Wide Bay Burnett sexual offenders in Qld courts in 2024
Sexual offences continue to be a scourge among the community, and there was no shortage of offenders to face the Wide Bay Burnett’s courts in 2024. Warning: Distressing content.
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Sexual offences continue to be a scourge among the community, and there was no shortage of offenders to face the Wide Bay Burnett’s courts in 2024.
Online police data shows in the past four years there has been an average of 547 sexual offences reported across the Gympie, Bundaberg, Fraser Coast, and South and North Burnett regions. These included 560 in 2024, and 570 in 2023.
This was almost 100 more offences each year than was averaged from 2017-2020, although it is unclear whether this reflects an increase in offending or greater awareness and cultural changes around sexual offending.
From breaches of family trust within families to online predators, these are the people who were sentenced in the region’s courts for their offending.
Many offenders are unable to be identified to protect their victims.
Leo Troy Brown in court for rape
A woman woke to being digitally raped by another man while her boyfriend slept beside her, a court heard in July.
Leo Troy Brown, 51, pleaded guilty to one count of rape when he faced Maryborough District Court over the incident, which happened when Brown went to a home with the woman and her boyfriend after a night out drinking with friends.
Brown was sleeping in the spare room at the house, with the woman and her boyfriend in another bedroom.
He had spent time in presentence custody, and was sentenced to two and a half years jail, to be suspended after six months for an operational period of three years.
Read more here.
Mondure farmer Wayne Robert Green found guilty of rape
A South Burnett farmer has been jailed for more than three years after a jury found him guilty of rape following days of shocking allegations and victim testimony.
After deliberating for less than two hours, a jury of seven men and five women in the Kingaroy District Court found Mondure farmer Wayne Robert Green guilty of one charge of procuring a sexual act by intimidation, not guilty of assault and guilty of rape in a trial that lasted three days.
The 53-year-old had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Judge Glen Cash said Green, a father of three, was “aware of her circumstances” that the victim had no money and a desire to stay in Australia on her visa.
“You took advantage of a young woman who was in a vulnerable position for your own sexual gratification,” Judge Cash said.
“There was no real consent given by her.”
He said the effect on the victim has been “substantial”.
“It’s caused her relationship problems and a fear of men,” the judge said.
Read more here.
Tyson Alexander Ellul brutally rapes drunk woman
A Brisbane man who led a vulnerable, intoxicated woman to a secluded spot and brutally raped her on a car bonnet will spend at least two years in jail.
Tyson Alexander Ellul was 18 when he met the woman who Kingaroy District Court heard was too drunk to consent to sex.
Following a four-day trial in September, a jury found Ellul, now 22, guilty of rape and he was sentenced for “penetrating her anus” in a secluded spot, causing tearing and bleeding.
Crown Prosecutor Sarah McCray previously told the court the pair had met at the Kingaroy Hotel one night in 2020, where Ellul was out with friends.
Judge Smith sentenced Ellul to five years in prison, to be suspended after two years and three months.
Read more here.
Christopher Patrick Jenkins attempts to groom 15-year-old girl
Using WhatsApp and Snapchat, a man attempted to groom a 15-year-old girl into meeting for sex, unaware he was actually talking to an undercover police officer.
Christopher Patrick Jenkins, 31, pleaded guilty in July to using a carriage service to procure persons under 16 years of age to engage in, or submit to, sexual activity with the sender, using a carriage service to transmit indecent communication to person under 16 years of age.
The court heard Jenkins, who had no criminal history, had started chatting online with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl.
But the court heard the messages, which were sexual in nature and sent via WhatsApp and Snapchat, were actually sent to an undercover police officer.
Jenkins was sentenced to 15 months in prison, to be released after serving five months.
He would then remain on a $2000 good behaviour bond for a period of 18 months.
Jenkins was also placed on 18 months’ probation to be served after his release from prison.
Read more here.
Heath Graham Williams caught with child abuse images
A cleaner who accessed hundreds of child abuse images on his phone also solicited images from a 16-year-old boy using Instagram, a court has been told.
Heath Graham Williams, 37, pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to access child abuse material and possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service when he faced the Hervey Bay District Court in May.
The court heard on June 8, 2023, police had conducted a search warrant at Williams’ home.
Police examined his mobile and found child abuse material, the court was told.
He had accessed multiple websites using his phone on 131 occasions between March 17 and May 29 last year to view child abuse material.
