Alleged teen abuse leads to Wacol pedophile housing crackdown

The alleged sexual abuse of a teen girl at pedophile housing in Wacol has led to a crackdown on offenders, including a ban on visits to other homes.

Dangerous sexual offenders living in pedophile housing in Wacol were ordered not to visit each other’s homes as part of a crackdown after one man was charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl in a house at the precinct.

Robert Kelly Allen, 36, was living in a house at the sex offender precinct when he allegedly committed offences against a girl, understood to be aged 15.

Allen, who was released into the community under a Dangerous Prisoner (Sexual Offenders) Act (DPSOA) supervision order, is facing 44 charges including 20 counts of carnal knowledge of a child under 16, child grooming, making child exploitation material and indecent treatment of a child. Allen is also facing 15 charges of contravention of a relevant order.

Four of the indecent charges state “indecent film”.

The Courier-Mail understands police will allege the offences were committed at the precinct – which houses the state’s sex offenders who are released on supervision orders – with the girl being there at least one night.

Each of the houses in the precinct are understood to have four to five offenders living inside, with at least seven houses grouped together.

After Allen’s alleged offending took place, it can be revealed a compliance crackdown on the men living in the homes included directives to stop them visiting offenders in other houses, forcing them to talk to each other outside.

There were also increased checks by corrective services staff and directions around exclusion zones and walking passes for people living in the precinct.

Authorities didn’t release any details about the alleged serious offences involving the girl at the time of the alleged offences.

After The Courier-Mail revealed the alleged crimes in November, Queensland Corrective Services said it had launched an investigation and there would be “enhancements” to fencing, lighting and CCTV.

Authorities also did not answer how the girl was about able to attend the house in the precinct which is under video surveillance.

Allen is back in custody on remand.

One of the conditions of Allen’s previous DPSOA release was that he have no supervised or unsupervised contact with girls under the age of 16 without written approval of a corrective services officer.

After the alleged crimes were revealed Queensland Corrective Services Commissioner Paul Stewart said Allen had been “arrested and returned to custody due to allegedly breaching his order conditions”.

“Our officers take the supervision of these offenders incredibly seriously and do everything they can in their power under the legislation to prevent reoffending – for the most part the process works well,” he said.

“Queensland DPSOAs have a low rate of reoffending, sadly however we are dealing with incredibly complex and challenging individuals, who have committed abhorrent crimes and can be well versed in avoiding scrutiny.

“We deeply regret that in this instance it appears that our best efforts were not successful in preventing the alleged offences.”

When contacted this week Queensland Corrective Services refused to comment about what any subsequent investigation has found or if any of the enhancements had been made to the precinct.

“As there are ongoing QCS investigations underway it would be inappropriate to comment further,” a spokesperson said.

“QCS works cooperatively with other agencies as necessary to manage DPSOA offenders.

“For safety and security reasons, we don’t release specific operational information.”

Allen will appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on January 30.