Craig Lee Weldon in court for alleged child sex offences
A man facing up to nine child sex assault charges alleged to have happened in Dubbo has been granted bail into the community despite prosecution concerns, a Lismore court has heard.
Police & Courts
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A “prolific” child sex offender who is facing fresh charges has been allowed to live across the border despite concerns he is a danger to the community.
Craig Lee Weldon, 53, faced Lismore Local Court on Wednesday for a bail application.
He had been charged with three counts of sexual intercourse with a person between 10 and 16, two counts of sexual assault and an indecent act with a person under 16, sexual assault and acting indecently, homosexual intercourse with a boy between 10 and 18, soliciting a boy under 18 to have sex, and attempted sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 16.
The court heard the matters were based in the Dubbo region but Mr Weldon was appearing in Lismore to hopefully be released into a highly supervised Queensland residence.
His defence lawyertold the court the address was “highly monitored” with curfews, camera surveillance, sensor gates and electronic tracking.
She said the offences were alleged to have occurred more than 30 years ago, between 1987 and 1990.
Prosecutor Nathan Lockett said Mr Weldon was a “prolific child sex offender” who couldn’t be trusted in the community.
“It simply hasn’t been demonstrated he doesn’t pose a significant risk to children,” he said.
Mr Lockett said alleged victims had been making similar statements despite not knowing each other, which strengthened the prosecution case.
Magistrate Michael Dakin noted Mr Weldon had been convicted to 20 years jail for similar offences in Queensland and was under a 2021 Queensland Supreme Court supervision order.
Despite this, he was satisfied the precinct offered “very restrictive” movements to Mr Weldon.
He granted bail on the condition Mr Weldon not contact witnesses and comply with the supervision order.
Mr Weldon will appear in Dubbo Local Court on March 7 for a further committal mention.
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