Williams was also communicating with a 16-year-old on Instagram, the court heard, in which he solicited child abuse material and caused child abuse material to be transmitted to himself.
Williams had possessed 1411 files on his mobile phone which contained child abuse material.
Judge Burnett sentenced Williams to a total of 18 months in prison.
Williams would be released after four months on a $1000 good behaviour bond, which would be in place for three years and he would also be under the supervision of a probation officer.
Read more here.
Ashley Gerald Coulstock grooms girl on Snapchat
An online predator groomed a teenage girl on Snapchat, exchanging naked photos with her until his offending was discovered by her brother.
Maryborough’s Ashley Gerald Coulstock, 34, pleaded guilty in April to using an electronic communication with intent to procure a child under 16 to engage in a sexual act and intent to expose a child under 16 to an indecent matter.
The court heard between January 11, 2023 and April 13, 2023, Coulstock had sent several images and videos of his penis and himself masturbating to a 15-year-old girl on Snapchat.
Coulstock had sent the images with the intention of having her engage in a sexual act with him and he asked to meet her in person, but she refused, the court was told.
He continued engaging with her and asked her to have sex with him, but she declined.
During the same period, he asked the girl to send him a photo and videos of herself naked, which she did.
Judge Loury gave Coulstock a head sentence of two and a half years in prison with an operational period of four years.
The term of imprisonment was to be suspended after 294 days, giving Coulstock immediate parole.
He was also placed on a probation order for three years.
Read more here.
David Robert Collier fails to report contact with children
A convicted child sex offender failed to declare he had moved into a new address where he was sharing a home with children.
David Robert Collier, 79, pleaded guilty in January to three charges of failing to comply with reporting obligations in Bundaberg Magistrates Court.
Police prosecutor Leon Casey told the court Collier had been convicted of two offences involving the sexual penetration of children in Victoria in 2013.
As a result of his conviction, he was required to report for the remainder of his life any change of address to the Child Protection Offender Registry and change of employment to the police commissioner within seven days.
The court heard Collier reported to the CPOR that he had moved to a new address at a farm in Colinton, in the Somerset Region, on January 29, 14 days after moving to that address.
In that report Collier informed the CPOR that two children were also living on the farm, but he failed to report that he had contact with those children.
Mr Casey submitted Collier should be sentenced to a period of probation, given the risk to the children living at Collier’s new address and to remind him of his reporting obligations.
The magistrate agreed, sentencing Collier to 12 months probation.
Read more here.
Jacob Alexander Connolly guilty of sex crimes against underage girls
A 28-year-old man will remain in jail in 2025 after grooming one teenage girl over Instagram and raping another, all while claiming to be a teenager himself.
Jacob Alexander Connolly faced Hervey Bay District Court in July over multiple charges stemming from his offending against the two underage girls in 2023, published sentencing remarks from Judge Brad Farr reveal.
One of his victims was a 12-year-old he was in a “messaging relationship” with for some time.
The court heard Connolly originally told the girl he was 14 before changing his age to 18 “neither of which was true”.
Judge Farr said they soon began calling each other on Instagram daily, including instances when Connolly said he wanted to have sex with the girl “in graphic terms” and later asked her to masturbate while on a video call.
The court heard his criminal history included convictions in 2017 for torture and acts intended to maim, disfigure, or disable.
He was jailed for seven years.
Only one year earlier, in 2016, he had been convicted for robbery.
He was on parole at the time of these latest sexual crimes.
Connolly pleaded guilty to using an electronic communication device to procure a child under 16, three counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, possessing child exploitation material, penile intercourse with a child under 16, and rape.
He was sentenced to five years’ jail and will be eligible for parole on September 7, 2025 owing to 198 days already served in pre-sentence custody.
Read more here.
Gympie man rapes, assaults two women
A Gympie region man has been jailed for almost a decade for a horrific series of sexual offences against two women, including raping both multiple times and branding one’s genitals with a lighter.
The man, who cannot be identified, pleaded guilty in November to 11 charges including six counts of rape, four counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, and one count of assault while armed with a lighter, all domestic violence offences.
Gympie District Court heard the man, aged in his 30s, committed the crimes against two women he was in separate relationships with over a seven-year period.
The man’s barrister submitted several personal references from his immediate family and people who knew the man, but Judge Cash gave these “little weight” saying it was clear they did not really know him given his crimes.
