Boyfriend jailed for horrendous assaults on little girl during school drop-offs

A Gympie man’s sickening betrayal of his girlfriend’s trust by abusing her daughter when dropping her at school, and raping her on multiple occasions, has been revealed in court.

A Gympie man, previously convicted of indecent treatment crimes, has been given a jail sentence for almost a year of abuse against his girlfriend‘s young daughter.

The man, 50, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court to three counts of rape, seven counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, grooming a child under 16, indecent treatment of a child under 12, making child exploitation material, possessing child exploitation material, and six counts of failing to comply with his reporting conditions.

The court heard the offences occurred throughout 2020 and 2021, against the daughter of the man’s girlfriend at the time.

Throughout that time, he indecently touched her when dropping her at school, raped her on multiple occasions, sent her inappropriate photos and a video of himself, sent her inappropriate messages, and photographed and filmed her naked.

The court heard police uncovered his offending when they were investigating him for failing to comply with his reporting conditions.

They discovered the inappropriate messages he had sent the child and found inappropriate images of both her and other children on his phone.

The court heard the man had previously been convicted multiple times since 2004 for indecent treatment of children and failing to comply with his reporting, but that this offending was a severe escalation.

Crown prosecutor Jacqueline Malouf said the man engaged in multiple programs throughout previous periods of probation to address his issues, but his probation reports noted that he “showed no insight into his offending and was unwilling to take responsibility for his offending”.

She also noted a victim impact statement had not been tendered to the court, but said “it’s very obvious that offending of this nature will be detrimental to any child”.

Defence barrister Dan Boddice said his client had suffered significant head trauma as a child and now suffered from an intellectual disability, which had some impact on his offending.

Judge Craig Chowdhury said “the courts must impose heavy penalties to men [who commit child sex crimes] … You will get caught, and you will get punished severely for it”.

“You have to be living under a rock not to realise the community’s grave concerns about the sexual abuse of children.”

The man was given a head sentence of nine years imprisonment, and his parole eligibility was set for May 9, 2024.

His 371 days of presentence custody were declared time-served.