‘She wanted it’: Dad preys on girl, 10, at sleepover

A Coast church member who rubbed cream and his penis all over a 10-year-old girl’s vagina and said she ‘wanted’ it should be grateful for his lenient sentence, a court heard.

Graeme Smith was jailed for three years after pleading guilty in Maroochydore District Court on Friday to child abuse charges.

*****TRIGGER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION ABOUT INDECENT TREATMENT OF A MINOR. THIS MAY BE TRIGGERING TO READERS WITH SIMILAR EXPERIENCES.*****

A Coast church member who rubbed cream and his penis all over a 10-year-old girl’s vagina said she “wanted” it, a court heard.

Graeme Leigh Smith, 58, was sentenced to three years jail in Maroochydore District Court on Friday, eligible for parole on September 17 next year.

Judge Richard Jones said Smith should be grateful for the lenient sentence.

“In my view, I’ve adopted a relatively lenient approach which you ought to be grateful,” he said.

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The court heard the victim was downloading an internet game when Smith came into the office and got her to sit on his lap on November 30 last year.

“He used his hands to spread her legs before leaning her forward and essentially rubbed his genitalia against her genitalia and bottom in that position through clothing,” crown prosecutor Alex Stark said.

The court heard when the victim was sleeping that night, Smith got into the bottom bunk with her and asked her to lie on her back and rested his hands on her bottom.

Smith then pulled her underwear down and rubbed her vagina with his finger.

“At that point he told her not to tell anyone otherwise he would get into trouble,” Mr Stark said.

The court heard Smith then asked the victim to sneak into another bedroom with him.

“He came into the room, pulled her underwear down and again placed his finger to her vagina and moved his fingers from side to side,” Mr Stark said.

“He then got a bottle of cream and rubbed cream into her genitalia and it started to sting.

“He then told her to position herself on all fours and she did so.

“He pulled his own pants down and rubbed his penis against her vagina for approximately a minute.”

The court heard the victim told her mother what had happened on December 1 last year.

The court heard Smith admitted to her in phone calls that he had rubbed his penis against her vagina but denied penetrating the victim.

“He said ‘yeah it’s true, and it was something she wanted, she wanted to be rubbed’ and then said he was really sorry and he stuffed up,” Mr Stark said.

The court heard Smith was a member of a local Sunshine Coast church community.

He had no criminal history.

Barrister Scott Lynch said Smith who was a father to a young son was remorseful for what he did.

“In the lead-up to this offending he had been working as a subcontractor at a prison,” he said.

“Whilst there he was threatened, he wasn’t ever in the past exposed to anything of that nature and he became horribly depressed as a result of that.”

Mr Lynch said Smith knew it wasn’t a justification for what he did.

“He recognises that the offending has had a grave impact on the family,” he said.

Smith pleaded guilty in the Maroochydore District Court on Friday to eight charges of indecent treatment of a child under 12.

Mr Jones said the offending was disturbing.

“No doubt this offending has caused great shame and consternation in regards to the members of that church group,” he said.

“This offending is particularly gross because it involves a breach of trust.

“Not surprisingly this breach of trust and gross conduct has had a significant impact not only on the complainant but also the complainant’s mother.”