Grandfather faces Bowen trial for alleged sexual relationship with child

A Whitsunday truckie found guilty of sexually abusing his step granddaughter has been offending against children for eight years. She was his third victim. LATEST.

A Whitsunday region man is on trial over the charge of maintaining a sexual relationship with his step grandaughter. Picture: istock

A 71-year-old man who was found guilty of committing horror sex abuse acts on his six-year-old step granddaughter over two years also molested two other little girls, it can be revealed.

Bowen District Court heard the truck driver had oral sex with his step granddaughter more than 15 to 20 times, “sexualised her to the point she became used to it” and “rewarded her with lollies”.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had denied allegations of maintaining a sexual relationship with the child from January 2017 to November 2018. However on Wednesday a jury found him guilty and he was jailed for eight years.

Crown prosecutor Rana Aldas said the man had also sexually abused two other children before her, including his biological granddaughter.

The court heard in late 2018, the young girl’s dad had stopped bringing his daughter to his stepdad’s place “for sleepovers” after the man had been convicted of sexually abusing a child.

A jury trial had found the man guilty of sexually abusing a three-and-half-year old child at a daycare sometime between November 7, 2015 to July 9, 2017.

For that he was jailed for 12 months, suspended after six months for good conduct for a period of two years.

The court heard he was released on May 6, 2019, and not even 12 months later was charged with two additional child sex abuse offences, this time against his own biological granddaughter.

The young girl, who would have been aged seven or eight at the time of the offending between 2011 and 2016, would stay with him on occasions.

The court heard her grandfather would “play a game” that involved the two of them to be naked, and have her “ride on his back in a horse-like position”, as well as other vile conduct.

On March 11, 2021 he was convicted in Townsville District Court and jailed for 18 months.

The court heard he had been in jail when he was charged with the sex abuse against his step granddaughter.

Barrister Frank Richards told the court the man retained the support of his immediate family.

Judge Gregory Lynham jailed him for eight years and did not set a parole eligibility date, meaning the man must serve at least four years.

He has already spent 11 months in custody on remand, which was declared time already served.

‘What we normally do’: Grandad’s sick secret exposed at trial

A Whitsunday region man has been found guilty of repeatedly having oral sex with his six-year-old step granddaughter.

After a day to hear the prosecution’s evidence and a morning to hear closing statements, it took the Bowen District Court’s jury an hour and half to reveal their verdict.

Around 12:30pm, when the six men and six women of the jury exited the courtroom to deliberate, most of them had a careful last look at the step grandfather before heading out.

The man was found guilty of maintaining a sexual relationship with his step granddaughter from January 1, 2017 to November 9, 2018, where he repeatedly showed her pornography videos in his room before engaging in sex acts.

“Sometimes I didn’t want to do it and I told him I only wanted to watch the movie,” the young girl had said in one of the tapes presented before the court.

Members of the jury heard evidence from a recorded statement to police the young girl had given on March 31 2022, as well as a cross-examination she undertook on August 10 this year.

They also heard evidence from her mum and dad.

DEFENCE RELIES ON ‘IMPROBABILITY’ IN CLOSING STATEMENT

Barrister Frank Richards, on behalf of Legal Aid Queensland who was representing the step grandfather told the jury in his closing statement that no one had actually seen such offence happen and that it would be “very lucky” not to have been caught in the two years of the alleged relationship, while his wife was living in the same house.

Mr Richards told members of the jury what the young girl told her mum “doesn’t in itself make it true”.

He told members of the jury the evidence relied solely upon the young girl’s testimony, with no physical evidence provided such as finding any pornography tapes in the man’s house or the fact that her parents told the court they didn’t see a change in behaviour that would have indicated something was amiss.

When summarising the facts to the jury, Judge Gregory Lynham had read the following quote from the young girl’s recording:

“If he (the girl’s dad) gave me the choice between going to my friend’s house of my nanna’s house, I would always choose my friend’s,”

Mr Richards told members of the jury that she had only given a “broad” explanation of the facts, while she wasn’t able to differentiate one time from the other, and couldn’t remember a “first time”.

He referred to the “improbability” of the position she described while performing sexual acts because of the pair’s size difference.

PROSECUTION TELLS JURY GIRL NEVER ‘EXAGGERATED’

Department of Public Prosecutions Crown prosecutor Rana Aldas told the jurors in her closing statement they had “heard how emotional she was” in the tapes.

Ms Aldas reminded the court the young girl was only 10 when she gave her testimony and was trying to remember facts that had happened when she was only six but still had very clear descriptions of her step grandfather’s house, and “unique” recollections of what he made her do.

She told the court the passage of time in between the alleged offences and the time she lodged a complained didn’t “undermine her credibility” as victims of sexual abuse often took months or years to talk about it or sometimes never said anything at all.

She also told the court the young girl had heard her step grandfather refer to sexual activity as “what they normally do”, when she was of an age where she wouldn’t have recognised what was “appropriate or not” and looked at her step grandfather as a person she could trust.

“If you ever see if a car in the driveway, you run to the toilet and say you had an accident,” the young girl said referring to what her step grandfather would tell her.
Ms Aldas also told members of the jury, the young girl never “exaggerated her story”, as she made it very clear what had and had not happened.

The Whitsunday region man was found guilty of one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 16 years of age and is awaiting his sentence.

How ‘Pop’ became ‘the man’ after young girl’s alleged sexual abuse

A Whitsunday region man is facing trial over allegedly sexually abusing his young step-granddaughter, telling her to “act” out adult pornography.

He would then allegedly tell her to tell others “she had an accident” if they were caught.

The man, who cannot be named for risk of identifying his alleged victim, faced Bowen District Court on Tuesday for the opening day of the trial.

He is accused of maintaining a sexual relationship with his step-granddaughter, who was six or seven years old at the time, from January 1, 2017 to November 9, 2018.

Department of Public Prosecutions crime prosecutor Rana Aldas told the six men and six women jury that on March 22 and 23 last year, the alleged victim spoke to her mum about “something” that had happened to her some years before, when she was left alone with her step-grandfather.

The court heard the sexual abuse allegedly occurred at the step-grandfather’s home, where the girl’s dad would drop her off to.

The girl allegedly called her step-grandfather “Poppy” or “Pop” but now just calls him “The man”.

Ms Aldas said the girl had told her mum that her step-grandfather would ask her to “go to the bathroom and remove her clothes and that he would put on adult pornography and make her act it out”.

He allegedly “made her push her mouth on his private parts and vice versa.”

The court heard on March 24, the girl and her mum went to their local police station to lodge a complaint and on March 31, the girl gave an hour-long recorded statement.

Ms Aldas said in her statement to police, the girl said “the man” had more than 15 times “put his penis in her mouth while he touched her vagina”.

“She explained that if anyone was to come home, the (step-grandfather) would instruct her to say that she just had an accident,” she said.

Ms Aldas referred to further evidence given by the girl in a courtroom on August 10 this year, where she said she “couldn’t recall a specific incident, a first time, but maintained that it happened repeatedly and started when she was young”.

Ms Aldas told the jury they would hear some of the girl’s tapes as well as hear evidence from her mum and dad.

Judge Gregory Lynham is presiding over the trial.

Barrister Frank Richards, on behalf of Legal Aid Queensland, is defending the step-grandfather.