Port Lincoln child-sex offender Richard O’Neil jailed for four years

A child sex offender previously hunted by police when he skipped court created as many opportunities as he could to prey on a young child, a court has heard.

A wanted child-sex offender has been sentenced for his “predatory” conduct.

Richard O’Neil, 39, was jailed for four years after committing his vile actions for his own sexual gratification.

The Adelaide District Court on Friday heard O’Neil subjected the victim to numerous sexual acts.

“You repeatedly acted in a way to normalise physical contact with her,” Judge Timothy Heffernan said during sentencing.

“You were frequently alone with her and you cultivated opportunities to be alone with her.

“Your conduct towards her was clearly predatory, it was not spontaneous or isolated.”

The court previously heard that before the victim disclosed O’Neil’s offending, she told her father she was scared of pedophiles and was reluctant to play in the park because she was scared of them being there.

A warrant was issued for O’Neil’s arrest in May, after he failed to show up to court for sentencing submissions.

At the time, The Messenger approached SA Police and asked if a photo could be provided of O’Neil to alert the public but the request was refused.

A spokesperson said they could not provide an image of the Port Lincoln man for “privacy” reasons.

“There are privacy principles that are under SAPOL’s general orders that restrict us from releasing images in certain situations,” a spokesperson said.

After public outrage about a photo of a wanted child-sex offender not being released, The Messenger asked SAPOL if they would consider changing their policies.

“South Australia Police will only release photographs of wanted people when there is a risk to members of the public; legislative requirements or privacy principles have been considered; and the current state of the investigation warrants public assistance to locate the offender,” the spokesperson said.

Richard O'Neil was jailed for maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child. Photo: Facebook

Despite O’Neil being bailed to Port Lincoln, he was living in Whyalla at the time of his arrest.

O’Neil, of Port Lincoln, was found guilty in March of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.

The court heard O’Neil struggled with severe alcoholism but underwent a rehabilitation program and managed to get sober before his trial.

“Unfortunately you relapsed into alcohol abuse after the verdict,” Judge Heffernan said.

The court heard O’Neil, who had worked in the building and fishing industry, did not acknowledge the guilty verdict.

Judge Heffernan said this showed O’Neil had no insight or remorse into his offending.

He sentenced O’Neil to four years jail, with a non-parole period of 2½ years.

“Your victim was very young and you abused the trust she and others had in you,” Judge Heffernan said.

“You acted purely for your own gratification.”

The sentence was backdated to May 19.