Former nurse, teacher among those sentenced for shocking sex crimes
A former nurse, dentist and teacher are among those who have been sentenced for shocking sex crimes in the Wide Bay in recent times. Many are already back on our streets. See the full list
Fraser Coast
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From a teacher who sexually abused his students to a man who lured two girls into a toilet and raped them, these are just some of the sex crimes that shocked the Wide Bay region.
Child predator lured girls into public toilet, raped them
A child predator, who lured two young girls into a toilet block and raped them, did so because he wanted to get his sexual attraction to children “out of his system”.
Sickening details about the day a nightmare scenario for parents played out in a public park for one Fraser Coast family, were read out in Maryborough District Court.
There, Darren Richard Williams, 55, pleaded guilty to one count of indecent treatment of a child and two counts of rape.
The court heard his victims were aged just 7 and 8 at the time of the attack.
They had been playing in a park at Torbanlea with a younger child in January last year, while their parents were at a nearby bowls club.
The younger child was taken back to the adults, leaving the 8-year-old girl by herself.
Williams told the lone child the women‘s toilet was closed, luring her into the men’s bathroom by telling her she may have a disease.
Inside the toilet, he exposed his penis while pretending to show her how to use the urinal before he told her he wanted to “check to see if she had vaginitis”.
Williams then digitally raped the girl, the court heard.
He then used the girl to lure the younger girl to the toilets before he digitally raped her also.
When the girls returned to their parents, they told them what had happened.
The court heard Williams, who had no criminal history, had felt sexual impulses towards children in the past but had not acted on them until the opportunity presented itself when he saw the elder girl alone in the park.
His lawyer said Williams felt remorse, guilt and shame over his desires and actions, the court was told.
Following the attack he had admitted to having a sexual attraction to children his whole life.
On the day of the toilet attack he had “intended to get the urge out of his system,” despite knowing his actions were wrong.
Williams was given a head sentence of eight years in prison, with 467 days of presentence custody he had spent behind bars declared as time served.
Man, 33, sentenced to jail after sexually abusing girl on Fraser Coast
A 33-year-old Hervey Bay man has been sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to “maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child” about three years ago.
The then 13-year-old girl, who saw Joshua Baden Wayne Black as a “family friend,” had been sexualised by him after a ”longstanding history of sexual abuse” from her father, Hervey Bay District Court heard.
During 2017, Black made “comments about what (she) was wearing, clearly sexualising her.”
The girl moved to Brisbane to live with her grandmother after she spoke to people about the “conduct of her father towards her.”
Black is alleged to have not known about the “violent and sexual conduct” from her father until her father was dealt with by the police and sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Crown prosecutor C.W. Willis told the court the sexual abuse from her father “seemingly went unnoticed by anyone … and for that period of time.”
An encounter between Black and the girl in June 2017, when Black was 29 and the girl was 13, was “perhaps the commencement of that realisation of the sexual attraction.”
“(Black had) the complainant lay on a bed with him while they playing Xbox, and he started rubbing her inner thigh, on her bare skin below her shorts … he told her he wanted to be more than friends and wanted to do things to her,” Mr Willis said.
“He told her not to tell anyone and she promised she wouldn’t.”
From then, Black would “take off his pants and have (her) masturbate him,” Willis said.
This progressed to intercourse and oral sex performed on the girl.
Judge Glen Cash said “there was nothing that suggests that (Black), at present, is a particular danger to children, generally.”
Black was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment, with a suspended sentence of 10 months.
He was also listed as a reportable offender under child protection legislation.
Real life boogeyman broke into kids’ bedrooms
Family after family looked at their child’s abuser in Hervey Bay District Court and described how the real-life boogeyman had shattered their lives.
Over a period of two years, Dwayne Ferguson invaded Hervey Bay bedrooms and filmed himself sexually assaulting and masturbating over five children, aged from two to 16, while they slept.
The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to charges between October 2015 and May 2018 including rape and indecent treatment of a child. He also pleaded guilty to making child exploitation material.
The court heard Ferguson broke into a house in the dead of the night and filmed himself digitally raping a two-year-old girl.
On another occasion, crown prosecutor Mel Wilson outlined how the Kawungan father filmed himself on multiple occasions masturbating over a teenage girl while she slept, even ejaculating into her hair.
As the depraved acts captured on video were read out to the court, members of the public gallery broke down in tears.
The court heard a nine-year-old girl woke to find Ferguson standing over her with a phone light shining on her.
When she told her parents, they believed it was a nightmare until detectives called.
Ferguson was found with child pornography, including that which he had filmed himself, on multiple devices during a police search warrant.
Defence Barrister Jakub Lodziak told the court Ferguson was disgusted with himself and agreed the offending was “that of a monster”.
He was sentenced to nine years behind bars.
Coast community pillar turns child predator
A retired nurse and respected community volunteer had a “significant fall from grace” when he sexually assaulted a teenage boy.
