Woree carpenter convicted over drugging, sexual assault of four teenage boys

A former security guard at a Cairns nightclub, who later ran a carpentry business, lured five boys in with offers of cannabis, trips to swimming pools, and fishing expeditions, a court has heard.

A 53-year-old Woree carpenter, who gave young teenagers LSD while under the care of the Department of Child Services, has been sentenced for abusing five minors.

Ian Alexander Peachey, a former security guard at the Mad Cow, who later ran a carpentry business, lured the five boys – aged between 13 and 16 – in with offers of cannabis, trips to swimming pools, and fishing expeditions. He also took the boys camping individually.

Police charged him with four acts of indecent treatment of four boys under the age of 16 and one for sexual assault with a minor over the age of 16 – a girl.

He was also charged with three grooming offences.

Ian Alexander Peachey. Picture: Supplied

On one occasion he drove the girl to Innisfail and told her that if she did not perform sexual acts on him he would not drive her home.

Peachey also faced 10 charges for supplying drugs to a minor under 16.

The 53-year-old pleaded guilty to all charges, all of which were the result of the Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit’s ongoing Operation Uniform Kalahari, established in January 2022 to investigate the alleged grooming and exploitation of vulnerable young people in the Cairns area.

The court head Peachey gave several of the boys, who were all under the care of the Department of Child Safety, Disability Services and Seniors, the powerful hallucinogenic drug LSD, which can cause dissociation with reality along with visual and auditory hallucinations.

Justice James Henry told the court during sentencing submissions that Peachey took the boys on trips to swimming holes and fishing at isolated locations “out of suburbia” because “it was both an inducement because it was something they would like to do, and then allowed the boys to be isolated”.

The man would often take the boys to isolated swimming holes “out of suburbia”. Picture: Supplied

However, when Peachey – who ended a 17-year relationship with an adult woman in 2017 and began smoking ice shortly after – first touched one of the boys in his car, the boy got up, ran off, and eventually alerted authorities, leading all the victims to report the abuse.

One of the victim testimonies, which was read out in court, said the teen was vulnerable because “his parents had let him down”.

“I felt you saw my vulnerability and capitalised on this. I used to trust you, and you betrayed my trust,” the victim said in his testimony.

“I’m embarrassed and ashamed of the darkness you have let into my life.”

Another victim told the court he had developed drug addictions in the wake of Peachey’s introductions to illicit substances and he was now in rehab.

“I wasted a lot of my childhood hanging around you, and I will never get that back,” the victim said.

His testimony was read out as Peachey sat twitching in the dock, often displaying what the court heard was a nervous tic that began when he started taking ice in 2017, which causes his mouth to regularly and involuntarily half-open on a crude angle.

In sentencing Peachey, Justice Henry said his victims were vulnerable because they “lacked the protective envelope of family care” and the defendant found himself in a position “of social isolation” at the time of the offences.

One boy ran off and alerted the authorities after an assault, leading to all the victims giving statements to the police Picture: Cameron Bates

He said the seriousness of the crime came in its “prolonged nature” against “children vulnerable to adults because of their disadvantaged circumstances”.

“... and you preyed on that vulnerability for your own gratification of your sexual inclination toward them,” Justice Henry said.

Peachey was convicted on all charges and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, which includes the time he has spent in custody since August 20, 2022.

He will be eligible for parole on June 19, 2024.

Originally published as Woree carpenter convicted over drugging, sexual assault of four teenage boys