Paedophile Brian Bowdidge slapped with 4-year supervision order after ‘troubling incidents’
“A number of troubling incidents” has driven a judge to impose a four-year supervision order on a convicted child rapist living in NSW.
NSW
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A vile paedophile can’t work, travel or change his appearance without approval from authorities who must be kept abreast of his love life and can frisk him or raid his house at any time under tough new court orders.
On Thursday convicted child rapist Brian Alan Bowdidge was placed on a four-year Extended Supervision Order with 47 strict conditions to supervise the high risk sex offender while he lives out in the community.
NSW Supreme Court Justice Peter Hamill said “a number of troubling incidents” along with multiple breaches of previous conditions since 2011 proved Bowdidge still poses “an unacceptable risk of committing another serious offence” if not monitored.
“He also suffers from an intellectual disability which, according to expert testimony, increases the risk that he will commit offences against children if he is not supervised,” Justice Hamill said.
“He remains a person with paedophilic ideation and has behaved inappropriately on many occasions even while under the supervision of various orders.”
Bowdidge was convicted of having sex with a girl aged under 10 in 1992, while in 2001 he raped an eight-year-old girl and was sentenced to a minimum three years in jail.
The 59-year-old was released on parole last September and the state government sought to place further restrictions on him after his latest supervision order expired.
The government wanted Bowdidge banned from going to any area frequented by children without prior approval and unless accompanied by a chaperone.
But Bowdidge argued this could mean anywhere except places such as bars and brothels, which imposed an unreasonable restriction on his freedom of movement.
The court heard Bowdidge wrongly interpreted this rule to mean he couldn’t ever leave the house without an appropriate companion, which was then enforced “as a result of bureaucratic mismanagement, if not departmental overreach.”
Justice Hamill instead clarified the condition to include a specific list of banned venues including theme parks, libraries and pools, which he said would foster Bowdidge’s rehabilitation by “allowing him to live a more normal life.”
Bowdidge also challenged a “search and seizure” condition allowing authorities to frisk him and raid his house at any time, but this was overruled by the judge.
He can’t start a relationship without telling authorities who can flag his sordid criminal history with potential dates, and he can’t go on social media or change his appearance without written permission.
Bowdidge, who has been attending men's shed workshops, must be electronically monitored and provide a weekly plan of his movements to a supervisor, who may visit his home and search his phone at any time.
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He can’t leave NSW or get a job without approval, and must surrender his passport and undergo drug and alcohol tests.
Bowdidge argued for any order to only last two years but the judge noted the government would likely apply for a new one once that period lapses and added: “the court cases have a tendency to upset Mr Bowdidge and disrupt his progress. This is contrary to his rehabilitation.”
“I am unable to identify anything that suggests that the risk that Mr Bowdidge currently represents to the community is likely to diminish over the next two or so years,” he said.
The judge said he took into consideration risk assessment reports and Bowdidge’s interactions with counsellors and Corrective Services staffers.
Bowdidge has previously said he understood why a young girl would get raped based on the way she was dressed and also once told a caseworker he wanted to have sex with an eight-year-old girl who walked past.