Maryborough District Court heard Stanley William Pidgeon, 67, was regarded as a grandfather figure by his teenage victim.
That was until March 2019, when he looked after the children while their father went to work.
The court heard the boy fell asleep on the lounge but woke shortly after to find Pidgeon on top of him.
He was rubbing the boy’s groin area through his pants.
Pidgeon then removed the boy’s pants and fondled his penis before performing oral sex on the teenager.
The boy had his phone in his hand and was able to send a text, pleading to his sister, who was upstairs, for help.
Such was her trust in the older man, she thought it was a prank until she went downstairs and saw Pidgeon with his head in the boy’s lap.
Pidgeon had been a nurse for 40 years and was a well-regarded member of the community, the court heard.
He had been vice president of the Fraser Coast Show Society at one point, volunteered with the Salvation Army and assisted with Maryborough’s flood recovery efforts.
He had been married to his wife for 35 years and she supported him in court, along with other family members.
Sitting across from Pidgeon’s family was the boy and his father.
Pidgeon had a dated criminal history, including minor stealing offences and a drink-driving charge, the court heard.
Judge Douglas McGill said the defendant had been caring for the children in their home and it was a considerable breach of trust.
“It is a significant fall from grace on your part,” Judge McGill said.
Pidgeon was given an 18-month prison sentence, suspended after serving five months.
Gympie man in court for heinous bashing, rape
A Gympie man bashed a woman, raped her, then enlisted his mother to pressure the victim into dropping her complaint, a court has heard.
Wolvi man Rema Henry John Pooley, 31, pleaded guilty to dozens of offences in Brisbane District Court.
They included, most seriously, rape, multiple counts of common assault and assault occasioning bodily harm, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The court heard Pooley’s offences of violence were committed against a woman aged in her early thirties on January 16 and January 18 last year.
His offending commenced about 6.30pm when he drove past the woman and yelled from his vehicle she was a “dirty f****** slut”.
He left his vehicle and pushed her multiple times, before kicking and yelling at her for about 30 minutes while she cowered under a tree in a front yard.
Pooley then dragged her by the hair upstairs and into the house’s kitchen where he threw her to the ground.
He then pulled her up again by the hair and made her stand motionless in a corner, threatening to film it and put it on social media if she needed to go to the bathroom but couldn’t hold it in.
After a time, he punched her in the mouth, loosening a tooth, before punching her repeatedly in the face, telling her, “makeup will cover your bruises”.
Pooley then dragged her by the hair into a bedroom where he removed her jeans and raped her, leaving her feeling “disgusted”.
About 11pm, nearly five hours after her ordeal began, Pooley’s victim attempted to escape to the Gympie West Store to flag help, but her tormentor caught up with her, knocked her to the ground and punched her repeatedly, before pulling her by her hair back to his grandmother’s, where he choked her until her body was limp.
Two days later, on January 18, Pooley was arrested after he and his mother Theresa Maree Pooley, 54, of Gympie, attempted to track down the woman at a residence.
It was submitted on Pooley’s behalf he was “desperate” to re-establish a relationship with his five children and that he had a good work history but was plagued by alcoholism.
Judge Nathan Jarro adjourned a decision on Pooley’s sentence to a later date.
Man jailed for seven years over series of sadistic assaults
A survivor has given a harrowing account of how she had “no doubt” she would die after she was brutally assaulted sexually and physically while tied to a bed for hours.
Jebson John Pidgeon Herrod, 37, sentenced in the Brisbane District Court to seven years’ jail over a series of sadistic physical, sexual and psychological assaults on the woman.
The former Gympie dentist pleaded guilty to 22 offences including sexual assault, indecent assault and assault occasioning bodily harm.
The violence peaked one night in October 2015 when Herrod tied the woman to a bed, broke her jaw and – in a particularly degrading act – smeared faeces and blood into her mouth until she vomited.
He then beat her until she was unconscious and “smiled at her” when she woke up when telling her he thought he’d killed her.
Judge Leanne Clare SC said the assaults had been sadistic and he had “inflicted pain and humiliation just because” he wanted to.
Herrod was sentenced to seven years’ jail and will be eligible for parole in October 2023.
61-year-old guilty of child sex offences, rape
A jury took only one hour to reach a guilty verdict in the trial of a Gympie man charged with multiple child sex offences, including rape.
John William Spencer will spend a minimum of two years behind bars after being convicted of two counts of rape and five counts of indecent treatment of a child under the age of 16 and in his care at the time.
The 61-year-old was sentenced to four years in prison but will be eligible for parole halfway through his sentence.
Following the guilty verdict, Spencer still maintained his innocence, simply stating “I’m not guilty.”
When the verdict was announced to the courtroom, one of Spencer’s supporters walked outside and screamed.
Meanwhile, Spencer’s defence lawyer Jason Todman described the 61-year-old as a family man who was greatly admired by those close to him, as was evident from several character references from various family members and one long-term family friend.
