NAMED: List of Sunshine Coast child sex offenders
From a predator who lured young boys in a shopping centre to a man who raped a four-year-old girl, here are 12 convicted child sex offenders who have gone through Sunshine Coast courts in the past year.
Police & Courts
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From a predator who tricked young boys in performing sex acts on him in a shopping centre cubicle to a child rapist who felt an allure to a four-year-old girl because she was "so young and pure and innocent," here are 12 convicted child sex offenders who have gone through Sunshine Coast courts in the past year.
Slap on the wrist for child rapist who targeted three girls
There was anger in the courtroom as a child rapist was sentenced for his advances on three girls under the age of 8.
Maroochydore District Court heard Caleb Zaccharia Mcewen engaged with three girls aged 7, 5 and 4 between January 2017 and January last year.
Crown prosecutor Will Slack said the offending began in January 2017 when Mcewen offered toys to the seven-year-old in exchange for being able to touch her vagina on one occasion and then rub her vagina a day later.
The second victim was a four-year-old girl who was raped by Mcewen on an unknown date between July 27, 2018 and February 20, last year.
The court heard the third victim was a five-year-old girl who Mcewen "dared to show him her buttocks".
Mcewen was given a head sentence of four years in jail with parole eligibility after serving 16 months.
'Disgusted': Three victims watch as child molester jailed
Three women watched as the man who touched them when they were teenagers was jailed.
Mark William Hunter, now 50, sat emotionless in the dock at Maroochydore District Court as he was jailed for sexually assaulting the girls in the late 1990s and 2000s.
The court heard his most serious offending occurred against one of the girls who was the victim of his advances for two-and-a-half years.
She was aged between 10 and 14 and her family was living in the Gympie region.
Crown prosecutor Will Slack said Hunter's advances began in December 1997 when he showed the girl a pornographic movie.
Another teenager was victim to Hunter during the same period, when she was aged 13 and 14.
Hunter entered the girl's room and asked if he could have sex with her.
When the third woman was 17 she asked Hunter for a lift from Maroochydore to Gympie.
The court heard he touched her breasts, and rubbed her legs and vagina outside her underwear.
Hunter was sentenced to five years and nine months in jail.
He will be eligible for parole on March 22, 2022.
Power cuts homes, but no rain damage
Child rapist's confession after touching little girls
A child rapist told police he felt an allure to a four-year-old girl because she was "so young and pure and innocent".
The girl's mother sat in Maroochydore District Court as Ariel Jesse Pool, 34, was jailed for touching and orally raping the little girl.
The court heard Pool had maintained a sexual relationship with another girl who was aged 10 and 11 when she was touched, or made to touch him, on about 280 occasions over 13 months.
"He manipulated her into doing indecent acts on him," Crown prosecutor Christopher Cook said.
"On that first occasion he also touched her vagina over the top of her pyjamas for about two minutes.
"There was an occasion where the defendant exposed his penis and had her masturbate it for five to 10 minutes."
Pool was given a head sentence of seven-and-a-half years' jail with parole eligibility after serving one third.
Child abuser caught in despicable act on Coast train
A shocked passenger alerted police after they witnessed an elderly man sexually abuse a young boy 63 years his junior on a Sunshine Coast train.
It was about 4pm on December 16 when at least two people witnessed Noel Alexander Brown, 74, inappropriately touch his 11-year-old victim, who was known but not related to him.
Crown prosecutor Katherine Milbourne told Maroochydore District Court Brown stroked the boy's thighs, buttocks and lower back before he fondled his victim's genitals over his underwear and touched himself.
Ms Milbourne said one of two people who witnessed the "brazen" act took video footage which she claimed showed Brown touch the boy in a "clearly sexual manner".
The passenger called police who confronted Brown when he stepped off the train in Nambour.
Judge Cash sentenced Brown to 12 months' jail wholly suspended for three years.
Child sex offender told boy, 10, abuse 'completely normal'
A repeat child sex offender who horrifically abused a young boy over five years will remain behind bars after losing his appeal.
Sunshine Coast man Dennis Norman Douglas, 48, began sexually abusing a young family friend at Albany Creek when the boy was just 10 years old.
A jury found Douglas guilty of eight counts of child sexual offences in July 2018 after the young victim, now 23, was forced to give evidence at the trial.
The court was told Douglas would frequently visit the family's house and would sit on the couch with the boy while he played video games, placing a blanket over both of them so he could touch the boy's genitals.
Douglas assured the boy that it was "completely normal", the court heard.
The abuse escalated when the family moved and Douglas would be asked to babysit.
He would masturbate the boy and performed oral sex on him at least 15 times, sometimes in the family's swimming pool.
Douglas' full-time release date was set at January 23, 2022.
Child rapist appeals 10-year jail sentence
A convicted rapist who sexually abused two young brothers appealed his 10-year jail sentence, arguing that it was "manifestly excessive".
Christopher John McCoy, 28, groomed two Sunshine Coast boys, who were then aged 7 and 8, before subjecting them to horrific abuse between 2011 and 2013.
In 2018, a jury found McCoy guilty of multiple counts of rape, indecent treatment of a child and maintaining a sexual relationship.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing and accessing child exploitation material.
Between December 31 and January 2013, McCoy raped and sexually abused the two brothers, sometimes filming the abuse and offering bribes for sexual acts.
When police interviewed him about the offending, McCoy told officers he liked young boys aged 11-13 and would often trawl through Twitter profiles to try to connect with other people who liked children.
The Court of Appeal upheld his sentence, saying that it adequately reflected his "abhorrent behaviour" towards the brothers.