“His character is the character of a violent sex offender,” Judge Cash told the court.
The court heard the man was “remorseful” for his actions.
Judge Cash sentenced the man to nine years’ jail.
He will be eligible for parole on August 22, 2026.
Read more here.
Man guilty of historic child sex crime
A Gympie region man who previously avoided jail time for molesting his niece on grounds it was a one-off crime has been unable to avoid lockup again after pleading guilty to similar offending against another of his nieces.
The man, who cannot legally be identified and previously guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 16 and under his care, returned to the same Gympie region court in May facing three more of the same charges over crimes against a different family member.
He received a wholly suspended jail sentence for the first crime as the court accepted there were “exceptional circumstances”, including that the offence was a single incident.
The court heard at his new appearance this was not the case, sparking a marathon three-hour sentencing in which Judge Bernard Porter wrestled with the facts of what was known about these charges, and when.
The three new charges predated the previous offence, the court heard, occurring more than a decade ago.
Judge Porter found the man would have been aware he may be charged over these crimes at the time of his first sentencing when the court was being told his offending was a “single incident”, and had “said nothing about it in your own interests”.
The man also initially denied to police committing these offences before ultimately pleading guilty.
Had the court dealt with all of these matters at the same time he would likely have received a sentence of up to two-and-a-half years jail.
The man was sentenced this time to 21 months jail, with four months of the term to be served.
The sentence will then be suspended for three years.
Read more here.
Man pleads guilty to sexual assault, rape of granddaughter
A “predatory” 70-year-old man has faced court after molesting and raping his granddaughter for four hours in her own bedroom.
The man, who cannot be identified, faced Gympie District Court in July for his heinous crime as his victim and her sister watched on.
The court heard the victim first noticed the man staring at her legs when she was wearing shorts, but dismissed it.
Crown Prosecutor Michael Andronicus said on the night of the molestation and rape, the man and his victim were alone in the house.
Judge Rosengren accepted the man’s guilty pleas to one count of rape and five counts of sexual assault, telling him his crimes were a “gross abuse of trust and betrayal”.
She sentenced him to three-and-a-half years’ jail, and with 369 days already severed, suspended the remainder of the sentence for four years and ordered his immediate release.
Read more here.
Man guilty of indecent treatment
A Gympie man has been found guilty of three counts of indecent treatment of a teenage boy – two while the boy was under 17 and one when he was older.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was charged with five counts of indecent treatment, two of the charges relate to when the victim was under the age of 17.
A Gympie District Court jury found the man guilty of indecent treatment of a boy under the age of 14 between 1976-1978, indecent treatment of a boy under the age of 17 between 1978-1980 and indecent treatment of a male in June 1982.
The remaining two charges of indecent treatment towards a male were adjourned for a later jury trial date.
The man was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on February 2, 2024.
Sexual predator jailed for 13 sex offences
A serial predator showed no remorse as he was sentenced in Gympie’s District Court to 13 sex offences against a young woman with the cognitive ability of a seven-year-old and “no capacity to consent” after being found guilty by a jury in November.
His victim was the latest of many as the court heard he had been convicted of various sexual charges dating back to 1972 throughout Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria, all involving children aged between 10 to 16.
The multiple historical charges included wilful exposure, indecent acts performed on public beaches and on the front porch of his private home, and indecent treatment of a child under 16.
The court heard the most recent victim was seeking the man’s care and safety when experiencing issues in her own family home and he was trusted to look after her.
Instead, he drove her to secluded places for sex, as well as taking advantage of her when in the shower and her bedroom.
Judge Cash defined the predatory nature as “taking advantage of a vulnerable person living in your home for your own sexual desires.”
After the man showed no remorse or co-operation during the case, Judge Cash characterised him as “someone who has difficulty controlling [their] sexual urges” before handing down the seven-year jail sentence.
Read more here.
Bundaberg grandfather rapes own grandson
A 57-year-old man will spend up to nine years in prison after raping his grandson and taking vile videos and photos of the abuse.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, pleaded guilty at Bundaberg District Court in May to five domestic violence offences – maintain unlawful relationship with a child, making child exploitation material, possessing child exploitation material, and rape.
Crown Prosecutor David Rigby said the boy’s grandfather was living with his family when the abuse began, however it continued even after the man had moved out of the residence.
The abuse had spanned up to four years and started when the boy was under 10 years old.
