Man indecently touched granddaughter on family vacation

A Bundaberg man told his granddaughter he would go to jail if she spoke about what he had done to her on a family vacation.

A Bundaberg court convicted a man of raping his granddaughter while on holidays in the Bunya Mountains.

A Bundaberg man indecently touched his granddaughter and asked her to perform a sexual act while the family was on holiday in the Bunya Mountains, a Bundaberg court heard this week.

The 67-year-old man, who cannot be named to avoid identifying his victim, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg District Court on Wednesday, April 10, to two counts of rape and one count of procuring a child under 12 to commit an indecent act.

Crown prosecutor Annica Fritz told the court the victim, a 10-year-old girl at the time of the offending, went on holiday in the Bunya Mountains with her family, including her parents and grandparents.

On the first occasion, the girl’s grandfather was alone in the bedroom where the family was staying when the girl went into the room and spoke to him.

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A Bundaberg court convicted a man of raping his granddaughter while on holidays, a Bundaberg court heard.

The court heard the girl lay on the bed next to her grandfather, during which time he indecently touched her for a period later described by the girl to investigators as “a tiny bit”.

Ms Fritz told the court the grandfather then said “they should probably get up”, and they left the room and the family went about their day.

On the second occasion, the girl was in lying bed with him in his room while his wife was in the shower when he again indecently touched her.

The court heard he stopped after some time and told the girl they should go and have breakfast.

On one of these two occasions the man also asked the girl to touch him indecently, it heard.

The grandfather tried to manipulate her emotionally by telling her that if she spoke about what he had done he would go to jail.

About three weeks later, after the family had returned home from the holiday, the girl told her mother about what had happened, who then told her husband, the son of the girl’s grandfather.

Ms Fritz told the court the girl’s father then called her grandfather at home and told him what his daughter and said, in response to which her grandfather denied touching her indecently but said “he may have put his hand on her bum and pulled her in for a cuddle”.

The following day, while the girl’s grandfather was at work, her father went to his parents’ house where his mother told him his father had admitted to touching the girl.

The incidents happened during a family vacation to the Bunya Mountains, the court heard.

The grandfather then came home from work and was apologetic without stating directly what he had done, saying “I’m sorry that I have let you all down, sorry for everything. I shouldn’t have done it and I shouldn’t have touched (her)”.

When the girl’s father said he was going to call the police, her grandfather said “I am guilty”, the court heard.

That night the grandfather had panic attacks and said to his wife “I shouldn’t be alive”, and spoke about hating himself and expressed suicidal thoughts over the following days for which he was taken to hospital, the court heard.

About one week later the grandfather was charged by police but he declined to take part in an interview and was released on bail.

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Defence barrister Callan Cassidy submitted the offending “represents an aberration in an otherwise good and productive life”, saying his client had no criminal history, had a good employment history and had contributed to the community throughout his lifetime.

Judge John Allen KC sentenced the man to two years six months imprisonment to suspended after six months, with the remaining term to be hanging over his head for three years.