Sunshine Coast child sex offenders release dates

Sunshine Coast courts have dealt with countless child sex offenders who have recently been released or are on the cusp of freedom, with some having been released from custody only days ago.

The Sunshine Coast like many regions is battling a dark underbelly of child sexual abuse and our courts seem to be a revolving door for the heinous and shocking exploitation of our children.

According to Sunshine Coast charity No More Fake Smiles at least 577 Queensland children aged nine and under reported being sexually assaulted in 2020.

The charity also states the same year a further 1138 children aged between 10 and 14 and 1205 aged between 15 to 19 reported sexual assault.

According to the Queensland Sexual Assault Network one in six women report they have been physically and/or sexually abused before the age of 15.

Our idea of a child sex offender is challenged by the countless respected community members who are dealt with by our criminal justice system.

From former councillors and political candidates, respected lawyers and fathers, Sunshine Coast courts have dealt with countless child sex offenders who have recently been released or are on the cusp of freedom.

Find out who has regained their freedom in the community.

Joey Myer

A former political candidate who used his position as a personal trainer to rape and indecently treat a 14-year-old girl has regained his freedom and is in the community.

Joey Myer was sentenced to eight years and six months jail in Maroochydore District Court on March 5, last year for indecently treating a girl on seven occasions between October 1, 2018 and January 6, 2019.

Myer, who ran for the seat of Fisher in the 2013 federal election, was found guilty of 11 counts of indecently treating a child under 16 and one count of rape.

In her victim impact statement the girl said the assaults turned her world into a “dark and lonely place”.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed Myer was no longer in custody.

Myer lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court in April last year and is awaiting the court’s decision.

Joey Myer was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison after being found guilty in March 2021 to raping and indecently treating a tenager. Picture: Iain Curry

Caleb Zaccharia Mcewen

A child rapist who was sentenced for his advances on three girls aged 7, 5 and 4 between January 2017 and January 2019 is enjoying his freedom after becoming eligible for parole in September last year.

In January 2017 Caleb Zaccharia Mcewen offered toys to a seven-year-old victim in exchange for being able to abuse her.

Mcewen also raped a four-year-old girl on an unknown date between July 27, 2018 and February 20, 2019.

He told her to keep it a secret and offered her chocolate.

The court heard the third victim was a five-year-old girl who Mcewen exposed his penis to.

In May 2020 Mcewen pleaded guilty in Maroochydore District Court to two counts of the domestic violence offence of indecent treatment of a child under 12, one count of rape, one count of indecent treatment of a child under 12 (expose) and one count of indecent treatment of a child under 12 (procure to commit).

Mcewen was given a head sentence of four years’ imprisonment with parole eligibility after serving 16 months.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman said Mcewen was no longer in custody.

Mcewen has not appealed his sentence.

Mathew James Ronald Brooks

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed a child molester jailed for a heinous act on a little girl is no longer in custody.

Brooks was found guilty in a Maroochydore District Court trial in March, 2020 of one count of indecent treatment of a child under 12 and was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended after serving six months.

He was not related to the girl.

Brooks has since lodged an appeal in the Supreme Court in November 2020 and is awaiting the outcome.

Mathew James Ronald Brooks, 30, was jailed for touching a little girl. Picture: Social media

Dennis Norman Douglas

A repeat child sex offender who horrifically abused a young boy over five years has regained his freedom after three years behind bars.

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.

In July 2018 a jury found Douglas guilty of eight counts of child sexual offences.

Douglas failed to appeal his conviction in the Queensland Court of Appeal, with three judges dismissing his appeal in October 2019.

His full-time release date was previously reported as being January 23, 2022.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed Douglas was no longer in their custody.

Frank James Pardon

A former Noosa councillor who was found guilty of sexual offences against a girl, 14, is believed to have been released from prison in June last year.

Frank James Pardon, 70, was sentenced to a head sentence of three years’ jail, suspended after 18 months, for indecently assaulting a teenager over four months at her workplace during the 1990s.

Following a trial in the Maroochydore District Court, a jury heard that Pardon, who was in his 40s at the time, had performed oral sex on the girl in his car and inappropriately touched and kissed her multiple times at his home and at her workplace.

The former councillor was found guilty in December 2019 of five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, four counts while under care, and one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a minor.

He failed to have the convictions quashed in the Court of Appeal in December, 2020.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed Pardon was not in custody.

Frank Pardon leaving Maroochydore DIstrict Court. Picture: File.

Mark William Hunter

A man, who sexually assaulted three girls in the late 1990s and 2000s could soon be released on parole.

Mark William Hunter, then 50, was sentenced in Maroochydore District Court on June 22, 2020 to five years and nine months’ in prison after he pleaded guilty to eight charges including two counts of sexual assault and one count of carnal knowledge of a girl aged 12-16.

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 during Hunter‘s advances that began in December 1997 when he showed the girl a pornographic movie.

The offending escalated from 2000.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed Hunter was still in custody.

Hunter has never appealed the decision.

It’s understood he will be eligible for parole on March 22, 2022.

Graeme Leigh Smith

Coast church member Graeme Leigh Smith who offended against a girl, 10, could be on the cusp of freedom.

During his sentence in September 2020 Maroochydore District Court heard how Smith indecently treated the girl with his fingers and genitalia on multiple occasions on November 30, 2019.

Smith, then 58, was sentenced to three years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to eight charges of indecent treatment of a child under 12.

He has never appealed the decision in a higher court.

According to his sentence Smith became eligible for parole on September 17, 2021.

Despite his parole eligibility date a Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed Smith was still in custody.

Ariel Jesse Pool

A child rapist who told police he felt an allure to a four-year-old girl’s innocence could be released from prison as early as next year.

Ariel Jesse Pool, then 34, was sentenced in Maroochydore District Court in July, 2020 to seven-and-a-half years’ jail after he was found guilty of 14 charges including maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child.

He told police that he felt slightly allured to the four-year-old after she was smacked.

“She’s just so young and pure and innocent, and that’s no reason to put your hand there but she didn’t mind and I don’t know what the f--- was going through my head,” Pool said in his police interview.

Pool, who was not a relative of the child, is understood to become eligible for parole in January 2023.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed Pool was still in custody.

Pool has never appealed the court’s decision.

Carlito Raistrick

The director of a Brisbane law firm is back in the community after he was jailed for molesting an 11-year-old girl at a Kenilworth campground.

During a trial in Maroochydore District Court in February, last year a jury heard how Carlito Raistrick touched the girl’s breasts, bottom and vagina while behind a bush in 2017.

“I tried to get away from him like push him away or get closer to my friend but he won’t let me go,” the girl said in her evidence.

Raistrick was found guilty of indecently treating a child under 12 and spent six months of his 12-month sentence in custody before being released to serve the remainder in the community.

He has never lodged an appeal over his sentence.

A Queensland Corrective Services spokesman confirmed Raistrick was not in custody.

*For 24-hour sexual violence support call the national hotline 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or MensLine on 1800 600 636.

The mother of a young girl molested at a Sunshine Coast camping ground by Carlito Raistrick, left, speaks about their experience in reporting the incident.