Benjamin Wayne Klease breaches probation after sex with 14-year-old girl

A Sunshine Coast child sex offender has been slammed for spurning probation and offending despite a judge “bending over backwards” to give the young man a chance to rehabilitate.

A Sunshine Coast man who was jailed for just six months after he had sex with a 14-year-old girl has been slammed for spurning all opportunities of rehabilitation in “the most emphatic way”.

Benjamin Wayne Klease, 28, was handed another jail sentence in the Brisbane District Court after he lost contact with his probation officer, failed to report his change of address and offended following his release.

Court documents say Klease, who was 23 at the time, had forced himself onto the teenage girl known to him in 2017 and had sex with her for two minutes without a condom.

Klease pleaded guilty to one count of carnal knowledge of a child under 16 in the Maroochydore District Court on October 30, 2020, as the prosecution was unable to prove rape.

Benjamin Wayne Klease.

Judge John Allen said in court documents his colleague John Glen Cash “expressed reluctance” when he initially sentenced Klease to six months’ jail combined with two years’ probation.

“It would be fair to say that his Honour bent over backwards to provide you with the certainty of release, so that you would have the opportunity presented by probation, rather than remaining in prison until you could satisfy the parole board that you were a suitable candidate for release on parole,” Judge Allen said.

“You spurned that opportunity for rehabilitation offered by his Honour’s lenient sentence in the most emphatic way.”

Judge Allen said following his release Klease lost contact with the probation office and failed to report his change of address and eventually offended.

Benjamin Wayne Klease was sentenced in the Maroochydore District Court on October 30, 2020. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Klease was sentenced in the Brisbane Magistrates Court in September 2021 for several offences including assault, drug possession and deprivation of liberty committed in May 2021.

Court documents show Klease had a parole release date of May 30, 2022 and was serving another sentence, with his full time release date being March 30, 2024.

Klease’s counsel argued he should receive a suspended jail sentence for breaching his probation, which factored in his disadvantaged upbringing, limited education, employment prospects and his willingness to engage with parole and probation.

Judge Allen said however it was in the interest of the community that Klease would not be released until the parole board was satisfied he was a suitable candidate.

Klease was sentenced to 12 months’ jail for unlawful carnal knowledge of a child under 16 with a parole eligibility date set for May 30, 2022.