Parafield Gardens ‘House of horrors’ victim jailed for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl

A victim of the northern suburbs “house of horrors” has himself been jailed for abusing another child he met via social media.

A victim of horrific child abuse in a northern suburbs home dubbed the “house of horrors” has been jailed after abusing a teen girl he pursued on Snapchat.

The young man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sexually abused the 13-year-old girl after asking her to “go for a drive” and demanding naked pictures in December 2020.

In sentencing, District Court Judge Michael Durrant said the girl was able to escape from the sexual abuse when the man parked his car near a playground in Adelaide’s northwest.

She ran off and approached a stranger and asked to use their phone to call her mother.

The offender, himself a victim of horrific abuse in a house at Parafield Gardens more than a decade earlier, has been jailed for two years and three months.

Judge Durrant said the young man, now 21, had come to South Australia from Victoria with his mother and stepfather who were “trying to evade Child Protective Services in Victoria”.

When he arrived in Adelaide, he was “horrifically” abused, which he had been “too traumatised to discuss in detail” with a forensic psychologist.

Police prosecution evidence pictures of the Parafield Gardens home dubbed the “house of horrors”.

“You have a shocking personal history deserving of considerable sympathy,” Judge Durrant said.

“You were malnourished and emaciated and suffered substantial bruising and skin infections.

“You have developed paranoia and anxieties as a feature of the complex trauma you suffered.”

He was among 21 children in the squalid Parafield Gardens house.

Five of those children were starved, beaten, choked and made to stand all day and night facing a wall. They were fed only the scraps left over after the other 16 children in the house had eaten a share of hot chips or noodles.

The children had come to SA from Victoria, where local media had also labelled their home there a “house of horrors’’.

Five adults in the house were subsequently jailed – including mastermind Tania Staker – for their involvement in the abuse, which was called “beyond comprehension” by the sentencing judge in 2011.

Police prosecution evidence pictures of the Parafield Gardens home dubbed the “house of horrors”. Bedding covered in faeces where children slept.

Police prosecution evidence pictures of the Parafield Gardens home dubbed the “house of horrors”

The cruelty came unstuck when one of the five children was taken to hospital suffering severe hypothermia.

Judge Durrant said the young man went through a number of foster homes and changed schools several times.

He said the man did not learn to read and write until he was aged nine or 10.

“You had anger management problems throughout your schooling and got involved in fist fights with both students and teachers,” he said.

The man had pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 14.

Judge Durrant said he was “guardedly pessimistic” about the man’s prospect of rehabilitation, while the forensic psychologist was concerned the man did not appreciate the ongoing impacts of his actions on his young victim.

“You predated her. You contacted her. You persistently asked for naked photos … your victim ultimately had to run away from you to get the help of a stranger,” he said.

He set a head sentence of two years and three months with a non-parole period of one year, one month and two weeks, backdated to when he was taken into custody in December.