Brayden Dickens: Forest Lake Baptist Church leader molested teen

A Brisbane youth who was heavily involved in his church community and held a variety of jobs working with children has been sentenced for vile offending.

A Brisbane church youth group leader who indecently treated a 14-year-old girl has been cut off from his Christian community following his persistent, wheedling offending.

Forest Lake man Brayden Peter Dickens, 21, a former youth group leader at the Forest Lake Baptist Church, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Monday to three counts of indecent treatment of a child under the age of 16.

His victim was aged 14 or 15 at the time of the offending, which occurred on a date between November 30, 2019 and February 1, 2020.

While the exact nature of Dickens’ relationship to his victim cannot be revealed, she was not in the church youth group he led.

The court heard the victim’s friend received a message from Dickens on the night of the offending, requesting that she and the victim meet at an address in Forest Lake, to which the pair agreed.

They arrived with other friends as they “didn’t feel safe” due to the lateness of the day, but their friends left before to the offending began.

Forest Lake child sexual offender Brayden Peter Dickens, 21. Picture: Facebook

The first indecent treatment occurred when Dickens and the two friends were walking to McDonald’s.

Dickens grabbed the victim on the bottom outside her pants as she was walking.

The victim “twisted away” and caught up with her friend to escape Dickens’ perverted clutches.

Once the trio arrived at McDonald’s, Dickens offended again.

He “swung his leg” over the top of hers as she sat beside him and attempted to slide his hand up her thigh towards her crotch region.

The court heard his victim told Dickens to “stop” and that she had a boyfriend.

The final indecent treatment occurred a short time later when Dickens rubbed her vagina outside her shorts.

Dickens subsequently sent the victim wheedling messages on Instagram asking if she was “interested” in him and imploring her to “get in touch” if ever she broke up with her boyfriend.

He also told her she was “cute”.

When interviewed by police in late-2020, Dickens initially tried to claim he didn’t know how young the victim was, but subsequently agreed this was a lie.

Defence lawyer Ali Rana told the court his client’s offending occurred in the wake of a relationship breakdown in which he lost much of his social circle as they “sided” with his ex-partner.

Mr Rana said his Gold Coast born-and-raised client, who now lives with his brother at Forest Lakes, suffers anxiety, depression and from borderline personality disorder.

He said Dickens faced further ostracisation after he was cut out from his church community, in which he was particularly involved, as a musician, youth group leader and participant in Bible studies.

Mr Rana said although Dickens was currently unemployed, he had a good work history, including casual roles at Muffin Break and McDonald’s.

Dickens’ employment history also included regular work with children, including as an early education centre support worker and youth disability carer.

Judge Paul Smith placed Dickens on two years’ probation.

No conviction was recorded.