Convicted sex offender slept in van in same town where William Tyrrell vanished

A convicted sex offender described as “creepy” by his former boss during evidence, would sleep in his van at the showground in the same town where William Tyrrell vanished, an inquest into the three-year-old’s disappearance has heard.

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A convicted sex offender would sleep in his van at the showground in the same town where William Tyrrell vanished, an inquest has heard.

Robert Donohoe, described during evidence given by his boss at a local service station as “creepy”, was convicted in November 2015 of sexual intercourse without consent with two intellectually impaired men.

An inquest into William’s disappearance heard 42-year-old Mr Donohoe worked before he was jailed at the Woolworths Caltex at Lakewood, 10 minutes drive from Kendall where William vanished.

His boss at the service station Sharon Starr told the inquest Mr Donohoe, who lived in Taree, would drive to Kendall and sleep in his Suzuki van if he had to return to work the next day.

“If he worked for instance, say a Friday night, and then a Saturday afternoon he would sleep at the pool at Kendall … the showground as well,” Ms Starr said.

Sharon Starr a witness who gave evidence today at the Tyrrell inquest, pictured leaving the Coroners Court in Lidcombe. Picture Damian Shaw

Asked to describe Mr Donohoe’s general demeanour, Ms Starr said: “To me personally? Creepy”.

One thing that stood out to her as unusual was that Donohoe would use a stamp on the hands of young children who came to the service station. “(He) put it on children’s hands,” Ms Starr said.

She said she told him “don’t do that, it’s not part of something that we do.

“I understand he thought he was being kind but I don’t think, it’s just not something that we do, a child can be allergic to the ink.”

She said Mr Donohoe, who is also due to give evidence at the inquest, once arrived at work with chickens in the back of his van asking to sell their eggs at the service station and insisted on lighting a candle in the back store room, sparking fears about fumes from the petrol tanks.

“He liked the smell of candles … he really couldn’t see a problem,” Ms Starr said.

Three-year-old William Tyrrell who vanished from Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast to search for the missing boy. Picture: AAP

Asked whether she believed Mr Donohoe was working on September 12, 2014, the day William vanished, Ms Starr said: “I’m not 100 per cent sure, I think so but I’m not 100 per cent”.

She said sign-on logs were kept but would now only be accessed by Woolworths payroll at head office in Sydney.

Ms Starr said children using the bus stop outside the service station refused to come into the store when Mr Donohoe was working as he made them uncomfortable.

Asked whether he ever said anything about William’s disappearance, Ms Starr said “just he’d been involved in … involved in the search”.

Mr Donohoe’s brother Timothy briefly gave evidence at the inquest today, saying his brother’s Suzuki van was kept at his parent’s home near Wagga Wagga when Robert was in jail.

His the van was “re-registered” and back on the road. Donohue was convicted in November 2015 of sexual intercourse without consent against two intellectually impaired men in their early 20s he met through the State Emergency Services.

Police searching for William Tyrrell in bushland at Batar Creek 4km from where he disappeared. Picture by Peter Lorimer.

A decision handed down in Robert Donohoe’s 2017 appeal stated a 24-year-old male, referred to as Complainant A, told police in an interview on February 25, 2014 that Robert Donohoe performed fellatio on him, massaged him and bathed with him.

“(He) done a lot of bad things to me … took me over to his place a couple of times, gave me really nice, like, um, gave me massages,” the judgment said.

“He had baths with me, he had showers with me. Um, pretty much this went on for a while until I quit the SES.”

Another of the alleged victims, Complainant C said Robert performed anal sex on him “more than six times”, “a lot of times”.

An inquest has heard a convicted sex offender was sleeping in a van near where William Tyrrell vanished.

Robert was arrested on September 16, 2014 — two days after William vanished — when he told police he did not believe what he had done was illegal.

“Well how was I supposed to know that. I didn’t know there was a law against that,” he told police.

Robert was found not guilty of charges involving a third young, intellectually impaired man.

He was given a sentence of five years and six month with a non-parole period of three years. The NSW Supreme Court appeal by Donohoe in June 2017 was dismissed.