Parole dates for Rockhampton, Gladstone and Central Qld child sex offenders as safety advocates share how to keep kids safe
NAMED: We identify some of Rockhampton and Gladstone’s convicted child sex offenders and their parole dates as a leading protection organisation outlines what can be done to keep our children safe.
Police & Courts
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Child sex offenders are most likely known and trusted by victims and their families, experts say, as the parole dates for some of the region’s offenders have been revealed.
Research shows that strangers are perpetrators in only 10-30 per cent of child sex offences, and about a third of offences are committed by another young person.
Bravehearts research director and criminologist Carol Ronken said while it was difficult to identify with certainty that a child may be the victim of sexual abuse, sudden changes in behaviour were reflective of potential trauma.
“There is a direct connection between children’s feelings and their behaviour so children who have been sexually assaulted can suffer a range of psychological and behavioural problems from mild to severe both short and long term,” Ms Ronken said.
“If you see any sudden changes in your child’s behaviour, if they are isolating themselves from friends and family, seeming to be sad or depressed, is they are displaying sexual knowledge or behaviour beyond what is age appropriate, the best thing to do is let them know you have noticed a change in their behaviour and reassure them you are there if they need to talk or want advice or help.”
Indicators of potential abuse include but are not limited to unusual fear about being touched in certain areas, fear of being alone with a certain person, sexual themes in artwork or play, destructive or isolated behaviour, and bed wetting.
Ms Ronken said there was definitely not enough support and education material, particularly in regional Australia but parents were encouraged to to seek out resources, such as Bravehearts’ free online parent guide.
“Parents should definitely educate themselves on child sexual abuse, we know that statistically one in five children will experience or be exposed to some form of sexual harm, and that this is most likely to be perpetrated by someone they know,” she said.
“There is a lot of criticism on whether sentencing of perpetrators of is adequate, and we certainly want to see appropriate sentencing; however, tougher sentencing can’t be the answer as eventually the majority of offenders will be released.”
Here are the parole dates for some of Central Queensland’s convicted child sex offenders.
For legal reasons, to protect the identity of their victims, some cannot be named.
Charles Robert Holt - Indecent treatment of children and rape
Parole: April 4, 2025
This 68 year old preyed on three siblings and was convicted of child sex offences despite being done for previous depraved crimes against one of the children.
Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke told the Rockhampton District Court in 2021 that Holt was subject to a probation order handed down in 1977 for unlawful carnal knowledge (sex) with the brother of the two other victims, and continued to offend against the current victims while on that probation order.
She said it was alarming a conviction for offending against the brother did not deter Holt.
Holt was convicted and sentenced to nine years imprisonment for maintaining a sexual relationship with another victim, aged six to 11, after a jury found him guilty in 2018.
Then he pleaded guilty on June 23, 2021 to four counts of indecent treatment of a child and one of rape.
Ms O’Rourke said the other two victims were 12 and 14, the latter was who he raped.
Holt was jailed for 5.5 years with parole eligibility on April 4, 2025.
Jamie Andrew Watson - Maintaining sexual relationship and raping child, after previous conviction
Parole: November 6, 2022
The 23-year-old had already been sentenced in the Rockhampton District Court on November 22, 2019 for having sex with a 15 year old when he reoffended.
Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke said Watson entered into a sexual relationship with his next victim only a week after being released on parole, which was on the date of his previous sentencing.
Ms O’Rourke told the court Watson had sex, including unprotected, with the victim every day until he ended the relationship, telling the victim he feared being caught and sent back to prison.
She said the victim woke one morning to find her shorts and underwear had been pulled down and Watson raping her. Watson stopped raping her and left the room after she woke up.
In the second rape offence, Watson again crept into the victim’s room and raped her while she slept.
Watson’s offending was discovered by one of the victim’s family members after she sent messages to him threatening to tell someone about him raping her.
Watson pleaded guilty in March 2021 to one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, two counts of carnal knowledge of a child and two counts of rape.
He was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison with parole eligibility on November 6, 2022.
UNNAMED - 36-year old Central Qld man and 40-year old woman
Parole: 2036 and 2034 respectively.
A Central Queensland mother was jailed for life after offering up her four-year-old daughter to be repeatedly raped by a man in what was been described as one of the most ‘horrendous’ child sex crimes in the state.
The detail of the crimes were so horrific it left courtroom witnesses sobbing.
The woman, 40, and the man, 36, who was already sexually abusing his sons and niece, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton last year to more than 250 charges for 234 crimes.
Of the counts, 207 involved the woman’s daughter carried out over a 16-month period.
The case was described by Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips as “the most depraved sex abuse the Queensland community has ever known”.
Mr Phillips said the facts of the pair’s offending filled 40 A4 pages with a 23-page executive summary and a USB of the videos which have been placed in an envelope never to be opened unless by court order.
The sick, vile, grotesque, horrendous, violent child sex acts were read out to the court by Justice Graeme Crow, who described the case as “monumental” and “horrendous” during sentencing.
UNNAMED: 37-year-old Gladstone man
Parole: March 30, 2022
A Central Queensland man who preyed upon a sleeping 12-year-old boy is now a reportable child sex offender.
The 37-year-old, who by law cannot be named, pleaded guilty in the District Court at Rockhampton on March 30 to one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
The man’s offending happened at Gladstone on November 20, 2020.
Before Crown Prosecutor Tiffany Lawrence outlined the facts in this case, she told the court the man had a 15-page criminal history and he’d had 59 prior court appearances for 141 different offences.
Ms Lawrence said the man’s criminal offending started when he was 18 and continued through to the age of 36 when he committed this offence against the child.
“There is regular offending effectively every year, with only a two-year gap between 2012 and 2014,” Ms Lawrence said.
UNNAMED: 46-year old Rockhampton man
Parole: May 2023
A Rockhampton girl was subjected to fortnightly unprotected sex for three years, when she was aged 11-14, after being preyed upon by her uncle at age 10.
The uncle, 46, was sentenced in Rockhampton District Court after pleading guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, two counts of indecent treatment of a child and two of carnal knowledge.
The offences date back to June 2015 with the offending coming to an end when police intervened in May 2020.
Crown prosecutor Tiffany Lawrence said the victim was 10 when her uncle starting inappropriately touching her and 14 when the offending concluded.
She said the defendant had been in a relationship with the girl’s aunt when the offending started, but the relationship had broken down before the offending concluded.
Ms Lawrence said the uncle first touched the girl’s breasts while they were watching a movie and he placed his arm around the girl before grabbing her breast.
She said the second time he touched her, they were lying on a mattress on the floor watching movies and he reached up under her shirt.
*If this article has caused you distress or you or someone you know needs assistance there is help available*.
Kids helpline: 1800 55 1800.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Beyond Blue: 1300 224 636
Bravehearts: 1800 272 831
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