Ipswich residents campaign to kick convicted sex offender David Gilchrist out of community

HE WAS a dangerous sex predator who spent 14 years in jail. Now he’s trying to fly under the radar in this southeast Queensland town.

The monster living next door

DAVID Gilchrist was a dangerous sex predator who forced women to perform sex acts on him while holding a knife to their throats.

He once featured on a television most wanted show and spent 14 years behind bars for sex crimes and violence committed against women.

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Now residents of Ipswich, about 40km from the Brisbane CBD, have learned that the 47-year-old is living in their community and they are both terrified and angry.

Rumours that the convicted sex offender was living in their neighbourhood spread first through social media.

“I’m disgusted and worried at the same time,” mother-of-two Latiesha told news.com.au, “because what I read was that he raped women and was quite violent with them too — I’ve got two kids and my partner works a lot so I’m often home alone.”

She had heard gossip that Gilchrist was in town but no one knew where or exact details of his past.

That all changed when hundreds of flyers were placed in Ipswich letterboxes, outlining his shocking past and giving his address.

“They should have let the community know. I want him gone, out of the community,” Latiesha said. “Send him into the middle of nowhere — Woop Woop, whatever, I don’t care, as long as he’s nowhere near us, anyone, no females at all.”

Mother Rachel Rowe told 9 News she was “grateful that someone had put that information out there for us”.

“I don’t leave the windows open at night anymore, even though we’ve got screens. They wouldn’t stop much,” she said.

Another local, who asked not to be named, echoed the feeling of many when she questioned why the rights of the criminal was prioritised over that of the public.

But the battle may already be over. Nine News reports that a risk assessment carried out after the flyers began had determined he needed to go, although for how long and to where isn’t known.

Gilchrist’s deviant ways began in his late teens when he grabbed women’s breasts and exposed himself in public. But that was only the beginning.

In 1995 he broke into a home and forced a woman to perform sex acts on him as he held a knife to her throat.

David Kenneth Gilchrist at the time of his arrest in the 1990s.

Two years later he struck again, once again with a knife. On this occasion he confronted a woman at a train station and forced her to perform sex acts on him. He was eventually caught, but only after a girlfriend recognised him on the now-defunct TV show Australia’s Most Wanted and called police.

At the time a court heard the former girlfriend exposed him for at least two attacks, one in Brisbane’s north and the other in Caboolture.

He was sentenced in 1998 to 14 years’ jail for a variety of serious offences, including attempted rape, unlawful wounding and aggravated sexual assault.

When he was released in 2012 it was with a string of conditions. He was ordered to stay away from pubs and clubs and not access porn that would offend the “stands of morality, decency and propriety’’ of reasonable adults, a judgment from the Supreme Court said.

Within six months of being released he was caught breaching the order when he was found to have sexually explicit images on his mobile phone.

The matter went before the Supreme Court lawyers and then Queensland attorney-general Jarrod Bleijie said Gilchrist breached the order by swapping and possessing explicitly sexual photographs with his partner via his mobile telephone.

At that time Gilchrist admitted he had been using up to six dating sites because he had been banned from pubs and clubs.

He was recalled to jail but released a second time in late 2013. When Justice Roslyn Atkinson granted Gilchrist conditional release from custody, she said his sexual offending was “now well in his past”.

David Gilchrist spent 14 years in jail for a variety of offences, including attempted rape, unlawful wounding and aggravated sexual assault.

“The reason that (Gilchrist) is subject to this regimen (under the Act) is because of his violent sexual offending in his past,’’ Justice Atkinson said.

“That sexual offending is now well in his past, but nevertheless is part of his life story and that is the risk that must be managed.’’

However, last month theCourier Mail reported he was again being investigated for using dating websites — including one site where he was pictured with his shirt off and his handheld electronic tracking device clipped to his jeans.

It’s understood he must tell Corrective Services of the sites he uses and give them his passwords, although dating websites are not specifically banned as part of his release conditions.

His relationship with his partner also recently ended, which had been flagged as a possible trigger to a return to “angry, vengeful behaviour towards women”.

A report by psychiatrist Donald Grant, tendered to the 2013 hearing, said the main risks facing Gilchrist were if he drank alcohol, had a significant relationship breakdown or became socially unstable.

“Should Mr Gilchrist’s relationship … come under strain, or break up, then that would be an indicator of very close supervision, observation and support and more regular checking for alcohol abuse,” Dr Grant’s report said.

“If it should go bad, this could produce a return to previous angry, vengeful behaviour towards women and it would be important to intervene to prevent this happening.”

Police said it had not received any complaints from Gilchrist about being harassed.

News.com.au asked Queensland Corrective Services to confirm reports Gilchrist had been moved from his home for his own protection, but a spokesperson said the department would not discuss individual “clients”.

“Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) does not discuss the management of individuals under supervision,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson explained that QCS works with sex offenders to find “appropriate accommodation in the community”.

“QCS closely monitors the state’s most dangerous sexual offenders … Supervision includes 24/7 GPS monitoring, personal surveillance, monitoring of internet and telephone use, intensive case management, and intervention,” the spokesperson said.

“QCS prioritises community safety … Any risk or breach in behaviour is taken very seriously.

“Actions taken may include returning offenders to the Supreme Court, and into custody on interim detention orders.”

Originally published as Ipswich residents campaign to kick convicted sex offender David Gilchrist out of community