Victim speaks out about ongoing trauma ahead of Mark Bickel’s parole eligibility date

A young victim had no idea she had been secretly filmed showering by a convicted rapist – who is soon eligible for parole – until police knocked on her door years later.

A convicted rapist who tattooed his victims and used hidden cameras to capture them showering will soon be eligible for parole – leaving his youngest victim terrified at the prospect of his release.

Sunshine Coast tattooist Mark Bickel secretly filmed victims showering, raped two young women while they slept and recorded his attacks using cameras he hid in towel hooks, bathrooms and his watch.

His youngest victim, who was known to Bickel, had no idea what he had been doing until years later when a detective knocked on her family’s door in 2018.

“I woke up one day to the cops at my door saying there are all these USBs (storage devices) of me,” she told The Courier-Mail.

“I just broke down. How did that happen? I couldn’t believe it and I didn’t believe it at the start.”

Mark Bickel will be eligible for parole in May.

Bickel – who will be eligible for parole next month – was only caught after evidence of his offending came to light by chance.

A landlord stumbled across a cache of USBs after Bickel was evicted from his Mountain Creek home.

They contained more than 200 secret recordings he had made of nine people including footage of three rapes organised in files with graphic labels.

Among the files were videos of his youngest victim who he had secretly recorded from 2014-18.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, has been left traumatised by the images she has seen – and those she has not – and still has the tattoos Bickel gave her after plying her with methamphetamine.

Mark Bickel will be eligible for parole in May.

Bickel, 52, was sentenced to eight and a half years’ jail after pleading guilty to more than 40 offences including rape, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault offences, recording a person in breach of their privacy, making child exploitation material, supplying drugs and tattooing a minor.

“It’s appalling that anyone would supply methamphetamine to someone who is aged 14,” Justice Peter Applegarth said at his sentencing hearing.

“She deserved better … than to have her vulnerability exploited.”

Justice Peter Applegarth said Bickel had shown no regret and no remorse for his offending.

The woman believes Bickel should have been declared a serious violent offender – an order that would have required him to serve at least 80 per cent of their sentence behind bars.

She is also afraid of living in the same community as Bickel, who could be released as early as May 14.

“I’m constantly living in fear, I have nightmares, I’ve been put on medication, I can’t ever go out,” she said.

“It’s like an everyday thing, you don’t just wake up and forget about it.”

Queensland Corrective Services said the decision to release prisoners into the community is made by a parole body and the supervision requirements vary based on the offender’s risk to the community.

The Victims Register can provide information about an offender’s eligibility or actual date of release from prison.

“The greater their risk, the more heavily they are supervised and the more restrictive their conditions,” a QCS spokeswoman said.

Victims are able to anonymously write to the parole board to request conditions such as non-contact requirements be placed on their perpetrators.

They can also apply to be added to the QCS Victims Register that keeps eligible people informed of details including a prisoner’s release date, death or escape from custody.

Queensland Homicide Victim Support Group chief executive Brett Thompson urged any victim who was concerned about their safety to write to the parole board.

“Everyone who is a victim of a crime has got the right to write to the parole board and state their concerns and ask for non-contact to be a part of the conditions of release,” Mr Thompson said.

“The victim register will alert them to those dates and it’s a really important process. If a person is eligible to be registered then they should absolutely do it if they’re interested.”

People can contact the Victims Register by phoning 1800 098 098 or via email.