Cairns court: Teen sentenced for Child Safety house sex assault on cousin

The disturbing criminal history of a teenage boy who was ordered to share a bedroom with his female cousin in a Child Safety house has been revealed after he was found guilty of indecent assault.

A CONVICTED teenage sex offender was out of detention for only two days when he was ordered to share a room in an overcrowded Child Safety house with his female cousin, who he then indecently assaulted as she slept.

And the 14-year-old, who cannot be identified due to his age, has been released from custody again after serving seven months behind bars over the attack.

Cairns District Court heard last week that the boy had been in Cleveland Youth Detention Centre for groping a woman on a public bus, and was released on July 20 last year.

Crown prosecutor Rachel Boivin told the court that while in detention he had “displayed sexual behaviour” towards other child inmates, including offering sex acts in exchange for favours and making sex assault threats.

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Despite this, on release he was taken to an Earlville Child Safety property called Our House on July 21 and told to share a room with his 14-year-old female cousin because the house was overcrowded.

Handing down his judgment on Friday, Judge Dean Morzone found the boy guilty of two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, but not guilty of an alternate rape charge and a third count of indecent treatment.

The court heard that the two assaults happened on consecutive nights while the boy and his cousin were sharing a mattress in the girl’s older sister’s bedroom.

Both times the girl woke to find him touching her indecently.

Crown prosecutor Rachel Boivin said the boy also had a “significant criminal history” for his age and had been living a transient and “unstable” lifestyle involving substance abuse.

“This (incident) was in a Child Safety house, he had only (moved) into that home two days before the time he had offended,” she said. It is understood the house was shut down after this incident.

Ms Boivin told the court the boy had been banned from a Far North town where most of his family, including the girl and her sister, now live, while his dad was in jail.

Judge Morzone sentenced the boy to 2½ years probation, along with the time he had already served in detention.

He was also re-sentenced for an armed robbery in which he and a second boy held up another young boy with a knife when he was 13.

Originally published as Cairns court: Teen sentenced for Child Safety house sex assault on cousin