Central QLD mine worker jailed for historical child sex abuse

For 20 years this man managed to avoid jail after being charged over heinous acts against his stepsister.

A man has been sentenced for sexually abusing his stepsister - 20 years after he was originally charged.

A Central Queensland man managed to escape justice for 20 years after he was first charged over the sexual abuse of his 12-year-old stepsister.

The man, who by law cannot be identified to protect the victim, was charged in 2005 with maintaining a sexual relationship with a child after the stepsister made her complaint to police and pretext calls took place.

At the time it was about 16 years after the offending stopped, Rockhampton District Court heard this week.

He was also convicted that year for failing to appear in court over the charge,

Crown Prosecutor Monique Bros-Wilshire said the offender had lived in the same Central Queensland town for almost 20 years but had not been in contact with police since his arrest.

Judge Jeff Clarke said the offending took place over a 13-month period in the 1980s and involved the man touching the child’s breasts and genitalia, getting her to masturbate him and other sex acts.

He said it started off occurring three or four times a week and progressed to every night with one of their siblings witnessing some of the acts.

The court heard the offending took place at several houses.

“It only stopped when she had to move out of home,” Judge Clarke said.

“(He) had been offending against her for a number of years beforehand, from when she was only about six years of age; that is only relied on as context to explain the offending here was not isolated.”

He said the victim impact statement confirmed this victim suffered the same things many child sex abuse victims do: “ the lack of ability to trust other people, an emergence of feelings of defiance of authority, an inability to concentrate and follow through either with education or employment tasks which leads to then poor educational qualification and limited work history; fractured relationships especially with other family members, and also other extended people; lonely lives, substance abuse.”

“She’s suffered all of these things and the other common feature, being feelings of self-blame and feelings of guilt and insecurity she had to leave home at only 14.

“Hopefully there can be some sense of closure to her now that the proceedings have actually come to an end.”

Defence barrister Simon Lewis explained how his client came back to the attention of authorities 20-years after his last court appearance. He said the man had worked in a mechanic type job in mines in Central Queensland, applied for WorkCover and “that sent something off somewhere”.

He also said the man was “a heavy (alcohol) drinker” during the offending period and had a “poor relationship” with his partner of that time.

The man pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining sexual relationship with a child and was sentenced to three and a half years’ prison, suspended after serving six months with an operational period of three and a half years.