Mackay teacher Bradley Hunter Simpson jailed for sexually abusing students

New details about a Queensland teacher who sexually abused more than a dozen students, one as young as 13, can be revealed. Warning: distressing content.

Former Mackay teacher Bradley Hunter Simpson faced Mackay District Court for sexually abusing students.

A former teacher used his power and influence to sexually abuse 15 teenagers over nearly two decades, a Mackay court has heard.

Now living in a quiet suburb west of Rockhampton and wheelchair bound, Bradley Hunter Simpson’s “heinous” and “predatory” offending was revealed in Mackay District Court on Friday.

Crown prosecutor Monique Sheppard said Simpson was a “well respected” teacher in Mackay when he used his “position of trust” as well as cigarettes, alcohol and marijuana to facilitate his offending.

His fourteenth victim, then aged 14 to 15, was introduced to Simpson, then aged 42 to 44, by the thirteenth victim.

Judge John Allen said he would not read aloud the “sordid” details of what Simpson did to the boy in Mackay between late 1999 until March 2001, but it was “extremely serious and heinous” and involved sodomy and oral sex between Simpson, his victim and other children.

The court heard the child had feared for his health and safety and only came forward as an adult after he made a submission to the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse and was then encouraged to make a police statement.

“(The victim) describes himself as a broken man whose life was stolen,” Judge Allen said.

Simpson’s fifteenth victim, then a 13-year-old boy, had reported the abuse but later withdrew his complaint.

Ms Sheppard said the child was at the time in the care of the Department of Family Services.

“He exposed the child to a pornographic video, then picked him up from the bed, carried him into his room, then sodomised him, causing him pain,” Ms Sheppard said.

Former Mackay teacher Bradley Hunter Simpson faced Mackay District Court for sexually abusing students.

Ms Sheppard said the boy left the house but Simpson persuaded him to return, after which he showed him more pornographic films, sodomised him again, and then “procured” him to perform fellatio, as well as had another child masturbate the victim.

The 13 year old fled the house again and sought help, and was taken to the hospital.

Judge Allen said the teenager would later withdraw his formal complaint out of shame and embarrassment, not speaking up again until late 2016.

He described the offending as “an extremely predatory abuse of trust”.

Ms Sheppard submitted that Simpson receive a six years jail sentence but defence barrister Paul Rutledge, instructed by Barron and Allen, said this was too high considering his client had already spent 13 years behind bars for what he did to his first 12 victims.

On April 14, 2005, Simpson was sentenced in Mackay District Court to 12 years jail after serving 390 days in pre-sentence custody, for more than 70 child sex offences between January 1986 and December 2003 including sodomy, indecent treatment, sexual assault, and maintaining relationships.

Simpson also appeared before Townsville District Court on August 25, 2022, where he pleaded guilty to five offences against his thirteenth victim, including maintaining a sexual relationship in 1984, for which he was given a wholly-suspended two-and-a-half years jail sentence.

Former Mackay teacher Bradley Hunter Simpson has sexually abused 14 teenagers over almost two decades.

Mr Rutledge submitted for a two-and-a-half year jail cumulative jail term, arguing the prosecution’s case would effectively create a 19-to-20-year jail term for Simpson’s offending over the same period.

He said Simpson had limited mobility after his leg was amputated following a car crash, and that he took multiple daily pills as he suffered from bipolar, claustrophobia, major depressive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and hyperlipidemia.

Mr Rutledge said the 66-year-old was impotent and posed no threat to society having regularly reported to police since January 2021 as a registered child sex offender.

“There is no doubt that his behaviour is serious but at the end of the day, he has simply done enough time as punishment,” Mr Rutledge said.

Judge Allen said Simpsons’ timely pleas were a “significant mitigating factor” as they prevented his fourteenth and fifteenth victims from needing to give evidence.

He said personal deterrence and protecting the Queensland community had “little significance” on his sentencing as Simpson’s mental and physical health was poor, and he had already demonstrated rehabilitation.

Judge Allan said general deterrence and denunciation of his crimes had more weight.

Simpson, who pleaded guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, two counts of sodomy, and five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, was given a head sentence of five years jail.

It will be suspended after serving 12 months with an operational period of five years.