Instagram account and sent the intimate photo to those around him.

Mac tried to laugh about the incident with his friends, but inside it hurt and humiliated him.

Police were able to charge the man with sextortion scam, and Mac asked to prepare a victim impact statement to read in court.

The teenager committed suicide before he could confront his attacker.

“In my opinion he never got over it,” Mr Holdsworth told Daily Mail Australia.

“The suicide note he wrote said so.”

During a search of his iPad and computer, Wayne found a letter from Mac apologizing for being a burden on his family.

After his son’s death, Mr Holdsworth made the trip from Victoria to Liverpool Court in Sydney’s west, hoping to be able to read his own victim impact statement to the man who ruined Mac’s life .

However, he was not allowed to read the statement after the man pleaded guilty.

“He was there behind the glass. I went there thinking, “I’m going to observe this guy and I’m going to deliver the impact statement.”

“Well, I was shaking and I’m a pretty strong guy and the lead detective put his arm on me and he said ‘It’s okay, Wayne, don’t worry.’

“But the prosecution and the defense got together and they didn’t allow me to read the victim’s statement. They reached an agreement that if he pleaded guilty, he would be sentenced to six months in prison.

“I wasn’t angry, I was just disappointed in the system that allowed this to happen. I spoke to the defense and the prosecution and gave them my opinion.

“I was really disappointed. I asked the defense attorney, Did he show remorse? Aand she said “no”.

“When the magistrate asked him whether he would plead guilty or not, he replied: ‘Yes, I plead guilty, but I am the victim.’

“So that shook me a little bit.

“He was sentenced to six months and as he was in custody for three months he is now out and I have no doubt he is doing exactly the same thing again.”

Wayne Holdsworth has made it his mission to teach others about suicide prevention.

Mac committed suicide exactly 100 days after the death of his mother Renée, following an 18-month battle with multiple sclerosis.

“I would ask him, ‘Are you okay?’ ‘How are you?’ and he’d say, ‘I’m fine, Dad,’ and change the subject,” Wayne recalled.

“His upbeat attitude, especially towards the end, indicated that he had overcome everything, that he was doing well, and it was exactly the opposite.”

Although online extortion was the main tipping point in his son’s suicide, Mr Holdsworth believes another incident which took a toll on Mac’s mental health was his apprenticeship with a local electrician.

Mr. Holdsworth initially thought the electrician was a good guy, but he noticed that when he picked Mac up from the job site, his son was unusually quiet on the way home.

One afternoon, Mac broke down in tears as he described how he was called a “useless c***” after putting the tools back in the wrong place.

Wayne quickly realized he was being bullied and confronted the man.

“We had to get him out of there and Mac’s life was turned upside down a little bit because he had planned to become a brilliant,” Wayne said.

“He used to walk around with his kit, his boots and his fluro jet vest at his mate’s house and that was taken away from him very quickly.

“I called (the electrician) and said, ‘Is this true?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, it is, I have to do better.’ So there was no denying what was happening. It happened and Mac was hurt.

Mac managed to fend for himself and found employment in retail before starting as a carpenter’s apprentice on another construction site, where he thrived.

Mac is remembered as a friend and beloved son who loved sports and was a trader.

His death came as a shock to many, with 700 people attending his funeral at Connect Christian Church in Frankston, southeast of Melbourne.

Mr. Holdsworth was understandably devastated by the death of his son so soon after the loss of his wife and saw three options: commit suicide, live aimlessly, or dedicate his life to suicide prevention.

Since Mac’s death on October 23, Mr Holdsworth has spent almost every day speaking with parents and young people about mental health and the rising rate of suicide.

He started a nonprofit called Smacktalk where he shares his story with groups and teaches them how to spot the signs that someone is in trouble.

After appearing in front of 1,000 people in six weeks, 12 people came forward asking for help.

“Part of grieving apparently is finding something that makes you feel better. And people talk about biking or hiking or doing something physical,” he said.

“Well, it’s mine…I have an absolute obligation to help other families by sharing my story and presenting proven tips that hopefully can help.”

READ WAYNE’S FULL STATEMENT HERE:

Dear Sir,

My name is Wayne Holdsworth. I am the father of Mac Brennan Holdsworth, who was 16 years old when this heinous crime took place. Mac committed suicide in October 2023, when he was 17 years old.

I have seen Mac every day since the crime and it was obvious that Mac had never been more confident, engaged or confident than before the crime.

Examples of his loss of confidence included not wanting to be a leader in his football clubs, but he was primary school captain and captain of a premiership football team before the crime against him n ‘takes place.

Mac stopped writing greeting cards when he told me in the car one day that he was worried the card would be shown to others.

He said he was afraid to post photos because he feared they could be used against him.

He would come home from work, stay in his room and only go out for dinner, you could say it’s not unusual, but before the crime he would go out, laugh and watch sports on TV with me.

The night the crime occurred after the second demand for money, I spoke to the defendant who pled guilty and the defendant told me he didn’t care about my son at all and that he was going to publish the photos.

The messages from this germ said: “Your parents will hate you, you are a shame and you will want to die.” The embarrassment my son, an innocent victim, felt at having to show up for soccer practice the next night was humiliating.

A number of factors contributed to his suicide, including sexual extortion from the accused. You have what is commonly called blood on your hands.

The suicide rate has increased by 10% in New South Wales. It is the biggest killer in New South Wales and I am now working with the Victorian Government to introduce legislation similar to that which South Australia has passed and which NSW is currently considering.

But what’s the point of all this if we don’t try to eliminate some of the reasons why young people commit suicide.

I urge you, Sir, to penalize this heinous activity and apply the harshest penalty possible in order to possibly deter this most damaging extortion behavior.

You, the accused, were implicit in the fact that my son committed suicide and for his entire family, including his 15 year old sister and brother, who broke his heart forever.

Can you imagine the pain and sadness I just felt cleaning up his room, discovering the whole story of his life?

Can you imagine the tears that rolled down my cheeks as I moved his bike that he used in the rain, cold and frost to get to work at 7am.

An honest kid trying to make an honest living making farms. Not like you’re working your illegal drug regime by sexually extorting innocent young boys.

You deserve to be punished to the highest level possible, you have not contacted my details to apologize, so despite the facade you may portray today, you are not being fair and you are not truly sorry .

I’m 100 percent sure that if you were offered $1,000 right now to do the exact same thing with the same possible consequences, you wouldn’t give it a second thought and would commit the crime.

We need to teach you a lesson.

The cycle of extortion to pay for your drug habit must be stopped and long incarceration is the only possible circuit breaker.

Thank you sir.

If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact Lifeline 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.