The court was closed for most of the morning – the fourth day of the trial – as the jury viewed video evidence a second time before coming to a verdict a few hours later.
One young member of the gallery turned towards Spencer in the dock as they were being asked to leave, and said “I love you, Pop” before exiting the courtroom.
For the remainder of the day, Spencer’s supporters waited outside while those in the courtroom listened to video evidence from witnesses and the two victims.
After the court was adjourned for lunch, the verdict was announced one hour later.
Spencer will be eligible for parole in 2023.
Hervey Bay man jailed for raping girl on birthday
A young Fraser Coast man raped a teen twice on her eighteenth birthday, with the court hearing his victim woke mid-rape to the “sound of moaning”.
Point Vernon man Jasey Keepa Harrison, 20, a New Zealand citizen who was attended high school at Urangan, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court to two counts of rape.
The court heard both offences occurred in a South Brisbane hotel room about 2.45am on a Saturday in June last year.
Harrison had been drinking since about 4.30pm the previous day and had also consumed ecstasy and cannabis, the court heard.
The victim, who had celebrated her eighteenth birthday the night prior, woke to the “sound of moaning” and pain in her vagina from Harrison’s digital penetration.
This occurred for about one minute, the court heard, with the teen originally believing her partner to be the man in the room with her.
She “disconnected in shock”, the court heard, as Harrison then inserted his penis, sans condom, for less than a minute.
The assault ended when she rolled over.
Harrison had removed her singlet top and bra, and sweatpants, to rape her, the court heard.
It was submitted on Harrison’s behalf he had a difficult upbringing and his life had been torn apart by his offending.
He would lose his job as an insulation installer; the means to support his ill father financially; and all his Australian friendships, as it was “inevitable” he would be deported at the conclusion of his sentence.
Harrison was jailed for five years, to be suspended after serving 18 months behind bars.
Man convicted by Bundaberg court after confessing to molesting young stepdaughter
He was in a trusted position, he’d raised children of his own and the young girl in his care loved him enough to call him “daddy”.
Guilt got the better of a man when he confessed to his bishop that he had indecently treated his young stepdaughter.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in the Bundaberg District Court to two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, under 12 and under care.
The incidents happened in their Biloela home while the girl’s mother, his former wife, was overseas in 2018.
During the first incident the girl was sitting on the man’s lap, when he moved her underwear to the side and touched her.
The second happened in the man’s bed while the young girl was sleeping next to him.
The man moved her on top of him so she was laying with her back to his stomach, his genitalia was erect and he rubbed it against her private area.
The court heard there was no penetration.
The court heard during the man’s rehabilitation it had been identified that he had a sexual impulsion disorder.
The court heard the man was also not an Australian citizen and had been living in the country for a number of years on a visa.
Ms Juhasz said time in actual custody would see his visa cancelled and him deported back to his home country, which would interrupt his rehabilitation.
She submitted that exceptional circumstances had been proven and keeping the man in the community would allow him to continue with his rehabilitation.
Judge Ken Barlow took into account the man’s plea of guilty when considering his sentence.
He also took into account the fact that the offences came to light after his confession.
The man was sentenced to 12 months jail, which was wholly suspended for three years.
He was placed on three years probation.
By legislation the man is also a reportable offender for the next five years.
Former Maryborough teacher exposed as a child predator
An attempt to argue a former paedophile teacher was now of “good character” has been rejected by a judge in Hervey Bay.
Urraween‘s John Vincent Lewis, 77, pleaded guilty to 14 counts of indecent treatment of a child when he appeared before Hervey Bay District Court yesterday.
It was the third time he had been sentenced in relation to molesting young girls while he was a teacher at a Maryborough school.
Lewis spent three months in custody for sexually assaulting four girls in 1986.
The convictions ended his career and in the years since, 13 more students have come forward telling of the abuse they suffered at his hands.
Lewis was convicted in 2017 of abusing five girls, with the charges dating back to the 1970s.
He was sentenced to three years in prison.
Since then, eight more former students have come forward with assault allegations.
Lewis‘ actions included incidents where he touched girls’ breasts and thighs, rubbed their vaginas and cupped their bottoms while acting as their teacher in Maryborough in the 1970s, when he was in his early 30s.
Barrister John Milburn argued because Lewis had been sentenced for his previous offending, the penalty against him would have remained the same if he‘d been sentenced for the eight additional girls.
He argued this was especially true since the three-year head sentence from those charges resulted from charges relating to digital penetration.
Judge Jennifer Rosengren disagreed, saying the increased number of victims would have increased the penalty handed down in 2017.
Mr Milburn said Lewis and his wife had ongoing medical issues and he provided support and care, which would be impacted by another term of imprisonment.
But Judge Rosengren said, given the number of new complainants and the position of trust Lewis had occupied and betrayed, a further term of imprisonment was necessary.
She sentenced him to a head sentence of two years in prison, wholly suspended after four months, with an operational period of two years.
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