Child abuser loses appeal after claiming young victim had 'active imagination'
A paedophile's shocking attempt to blame his victim's "video game obsession" for his abuse allegations has spectacularly backfired in court.
A child abuser who tried to overturn his conviction has lost his appeal after claiming his victim’s evidence was “inconsistent” and that the boy had an “active imagination”.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child when he went on trial in Hervey Bay District Court in May, 2024.
He was sentenced to three years and three months in prison, with a parole eligibility date set for December 3, 2025.
During the trial, the court heard the abuse happened up to 20 times over a 12-month period when the man was babysitting the boy, who was under 10 years of age at the time.
At the time, Judge Michael Burnett said he’d had little difficulty accepting the jury’s verdict.
The child’s mother was a single mum who was doing the best she could with “difficult circumstances”, Judge Burnett said, and the offending represented an abuse of trust.
The appeal was heard in Brisbane Supreme Court in September, 2o25, with the decision handed down on November 28, 2025.
As part of his appeal, the man contended there were inconsistencies in the complainant’s evidence and inconsistencies between the complainant’s evidence and the evidence provided by witnesses who lived with the man at the time of the offending.
“The sole ground which this court must consider in this appeal is whether the verdict of guilty was unreasonable and cannot be supported having regard to the evidence,” the court documents read.
“That requires this court to carry out an independent assessment of the evidence in order to determine whether it considers a jury could be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the charge.
“A review of the evidence demonstrates that the jury could be so satisfied and that the appeal must fail.”
The evidence given by the child victim was that when he was aged 7 or 8, his mother was working and needed assistance with babysitting.
The man babysat the boy and his sister while their mother was at work, the documents read.
The offending involved the man placing his mouth on the child’s genitalia and having the child reciprocate, the court heard.
The child’s mother also gave evidence, and confirmed the complainant and his sister had been babysat for a period of about eight months by the appellant before the complainant disclosed allegations of offending to her on March 29, 2022.
The court documents said the child had given inconsistent evidence as to the number of times he was babysat by the man.
“It is unsurprising that a child of the complainant’s age would give inconsistent evidence and not be able to be definitive of the times,” the documents read.
“There was in fact, and again unsurprisingly, a number of different estimates given by the adult witnesses consisting of his mother and people who lived in the house.
“The number of times he was babysat was not probative of whether the offences occurred.
“What was probative and supportive of the charge was that he had been babysat by the appellant on multiple occasions.
“The fact that he was there on multiple occasions was relatively uncontroversial.”
There had also been the suggestion of possible “coaching” after a falling-out between the man and another person, but the documents said “the questioning of the complainant did not establish that coaching had occurred or suggest that the evidence was fabricated”.
“None of the matters identified undermined the complainant’s evidence of the offending such that it could not have been accepted by the jury,” the documents read.
The man had also referred to the child’s “active imagination” in his appeal, saying it suggested “there was a possibility that the allegations might be fabricated given his obsession with video games and that he had approached other members of the man’s household about them being his boyfriend and trying to kiss one of them and asking him to marry him”.
But the court documents said an active imagination in a child was “hardly surprising”.
“An obsession with video games is again hardly surprising and common in modern society,” the documents read.
“There is no link between the video games and the nature of the offending which he described.
“As to his actions with the other housemates, they could be equally consistent with a child who was being exposed to sexual offending and would not undermine the evidence of offending that was given.
“The jury could readily exclude either possibility as being an explanation for the complainant’s evidence of the offending.”
The documents said a number of the matters raised by the man were matters where the jury held the advantage of being able to assess the evidence given by the witnesses and “in that regard I observe that the jury were thoroughly instructed as to the inconsistencies, inadequacies and confusion in relation to the complainant’s evidence by the primary judge”.
“In any event, having carried out an independent assessment of the evidence as a whole, I am satisfied that a jury could find that the appellant was guilty beyond reasonable doubt on the evidence that was before the court and that there was not a significant possibility that an innocent person was convicted.”