The man had bribed the boy to commit acts on him with things like money, gaming devices, and mobile phone data.
Referencing the man’s history of retail jobs before moving into a career in manufacturing and warehousing and as a committed animal welfare volunteer, defence barrister Liam Dollar said his client had “a good work ethic” and was “willing to contribute to his community”.
Judge Nathan Jarro took into account the offender’s early plea of guilty into account when sentencing him to nine years in jail with parole eligibility set after three years.
Read more here.
Man found guilty of 12 counts of indecent treatment of a child
A jury has found a man guilty of 12 counts of indecent treatment of a child after a trial in Hervey Bay.
On Tuesday the 51-year-old man pleaded not guilty to six counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12 lineal descendant/guardian/carer, one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16 lineal descendant/guardian/carer and five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 when he appeared before Hervey Bay District Court.
But on Thursday, a jury delivered a guilty verdict on all charges.
Members of the victim’s family openly wept when the verdicts were read out.
The jury found the man, who was a close friend of the boy’s family and cannot be named for legal reasons, sexually molested the child, starting from when the boy was about 10 years old.
Judge William Everson said the offences occurred over a period of about two and a half years, starting when the boy was 10.
He said the man’s offending was for his own sexual gratification, in circumstances where he had been in a position of trust.
The man was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.
Read more here.
Teen sentenced for rape, sexual assault
A drunk teenager who raped a 16-year-old girl while on a sleepover where did she not consent to sex has spent five months in an adult prison.
The now 20-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at Hervey Bay District Court in July to sexual assault and three counts of rape.
The court heard the man was 17 when he sexually assaulted and raped a 16-year-old girl during a sleepover.
The girl had reported the offending to police three days after the incident and a warrant was issued for the man’s arrest, the court was told.
But he was not taken into custody until sometime later and he had since served five months in custody in an adult prison.
Judge Richards said she considered it would be counter-productive for him to spend more time in custody.
The man was given a 12-month intensive corrections order.
In addition, he was sentenced to two years in jail, suspended after the 156 days which he had already spent in custody.
Read more here.
Manager jailed for child rape, indecent treatment
A judge has sentenced a business manager to jail after hearing the sickening details of what he described as “heinous and one of the most serious offences” towards the man’s seven-year-old stepdaughter at the time.
The man, aged in his 30s, cannot be named to protect the victim.
He stood silently in the dock at the Gympie District Court on Monday as he was convicted of five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 years old, three counts of rape and one count each of using a carriage service to access photos of underage children, possessing, making and distributing child exploitation material.
In November 2021, police attended the man’s house and found more than 100 images and 40 movies of child exploitation material on his phone, including the “depiction of rape of young girls by old men”, the Crown Prosecutor told the court.
“They realised some of the material on the phone depicted a child in the house,” he said.
The court heard how further investigations showed he had raped his seven-year-old stepdaughter in October 2021 and then two weeks later “distributed it to other miscreants online”.
The man was sentenced to 10 years jail.
Mr Cash declined to set a parole eligibility date.
Read more here.
Man indecently touches granddaughter on family vacation
A Bundaberg man indecently touched his granddaughter and asked her to perform a sexual act while the family was on holiday in the Bunya Mountains, a Bundaberg court heard in April.
The 67-year-old man, who cannot be named to avoid identifying his victim, pleaded guilty in Bundaberg District Court to two counts of rape and one count of procuring a child under 12 to commit an indecent act.
Crown prosecutor Annica Fritz told the court the victim, a 10-year-old girl at the time of the offending, went on holiday in the Bunya Mountains with her family, including her parents and grandparents.
Judge John Allen KC sentenced the man to two years six months imprisonment to suspended after six months, with the remaining term to be hanging over his head for three years.
Read more here.
Mother-of-three caught with child abuse material
A Kingaroy mother and former youth care worker was convicted in April after police found 52 images and videos on her phone of a teenage boy she had formed a sexual relationship with.
The 42-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to possessing child exploitation material when she fronted Kingaroy District Court.
The court heard the mum-of-three was working at a youth care home for children when she began a relationship with a 16-year-old boy who was in the care of the facility.
Judge Sheridan said she had shown remorse for her actions and accepted it was “out of character” for her based on her lack of criminal history and references submitted by family members and former work colleagues.
Judge Sheridan sentenced the woman to six months imprisonment to be released immediately.
She was also given 12 months probation and a good behaviour order for two years.
Read more here.
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