Ipswich stepdad fronts court for creepy filming, indecent treatment of young girl

An Ipswich man who shared disturbing videos of his young stepdaughter in her bedroom, and wanted to ‘escalate’ his offending, is back on the streets after a judge decided he had spent too much time behind bars.

An Ipswich man who distributed creepy videos of his pre-pubescent stepdaughter in her bedroom will be released into the community later today after a judge decided he had already spent too much time behind bars. PICTURE: FILE

An Ipswich man who secretly filmed two children and his wife inside their home over a two-year period, before distributing the creepy video stash, will be released from custody.

The man, 26, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court on August 11, 2023, to making child exploitation material (DV), indecently treating a child under 12 in his care (DV), making observations or recordings in breach of privacy (DV), possessing child exploitation material, distributing child exploitation using an anonymising service, distributing intimate images, and contravening an order about device information.

The court heard he had secretly filmed and took photographs of his stepdaughter on multiple occasions over a period of over two years while she was aged eight to 10.

He set up cameras and videoed her in different locations throughout the house – inside her bedroom, while asleep, and in other scenarios where she was likely to be undressed.

The court heard he had produced “quite a volume of material”, which included a video of him touching the child’s naked body.

Crown prosecutor Hamish McIntyre said there was another child victim of the making child exploitation material offence – who was an unidentified girl aged four to five that had visited the house.

But it wasn’t just the children that the man had made videos of, Mr McIntyre said.

The man had also filmed his wife and distributed her intimate images without her knowledge.

Police raided the man’s house in 2021 and uncovered the material he had produced, along with other material he had not produced.

Judge Dennis Lynch said that other material included 10 images and 10 videos which showed “grossly invasive” sexual exploitation of children.

The man had shared that material, along with the material he had produced, with another person over a period of nine months, the court heard.

Mr McIntyre said the man had expressed a desire to escalate his offending in his conversations with that other person over a messaging app.

Further, the man had explicitly expressed sexual desires towards children – and his stepdaughter specifically.

Mr McIntyre said the man was “clearly an offender who will offend against children broadly – having had at least two victims”.

“He is in my submission a danger to children in the community.”

Defence barrister Dan Boddice said his client had been in custody for 610 days since his arrest.

He said this was an “exorbitant” amount of time given the fact his client was a youthful first offender.

Mr Boddice said the man had completed a number of certificates during that time in custody, and was now planning to reside and seek work in Laidley upon his release.

The prosecution and defence both agreed that around four years’ imprisonment would be an appropriate sentence for the man.

Judge Lynch said given the man’s guilty plea, he would ordinarily be entitled to be released or eligible for release after serving one third of his sentence.

However, the man had already served more than one third of the agreed upon sentence of four years while in presentence custody.

Judge Lynch said he would reduce the sentence he would have otherwise imposed – to take that excess time into account.

He sentenced the man to three and a half years imprisonment, wholly suspended after having served his 610 days in presentence custody.

Judge Lynch said he would impose the lengthiest operational period for that suspended sentence possible, five years.

He warned the man he would be locked up from a “very very long time” if he reoffended in that time.