Former RAAF, truck driver jailed for rape of 14yo girl

A teenage girl thought her own mother was on the side of the old man she called ‘poppy’ who sexually abused her for about a year, a court has heard.

A man, aged in his early 70s, has been sentenced in the Rockhampton District Court after a jury found him guilty of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, two of rape and one of indecent treatment of a child under care.

A teenage girl who “lacked emotional intelligence” was “not given appropriate boundary setting instructions by her parents” and thought her own mother was on the side of the old man she called ‘poppy’ who sexually abused her for about a year, a court has heard.

The man, aged in his early 70s, was sentenced in the Rockhampton District Court after a jury found him guilty of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, two of rape and one of indecent treatment of a child under care.

Crown prosecutor Arielle Spiteri said the girl and her family had moved to live on the same property as the defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

The court heard the victim and a sibling slept in the same caravan as the defendant, a former member of the Royal Australian Air Force, while their parents slept elsewhere.

“Her family were not overly engaged in her care, it seems, and so she did rely on the defendant for several of her daily needs,” Ms Spiteri said,

She said the offending involved took place every day and night and “was brazen” with the girl’s sibling in the same van, sometimes in the same bed.

“He (the defendant) would tell her not to tell anyone what was happening,” Ms Spiteri said.

Judge Jeff Clarke said the offending was revealed to adults by the child’s older sister and the defendant’s biological granddaughter who intervened.

“(He) decided to take advantage of a young girl who lacked the worldly sophistication of other girls her age,” he said.

“She clearly lacked the emotional intelligence of a typical 14 year old, no doubt impacted by her parents who seemed to me to be absent or not inclined to provide the support she deserved.

“She clearly had not been given adequate instruction about appropriate physical boundary setting and/or sexual education.

“The child was not at all assertive, was easily manipulated and became the target of (the defendant’s) need for perverse sexual experience and gratification.

“She herself thought her mother was on (the defendant’s) side and would not believe her and that also explains how this went on for so long.”

Judge Clarke said while the child struggled with verbal communication, she managed to show and demonstrate what the defendant, who she called ‘poppy’ even though they were not genetically related, did to her despite her “obvious embarrassment of having to relive these distressing events”.

Ms Spiteri said the victim’s mother reports the child has become apprehensive around older men who live where they currently reside.

“She won’t approach them unless she’s with her mother,” Ms Spiteri said.

The father of six, who had worked as a truck driver for most of his adult life, had no criminal history.

Judge Clarke last month sentenced him to 4.5 years prison, suspended after serving two years and three months with an operational period of 4.5 years.

He declared two days presentence custody as time already served.