Convicted child rapist avoids jail after contact with boy
A convicted child rapist narrowly avoided more jail time after he was caught in contact with a 14-year-old.
Troy Alan Christie, 47 pleaded guilty to fail to comply with reporting in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Friday.
Police prosecutor James Allen told the court Christie was jailed for three years which was wholly suspended for three years in the Townsville District Court on March 11, 2019.
At the time of his sentence, he had served four months in custody.
"As the result of previous convictions for the rape and indecent treatment of a child under 16, Mr Christie is a reportable offender," Mr Allen said.
The court heard that Christie's order has a condition that contact with children under 18 must be made to the child protection offender registry in Brisbane within 24 hours of the contact of taking place.
"On November 30, police had cause to attend Christie's home address at Mooloolaba for a routine compliance check," Mr Allen said.
A child who was present identified as a 14-year-old.
Christie was sentenced to four months in jail with an immediate parole release date.
Firey's brutal sex abuse pushed teen to brink of suicide
A firefighter who molested a friend's teenage son hung his head as a court heard how the harrowing impact of his actions pushed his victim to the brink of suicide.
Ian Alexander Everingham, 46, of the Sunshine Coast, pleaded guilty in Maroochydore District Court to four counts of indecent treatment of a 14-year-old boy under his care over a one-year period starting in 2008.
Prosecutor Alex Stark told the court Everingham was a family friend who took advantage of his victim at a Mount Isa home while he stayed with him.
Mr Stark told the court Everingham thought his victim was asleep when on separate occasions he rubbed the boy's penis with his hand, twice over the clothes and twice skin-to-skin.
Judge Glen Cash sentenced him to 18 months in jail, suspended after he had served six months with the remainder operational for three years.
Trusted businessman, rapist uncle: He left me an empty shell
Decades have passed since a five-year-old Darren Elliott was lured with chocolate into the predatory arms of his well-known uncle, but the tormented memories have never left.
The 50-year-old can still remember the purple bike he was given for Christmas when his uncle, William Roland Elliott and former owner of a Mooloolaba dive shop, raped him while his parents were at dinner.
"It's impacted every part of my life … I'm an empty shell," Darren said.
The pair came face-to-face after 30 years at Maroochydore District Court where William, also known as "Bill", was sentenced for the crime he committed as a 14-year-old boy against his nephew.
William was meant to be babysitting Darren on a family holiday to Maroochydore when he lured him into a bedroom and raped him in 1974.
Sexual predator's sick tactics to abuse young boys
A court heard the disturbing tactics a sexual predator used to try to trick and bribe young boys to satisfy his own sick desires in a shopping centre toilet block.
Shane Michael Fitzsimmons, 31, appeared composed before Maroochydore District Court as Judge Gary Long told the shattering impact he had on two victims, aged 14 and 10, their families and the community.
Judge Long told the court Fitzsimmons was in a toilet cubicle for more than an hour, during which time he asked two 14-year-old boys in neighbouring cubicles "what was the time?", and whether they touched themselves. Fitzsimmons was masturbating when he tried to pay one boy for sexual acts.
The boys fled and reported the exchanges to a cleaner.
One month later Fitzsimmons, who has a diagnosed "foot fetish", said he "gave in" when he spotted a barefoot boy walking alone in Woolworths.
He asked the boy if he needed to go to the toilet, then offered him $20 to follow him.
The boy obliged and was locked in the cubicle for 20 minutes with Fitzsimmons, who licked the boy's toes, forced him to lick his toes, and made the boy perform a sex act. The boy refused further bribes and fled when Fitzsimmons unlocked the door.
Fitzsimmons was sentenced to seven years and six months in jail for taking a child for immoral purposes, with lesser concurrent terms for deprivation of liberty, attempted and actual indecent treatment of a child under 12, and two charges of grooming the 14-year-old boy.
Man's sexual relations with 15yo girl: appeal dismissed
A man who had sexual relations with a 15-year-old girl and introduced her to "ice" had his appeal dismissed.
A decision handed down by the Supreme Court of Queensland found that there was enough evidence to convict Nicholas Alexander John Webber of five charges.
Webber was convicted after trial before a jury in the Maroochydore District Court on August 29 last year on three counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 and two counts of carnal knowledge of a child under 16.
The court document read that in September 2016, the complainant was 15-years-old. Webber was known to her mother.
The first incident happened when Webber kissed the complainant on the lips.
On the same day as the kiss, penile/vagina sexual intercourse took place between Webber and the complainant.
Convicted rapist jailed for being in contact with children
A convicted rapist who was not allowed any contact with children by court orders was caught by police squatting in the house of an elderly man, with two youngsters present.
Aaron John Leslie Bunt, 27, pleaded guilty in Maroochydore Magistrates Court to four charges including fail to comply with reporting and enter dwelling and commit indictable offence.
The court heard that between January 1 and March 30 this year, Bunt failed to comply with a reporting obligation, namely ongoing, unreported contact with a child.
Police prosecutor Nichale Bool told the court Bunt was convicted in Gympie District Court in October, 2016, for three counts of rape of a 12-year-old girl.
On March 12 this year, police had cause to attend Bunt's house in Tewantin, where he was warned about his contact with children.
On March 30, Mr Bunt was located at another address in Tewantin, which the court heard belonged to a 90-year-old man unknown to Bunt who was in care at the time.
Police had been alerted to squatters at the address by local residents. Bunt and two children were located at the address.
Bunt was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with a parole eligibility date of October 18 this year.
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