Man in Rockhampton court for indecent treatment of a child under 16

Shaking with fear, a young teenage girl told a 67-year-old retiree she had asthma in hopes he would take her home after he drove her to a secluded location at night and started to kiss her.

A 67-year-old man has pleaded guilty in the District Court in Rockhampton to one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16 under care.

Shaking with fear, a young teenage girl told a 67-year-old retiree she had asthma in hopes he would take her home after he drove her to a secluded location in Rockhampton at night and started to kiss her.

The District Court in Rockhampton heard the man, who by law cannot be named, knew the 14-year-old girl’s mother and had known the girl for about seven years.

The man texted the girl on March 26, 2023 asking to go to her place and she got in his ute and they went for a drive about 6.30pm.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton said the man drove the girl near the Rockhampton Airport.

The court heard they were at a relatively isolated area on Canoona Rd.

Mr Sutton said the man complimented the girl and massaged her shoulders.

“He has referred to it as kind of like a date,” he said.

Mr Sutton said the man leant over and kissed the girl with an open mouth and touched her leg.

The court heard he told her not to tell anyone what you had done before kissing her again on the neck and mouth.

Mr Sutton said the girl, in fear, began shaking and said she had asthma so he would take her home.

He said the man took the girl home and kissed her goodbye.

Mr Sutton said the girl told her mother, who confronted the man and that he “made admissions to her”.

He said the man attended the police station and “admitted he had kissed the victim and questioned whether that was indecent”.

The man’s defence barrister, Julie Marsden, said her client was friends with the victim’s mother and that her daughters visited regularly and became friends with him.

“He played with them, he provided things for them, he assisted the mother,” she said.

Ms Marsden said her client, who had no children and was retired, no longer had contact with the family.

“He has told me he is reluctant to have contact with young people at all for fear of falling foul of the law again,” she said.

Ms Marsden said her client had sought professional assistance and had been diagnosed with an impairment in social interactions, where he had “difficulty understanding motives and emotions of others”.

She said her client was feeling lonely at the time of the offending, having been rejected by an adult female friend.

“He instructs there was no sexual intent,” she said.

“It was simply an impromptu thing that happened when he was feeling low at the time.

“He accepts he has clearly crossed a boundary and he has taken steps to address that.”

Mr Sutton argued an open mouth kiss and kiss on the neck was passionate and questioned the man’s remorse.

The man pleaded guilty on March 15 to one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16 under care.

Judge Jeff Clarke sentenced him to prison for eight months, suspended for 18 months.