Mackay region man pleads guilty to child sex abuse charges

The old man who was ‘like family’ to his young victim shockingly took explicit photos and touched her, before telling police she seduced him. GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING

A Mackay region man, 73, pleaded guilty to vile child sex abuse conduct committed against a seven-year-old girl.

A predator who was “like family” to his young victim shockingly told police she seduced him after he took explicit photos and molested her.

The vile offending occurred in 2021 when the little girl was staying on a property south of Mackay where the man, aged in his 70s, lived.

They were not related but he was considered “family” to the seven-year-old girl.

Mackay District Court heard one afternoon he lured the little girl away on the promise of feeding the horses, but instead brought her to his home.

Crown prosecutor Lara Soldi said he removed her underwear and “asked her to lie on his bed like a star” before taking explicit photos and touching her with both his mouth and hands.

The court heard the victim’s father had gone looking for the little girl and called out for her.

The man replied saying she was inside his home learning how to use a computer.

The vile offending occurred in 2021 when the little girl was aged seven and he was in his 70s.

But when the father looked in a window, he saw his daughter pulling up her pants and the older man holding his phone.

Two weeks earlier, she also had been at his home and he had taken multiple photos of her exposed genitals and bottom.

When police spoke to him, he said the seven-year-old victim “had been leading him on, but he didn’t want to get her in strife”.

“He said it started when she sat on his lap and asked for a cuddle and of course he felt aroused because in his words ‘he’s only human’,” Ms Soldi said.

“This must have been such a terrifying discovery and realisation for her father.

“He must have asked his daughter the question of whether she was touched while dreading the answer.”

The man pleaded guilty to indecent treatment against a child aged under 12 that included both touching and taking explicit photos. He has spent 282 days in custody on remand.

He took photos and touched her inappropriately, then blamed his conduct on the little girl telling police she had seduced him.

He has no criminal history, which Ms Soldi said was common in these cases where child sex abuse offenders had led otherwise blameless lives but “whose disgraceful conduct is inexplicable”.

“The nature of these events was predatory and it was thought out and it was deceitful,” Ms Soldi said.

“It is alarming and demonstrates a shocking lack of insight that he effectively painted this seven-year-old child as some sort of Lolita and said that he was only human and therefore helpless apparently to the way that she, a seven year old, seduced him.”

Defend barrister Scott Moon handed up five pages of submissions but verbally placed nothing of his client’s actions on the record other than to argue two-and-a-half years was at the higher end, but “couldn’t cavil with two years”.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren jailed the man for two years with immediate release.

He has already served 282 days. The remaining jail term will hang over his head for three years. He must also complete an 18-month probation order.

“You tried to minimise your involvement and very concerningly on occasions you even went as far as blaming the seven year old,” Judge Rosengren said.

The man pleaded guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 12.

“You told (police) that she had been leading you on and then made the totally self-serving and, one might say absurd, comment that you didn’t want to get her in strife.

“After having told multiple lies you continued to minimise your involvement in the offending.

“It is such a betrayal to do this to a young child. The prosecutor has aptly described your offending as predatory and deceitful.”

Convictions were recorded.