Maryborough man sentenced for indecent dealing

In a shocking interview with police, a Queensland barman showed a dumbfounding “lack of insight” into his molestation of a tiny girl. Now, his sick reasoning and punishment can be revealed.

A Maryborough father has pleaded guilty to indecent dealing.

A bartending dad’s shocking admissions to police that he’d touched his screaming toddler on her genitalia to try and “soothe her” have been detailed in court.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Maryborough District Court on Wednesday to indecent dealing.

The court heard the man, 39, had consumed a significant amount of beer and Jager bombs the night he woke to his toddler screaming and took the two-and-a-half-year-old daughter into the garage.

He had gone to the garage to stop others in the home from being woken by her cries, the court was told.

But when his then-partner found him in the car with their daughter, who had her nappy off, she became suspicious when the child told her she had a “sore bum”, the court was told.

The man was interviewed after the woman made a complaint to police, making admissions that demonstrated a “lack of insight” into his offending, the court heard.

During the interview, the man said he did smack the child “by way of discipline”.

However, he also told police he would sometimes rub her genitalia “in a playful manner to stop her whinging”.

“I would have been trying to cheer her up,” he said during the interview with the police.

During his sentencing, Judge Michael Byrnes remarked on the idea of touching the child’s genitalia to stop her from screaming.

“Hearing it out loud makes you realise how obscene what you admitted to doing is,” he said.

He said the offending was “alcohol fuelled … insanity”.

The court heard the man and woman had remained in a relationship until a year ago and he no longer had contact with his children.

He had previously worked as a bar tender and was confident of finding work in hospitality again and the child was so young when the offending was committed, it was unlikely she would remember it.

The man was sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended immediately with an operational period of two years.

He would remain on a sex offenders’ register for five years, the court heard.

A conviction was recorded.