Grant Lyndon Daly: Iluka man sentenced for failing to comply with child protection reporting obligations

A man now living in northern NSW who avoided jail after being filmed having sex by an 11-year-old girl on the Gold Coast has found himself before the courts again.

Grant Lyndon Daly. Picture: Facebook.

A man who narrowly avoided jail after being filmed having sex by an 11-year-old girl has found himself before the courts once again.

Grant Lyndon Daly, a former Gold Coast man who now lives at Iluka, fronted Maclean Local Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to two counts of failing to comply with his reporting obligations under the Child Protection Act.

The 56-year-old man narrowly avoided jail in 2019 when Southport District Court determined Daly – sentenced for indecently treating a child – was so intoxicated he did not realise he was being filmed having sex by the child.

At the time, the court heard an associate of the girl forced the child to tape a woman and Daly having sexual intercourse.

Crown prosecutor Denise Darwen said: “On September 8, 2018, the co-accused and the complainant child attended the Swan Resort in Burleigh Heads, where the complainant child met Mr Daly.”

Grant Lyndon Daly leaving Maclean Local Court.

“Sometime that night or the next morning the co-accused told the complainant child to record (the co-accused) and Mr Daly by using (her) mobile phone, threatening to hurt the complainant child if she did not agree to record them.”

The girl told police she “felt disgusted and sick to the stomach”.

However, Judge Jennifer Rosengren determined there was “exceptional circumstances” and Daly “had no idea the child’s there”.

“His explanation is that he was intoxicated and out of it on drugs”, she said.

“I mean, that doesn’t excuse the conduct, it provides an explanation for it, of course.”

Judge Rosengren sentenced Daly to 12-months jail, but suspended the term immediately for two years.

Grant Lyndon Daly. Picture: Facebook.

Soon after Daly was sentenced on the Gold Coast he moved to northern NSW, according to documents tendered to Maclean Local Court.

He first ran into trouble regarding reporting obligation when he failed to tell police he was a student attending TAFE in Ballina and a member of the Byron Bay Services Club in November 2021.

He was convicted of the offending at the time and received a conditional release order.

However, Daly twice breached his conditional release order in 2022, the court heard.

The first breach related to Daly not informing police he was employed at Iluka Hardware and Camping, according to court documents.

The second breach related to an unreported Instagram account with the username ‘fishermanextraordinaire’.

“A check on the Instagram account shows regular use of (Daly) between April 2022 and October 29, 2022 with a large number of images uploaded including a number of photos of (Daly),” police facts state.

Grant Lyndon Daly leaving court.

In court, defence lawyer Brett Marshall said his client’s breaches were not very serious.

He said Daly lost his house in the 2022 floods and had suffered from significant substance abuse problems for many years.

But Mr Marshall told the court Daly had been off drugs for the past two years.

Magistrate Juliana Crofts said the offending was towards the lower end of seriousness, but it put Daly in a position where he could be in contact with children.

She said Daly pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and she was pleased to hear he was being “extra vigilant” to meet the obligations.

Daly was convicted and sentenced to serve a 12-month community corrections order.