Mackay region father jailed for five years for vile child sex abuse charges

A father committed revolting sex abuse acts against his young step daughter, including telling her he had “heaps of opportunities to rape her”, and his sons’ young girlfriends.

A Mackay region man told his quasi step daughter he had “heaps of opportunities to raper her”.

A vile father unleashed revolting sex abuse acts against his young step daughter including telling her he had “heaps of opportunities to rape her” – now he’s upset how he is being beaten up in jail.

This sets the tone for a highly sexualised home in the Mackay region where he plied his sons’ underage girlfriends with alcohol and allowed them to engage in sexual conduct, sometimes while he watched or listened from outside their bedroom.

Two of his adult sons have already been jailed for their despicable crimes – one of whom was labelled a danger after he corrupted eight young victims.

Mackay District Court heard the father was in his late 20s when he started making “sexualised, weird comments” about his quasi step daughter’s body – she often had to stay with him while her mother, who was in a relationship with the man, was at work.

She was aged five to seven when she accidentally walked in on one of her half brothers masturbating and quickly left upset.

The Mackay region man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, called her “dirty” and then pulled a pair of used underwear from the washing pile and sniffed it in front of her saying “something about her not being innocent”.

Crown prosecutor Caitlin Penfold said he then sat her on the washing machine and kissed her using his tongue.

When she was seven she walked in on him watching pornography, he showed her naked photos of boys and asked if she found them attractive – when she said no, he asked if she was a lesbian.

The Mackay region man pleaded guilty to rape and two counts each of indecent treatment of a child under 12 and permitting abuse of child under 16 on premises.

Ms Penfold told the court as she became older, he made comments about “having heaps of opportunities to rape her” and “spoke about fantasies about raping her”.

After his arrest in early 2022 he told police he was a “porn addict”, spoke about the child exploitation industry and “discussed his feeling of temptation in relation to (his step daughter)”.

The court heard she became friends with two girls who would later become the underage girlfriends of her much older brothers after they all met at her 12th birthday party.

Ms Penfold said the two girls regularly slept over the family house where they were given alcohol by the man and his sons.

“The family spoke openly about sex and relationships,” she said, adding the man was aware his sons were engaging in sex with the underage girls.

The court heard his only rule “was the children were not to get pregnant”.

Ms Penfold said the man would also try and spy on the “couples” when they were doing sexual acts.

When the stepdaughter raised concerns that her half brothers “would go to jail and her friends would be traumatised” he said, “oh well they like it, can’t he helped”.

The court heard one time one of the underage girlfriends had thought she was engaged in a sex act with the son only to find him laughing, looked over and realised she was being digitally raped by the father who also laughed when she became upset.

“The offending was brazen, callous,” Ms Penfold said.

The man pleaded guilty to rape and two counts each of indecent treatment of a child under 12 and permitting abuse of child under 16 on premises.

The court heard he had already spent 382 days in jail on remand.

Barrister Paul Rutledge said his client’s time in custody had been hard – he was currently in the protection unit at Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre.

The court heard he had been in Capricornia Correctional Centre with one of his sons, but the news “slipped out” about their offending.

“So he’s become a marked man within the corrective services system,” Mr Rutledge said, adding his client had been assaulted and threatened prompting the move to the Ipswich-based facility.

Mr Rutledge added there had since been more threats and a minor assault.

“He lives everyday looking over his shoulder,” he said.

The man was visibly upset this information was revealed.

The court heard he had returned to religion, which was a feature of his stable upbringing as a child, and on his released he wanted to work part time and act as a carer for his elderly parents.

Judge Michael Byrne said the details of the case “speak volumes of the sexualised environment within which this occurred”.

“I recognise that you don’t make any excuses for your offending,” Judge Byrne said, adding the courts did not often come across the charge of permitting use of premises for child abuse.

The man was jailed for five years with parole eligibility on September 10, 2023 after serving 18 months.

Convictions were recorded and he, like his sons, will be a reportable child sex abuse offender.