Former school teacher’s aide Nathan John Dodd, 37, jailed for stalking a mother and her daughter

A man who stalked a woman and her daughter for three days, and sat at an occupied table in a public park where he performed a sex act, blames alcohol for his offending. Full details here.

A man who stalked a woman and her daughter for three days in Rockhampton, and sat at an occupied table at Gracemere and masturbated in front of a group of people, blames his offending on an alcohol problem.

Nathan John Dodd, 37, pleaded guilty on April 8 in Rockhampton Magistrates Court to two counts of stalking, one of indecent act in a public place and one of public nuisance.

Dodd’s criminal record includes convictions for raping a 14-year-old girl, as well as sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl by placing his hand up her shorts and touching her as she walked in a Central Queensland shopping centre.

In late February and early March this year, Dodd followed a woman and her 10-year-old daughter over three days in Allenstown.

After being followed from Allenstown shopping centre on the third day, the woman and child continued walking past their residence in fear of Dodd who had been hiding behind bushes and cars.

The woman called her sister to pick her and the child up with the sister confronting Dodd and taking photographs of him.

The indecent act took place on February 27 at Conaghan Park on Lawrie Street in Gracemere, next to a Muay Thai centre and near two medical centres, a bakery, a butcher shop and a chemist.

Dodd sat down at an occupied table and publicly masturbated until he was confronted and told to stop by a 58-year-old woman at the table that he looked at while carrying out the inappropriate sex act.

The public nuisance charge involved Dodd wolf-whistling at a female shopper on January 30 at Gracemere and he then made an inappropriate hand gesture towards her as she drove past him.

Magistrate Philippa Beckinsale said the victim in the park incident told Dodd to “put it away” and while he complied, he stayed sitting at the table until police arrived.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Sarah Rowe said Dodd was on a suspended sentence at the time of these offences for the offending against the 16-year-old.

“The charges before the court have placed multiple members of the community at risk of his behaviour and has caused fear to a child and a mother’s safety,” she said.

“The defendant’s actions show little regard for women and children of the community, conducting himself in a completely inappropriate manner.

“He’s actions show he fails to address his offending behaviour and he harasses and intimidates victims.”

Defence lawyer Brendan Gimbert said his client had issues with alcohol, particularly consuming large amounts of alcohol and he would drink cask wine for two or three days to the point where he had no recall of what he did while intoxicated.

He said Dodd had been drinking alcohol since he was 15 and had managed to stay sober for six to seven months after his last period of incarceration, but reached a point of continuous unemployment where he felt he couldn’t do anything but drink.

Mr Gimbert said his client had previously worked as a teacher’s aide at Mount Morgan Primary School, worked for Rockhampton Regional Council, on the railway and fruit picking, but had been on Centrelink benefits for years now.

Ms Beckinsale said Dodd was one of those people who may never be able to have an alcoholic beverage ever again.

Mr Gimbert said Dodd previously thought he would be okay having just a few but now realised he had no control over himself when he drank and was motivated to stay sober.

Ms Beckinsale sentenced Dodd to 12-months’ prison, activated the suspended sentence with it to be served concurrently, declared 37 days pre-sentence custody as time served, and set parole eligibility as of April 8.