Logan father who had sex with 15-year-old cousin eligible for parole

A father-of-two who ‘traumatised’ and had sex with his 15-year-old cousin while under the influence of drugs is now eligible for parole.

A 24-year-old man has been sentenced and granted immediate parole eligibility after having sex with his 15-year-old cousin.

The Logan man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in Ipswich District Court on Friday March 25, facing one count of having carnal knowledge with a child under the age of 16.

He pleaded guilty to the charge on Thursday March 24, one day before appearing.

The court heard the man, a father of two, was 23 years old and living with his extended family when in the early hours of a morning in February last year he followed his 15-year-old cousin around the house and propositioned her “a number of times”.

Crown prosecutor Amanda Robinson said that despite her attempts to get away from him he persisted and the pair had sex at the side of a house for a short period of time.

The man desisted when a car drove past him and his cousin. He told her not to tell anyone about what had taken place, but she immediately did so.

Ms Robinson said the man was subsequently questioned by police, denied the offending, and was remanded in custody.

By Friday March 25, he had been in prison for a total of 408 days; 160 of which were related to the carnal knowledge offence.

The man’s counsel Scott Neaves said his client’s childhood was a difficult one, as it was clouded by his own and his family’s drug use.

The court heard he was using cannabis and smoking methylamphetamine by time he was 16 and injecting methylamphetamine by the time he was 17.

“He … made an admission to police that he had used methylamphetamine on the night of the subject offending,” Mr Neaves said.

“He says that around the time of the offending he would have been using two to three points a day intravenously throughout the weeks and months leading up to that.”

Mr Neaves told the court the man had never been employed but had obtained a white card while in custody and hoped to obtain labouring work upon his release.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren took the man’s young age, the time he had already served in custody, and his plea of guilty into consideration when deciding an appropriate penalty.

“Sadly for you and there again sadly for those who have been affected by your crimes, particularly the complainant here and she has been traumatised by this …, you were introduced to drugs … when you were very young,” Mr Horneman-Wren said.

He said the man needed personal deterrence given he committed the offence “back in the throes of drugs” just two months after being released from prison on the last occasion.

The father-of-two was sentenced to 2.5 years’ imprisonment with immediate parole eligibility.

Mr Horneman-Wren declared 160 days of presentence custody as time served under the sentence.