Justin Shane Chapman sentenced over physical, sexual assault at Teewah Beach

Two young girls hugged and sobbed outside a Queensland courtroom as a junior rugby coach was sentenced for his role in a group sex attack at a popular campsite. *Distressing content

There were tears in Gympie District Court as a 33-year-old junior rugby coach was sentenced over a physical and sexual attack on a group of teens on the Cooloola Coast in 2020.

Justin Shane Chapman pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault, one charge of assault occasioning bodily harm and six charges of common assault, all relating to a drunken incident at Teewah Beach in September 2020.

Chapman was the second man to be dealt for the incident, after his co-accused Joel Andrew Kenneth Murray pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault and one of going armed to cause fear.

He was supported by three family members in the public gallery.

The court heard Chapman and Murray were travelling along Teewah Beach on the evening of September 23, 2020, when they came across a group of 20 teenagers camping.

The teenagers were aged between 17 and 18 at the time, and did not know Murray or Chapman.

The court heard the men joined the teenagers at their campsite, but quickly outstayed their welcome when Chapman made unwanted sexual advances towards some of the teens.

Both men were drunk at the time.

The court heard nine of the teens were assaulted during their visit, including a 17-year-old girl whose chest Chapman touched inappropriately with a beer bottle and asked “do you like that?”.

He then squeezed her bottom and inappropriately touched her between her shorts and underwear.

He later grabbed the crotch of an 18-year-old boy and asked if he was “sleeping with the boys later on?”, and went on to inappropriately touch two more boys, grab the bottom of another boy, force a kiss on an 18-year-old girl’s cheek and another kiss onto a separate 18-year-old girl sitting in a camp chair.

Justin Chapman’s co-accused Joel Andrew Kenneth Murray (pictured here) was sentenced in Maroochydore in April for his role in the offences.

The court heard Chapman forced himself onto her, and pushed his tongue into her mouth.

Chapman also punched one of the boys he inappropriately touched when he was asked to leave, and a fight broke out.

Two of the victims, who were seated in the public gallery opposite his family, read out victim impact statements regarding how the assaults had affected them.

The first victim, who was inappropriately touched with the beer bottle recalled how she felt “frozen” in time during the assault.

“In the months following the assault, all I could see was their faces laughing at me,” she said.

“That night, I was paralysed with fear … I was just 17.”

The second victim said she felt “violated” when Chapman forced himself onto her.

“The feeling of his weight on me is something I will never forget,” she said.

“The day I got home … I scrubbed my skin.”

Defence Barrister Simone Bain told the court both Chapman and Murray were “heavily intoxicated” during the offending, and Chapman suffered from alcoholism at the time.

But since the offending, Ms Bain said Chapman had stopped drinking altogether and had attended counselling and rehabilitation.

She said Chapman was a father of two, who owned and ran a successful business and was a junior rugby coach.

Judge Ian Dearden then gave Chapman a chance to speak.

He said he would like to apologise to the young victims for his actions and expressed remorse for the offending.

Chapman was sentenced to 21 months behind bars, suspended for three years.

He was also placed on three years’ probation for the assault occasioning bodily harm charge.

Outside, one of the two young girls who provided a victim impact statement broke down in tears, while the other victim held her.