Shannon Robert Dunrobin to stay behind bars in continuing detention order
A convicted child rapist with a long history of sexually assaulting young boys in Bundaberg and Brisbane has been named as a court reviews whether he should be released back into the community.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A convicted paedophile has been deemed too dangerous for release after his disturbing psychological report and long-term offending was detailed before Judge Bradley in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
Shannon Robert Dunrobin had his parole bid overturned by the court on June 24, 2022.
Court documents have since revealed Dunrobin was jailed for the first time after pleading guilty in the Brisbane District Court on April 3, 2001 to 14 child sex offences.
He was convicted of two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12, two counts of unlawful sodomy of a child under 12, one count of unlawful sodomy of a person under 18, and three counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
The offences were committed on four young boys between the ages of nine and 12 years when Dunrobin was a younger man.
Various sentences were imposed, including a head sentence of seven years for the three unlawful sodomy offences, all to be served concurrently.
On September 16, 2011, in the Bundaberg District Court, Dunrobin was convicted on two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 and was sentenced to imprisonment for four years for each offence.
The offences were committed in about 2008 to 2009, when Mr Dunrobin was about 29 to 30 years of age, against two boys then aged 14.
In September, 2014, in the Brisbane District Court, Dunrobin was convicted on one count of rape.
The offence occurred on a 17-year-old boy in 2008 or 2009.
By September 2014, Dunrobin had served the four-year sentence imposed in 2011 and was still in custody.
Taking this into account, the judge sentenced him to a further period of imprisonment for four and a half years.
Dunrobin was the subject of an indefinite continuing detention order made to the court on February 25, 2019.
The Attorney-General later filed an application under the Act to review the order, while Dunrobin was still serving the latest rape sentence.
According to the documents, the court was required to review the order which included hearing a psychiatrist report on the mental condition of Dunrobin and weighing up his risk of reoffending.
An affidavit sworn by psychiatrist, Dr Phillips, showed Dunrobin was diagnosed with pedophilic disorder (non-exclusive type, attracted to males and females), as well as narcissistic, borderline and anti-social disorders.
Dr Phillips wrote that his risk of physical violence and future sexual reoffering fell into the High Range.
“It is my opinion that intensive interventions targeting dynamic risk factors for sexual and physical violence, assertive monitoring and environmental restrictions will be necessary to reduce the risk of reoffending,” she wrote.
“The victim of future offending would likely be a male. Either pre-pubescent or post-pubescent adolescent. Although vulnerable adult males may also be a target.
“Given the seriousness of the previous sexual offending, including forced … intercourse against a number of males of varying ages and at least one occasion of use of previous threats of violence, there is the potential for future sexual offending to be of a serious nature.
“He describes a long history of recurrent intense sexually arousing fantasies, urges and behaviours involving sexual activity with pre-pubescent children.”
Psychiatrist Dr Timmins echoed the concerns of Dr Phillips in a report dated September 19, 2018, confirming Dunrobin was a high risk to the community.
“He has poor insight into his offending pathway and has no clear ideas of how to manage his emotions or sexual drives, even after completing a sex offender treatment program in 2004,” Dr Timmins reported.
“He may use a position of trust and groom the child or offend impulsively. He is likely to use substances in order to gain the child’s compliance. He may resort to rape if the victim is an adolescent or adult. There would be physical and psychological coercion involved in the offending and a high degree of harm to the victim.”
A third psychiatrist, Dr Aboud, reported Dunrobin had not been able to participate in group programs because Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) attributed him to being a maximum security classification
“due to his sexual risk to other prisoners.”
Judge Bradley found Dunrobin was “a serious danger to the community in the absence of an order.”
“I found the evidence of Dr Timmins and Dr Aboud to be acceptable and cogent,” Judge Bradley said.
“It was sufficient to satisfy me to a high degree of probability and was of sufficient weight for me to affirm the decision that, in the absence of an order under Division 3 of the Act, there would be an unacceptable risk of Mr Dunrobin committing a relevant offence if he were released into the community.”
Another review of Dunrobin’s order is likely to be before the court again next year.
“I anticipate that the Attorney will seek another review of Mr Dunrobin’s continuing detention order and the Court will have to conduct that review at some time over the next 12 months,” Judge Bradley said.
Award-winning DJ with 200k followers faces criminal charge
A Qld musician who has played to major festivals and crowds and claimed he was “partially paralysed” by the Covid vaccine, has been charged following an alleged break-in.
Petrol-soaked woman crawls, screams for help as man carries out evil plan
What started as a cruise romance ended in horror when a man plotted against his partner for months before dousing her and her bedroom in petrol, telling her he was ‘going to f**king kill’ her.