NAMED: Child predator lured girls into public toilet, raped them
A child predator, who trapped two children into being alone with him in a public toilet block, says he had “intended to get the urge out of his system”.
Fraser Coast
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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 on Tuesday.
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 two girls told police they had been touched by Williams, but it was he who admitted to using his fingers to penetrate the girls, which led to the rape charges.
One of the girls was said to no longer be willing to walk to school or go to the playground alone, while the other wouldn't sleep in her own bed.
Both girls underwent counselling after the attack.
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 also said to have been very close to his mother, whose death had a destabilising impact on him.
It was also argued the girls had not been 'physically' injured in the attacks.
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.
Originally published as NAMED: Child predator lured girls into park toilet, raped them
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