Father pleads guilty in Mackay court to sexual assault

A young woman has described how her life had been destroyed when she was sexually assaulted by her boyfriend’s brother. Read her victim impact statement in full.

A Mackay teen has written a powerful letter to her sexual attacker after he destroyed her life when he twice forced himself on her.

She now has ongoing “extreme nightmares”, feelings of worthlessness and said her life “will never be the same again”.

The pair had met over Facebook in 2019 and she ultimately began a relationship with his brother – they had been together about eight months when the attacks occurred.

Mackay District Court heard the first attack occurred during a drive to Slade Point on June 29, 2020.

He kissed her, she began to cry and then he “used his body weight to hold (her) down”, removed her clothing and grabbed her breast painfully.

The second attack occurred the following day when she had to pick up an item from his house – once inside the house he pulled her by her hair to his bedroom and threw her on his bed.

She landed face down and as he held his hand on the back of her neck, pinning her and she passed out briefly.

The court heard when she regained consciousness he was still on top of her. His DNA was found in her underwear.

The man, now 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault, the second of which involved “significant violence”.

Crown prosecutor Elise Sargent read the teenager’s victim impact statement in which she described how she had “continued to feel victimised”.

“I felt worthless and disrespected,” she wrote.

“I lost all ability to trust, believing that no one was on my side and I was alone.

“I had feelings of self blame. Why was I not worthy of respect? Why did my perpetrator choose me?”

She called out her attacker who “expressed total disregard for my choices, feelings and sexual rights, devastated me as a whole person, mentally, emotionally and socially”.

The court heard the man had spent 362 days in custody where he had worked as a cleaner. He was in a relationship and had a child.

Judge Gregory Lynham labelled it “abhorrent behaviour” and said he had to be careful that he could only sentence the man on the charges of sexual assault despite any more serious inferences.

He said he also had to take into consideration the lengthy parole delays. The man was jailed for two years, immediately suspended after the time already served, with a 2.5 year operational period.

He was also placed on 18 months probation for ongoing supervision. Convictions were recorded.