Girl raped by Brett John Callaghan ‘doesn’t smile in photos anymore’, suffers nightmares, court told

The mother of a 12-year-old who was lured into a car and raped has told a court of the devastating effects the crime had on her daughter.

A girl who was lured into a car as she waited at a Sydney park and raped by her captor suffers from nightmares, doesn’t smile in photos anymore and “is not the same girl she was”, her mother has told a court.

The girl was just 12 when she was subject to a terrifying and traumatising ordeal at the hands of Dural man Brett John Callaghan in April 2020.

Callaghan faced a sentencing hearing in the NSW District Court on Tuesday, appearing over video link from Long Bay jail dressed in prison greens.

The 39-year-old father listened as a statement from the 12-year-old’s mother was read aloud by a victims of crime support person.

The mother said her daughter’s personality had “changed fundamentally” since the “incredibly damaging experience”.

“She is a lot more serious and finding that little spark of happiness is a lot harder … she doesn’t smile in any photos anymore,” she said.

“That’s extremely difficult and upsetting to see because (she) used to be such a happy and free-spirited child.”

The mother said her daughter showed “no interest” in being at school anymore and “classrooms feel like interview rooms at the police station”.

Family gatherings are hard – “she feels like no one talks to her like they used to” – and she experiences nightmares and struggles to sleep, the mother wrote.

Callaghan’s barrister Daniel Roff gave Judge Robert Sutherland a psychiatrist’s report and handwritten letter of apology from his client.

Through his lawyer, Callaghan asked his name be suppressed from publication in order to protect his daughter, but Judge Sutherland declined to make the order.

Callaghan pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child and supplying a prohibited drug to a child.

Further offences, including another count of aggravated sexual intercourse and two counts of sexual touching, will be taken into account on Callaghan’s sentence.

e will be sentenced on September 10.

Originally published as Girl raped by Brett John Callaghan ‘doesn’t smile in photos anymore’, suffers nightmares, court told