Tess Knight tells of ‘terror’ while begging judge to keep Michael Guider in prison
Samantha Knight’s mother has described the 12,000 days of “desolation, terror and anxiety” she has suffered since her daughter was abducted by serial paedophile Michael Guider — as a judge is set to decide whether to release the killer.
- Sam Knight’s mum wants attacker to stay in jail
- Guider’s first police interview reveals bizarre claims
Samantha Knight’s mother has described the 12,000 days of “desolation, terror and anxiety” she has suffered since her daughter was abducted by serial paedophile Michael Guider — as a judge is set to decide whether to release the killer.
And the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday heard Guider, now 68, had pasted “detailed” sketches of a pre-pubescent boy copied from a magazine, as well as young girls, on his jail cell wall.
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Forensic psychiatrist Jonathon Adams told the court Guider posed a high risk of committing sexual offences again, and the images suggested he harboured sexual fantasies about children despite his persistent denials.
Tess Knight begged Justice Richard Button not to release the former gardener, whose full sentence for the 1986 manslaughter of nine-year-old Samantha expired on June 6, saying: “The hurt never goes.”
Guider is currently on an interim detention order to stay in prison until September 5, by when Justice Button will decide if he should remain behind bars.
Attorney-General Mark Speakman is seeking to stop his release for another 12 months, and for him to be supervised for another five years once he is freed.
Guider’s lawyer Mathew Johnston argued his client could stay in a halfway house attached to Long Bay Jail and abide by 56 conditions that would be stricter than any parole.
Stifling tears, Ms Knight on Tuesday said: “For years I tried to remain in control in case they found Samantha — it was a facade.
“I cannot find the words for the desolation, terror and anxiety I suffered. Guider has chosen never to reveal what he has done to Samantha, or with her body.
“I live with flashbacks of child pornography, his flaccid penis beside naked bodies of children — this is how I tried to help find my daughter.
“Because of the lack of detail my mind tries to fill in the gaps.
“When I understood she was probably dead, I felt strangely exhilarated, as if I was bringing Samantha home — but he never gave any details.
“I have imagined thousands of scenarios — was she scared straight away, did he have a car, was it a long drive, did she call out for me, did she say ‘I want my mummy?’”
“This man has been a dangerous, serious sexual predator of children, whatever remorse he may now show, it was not enough to change his behaviour in the past and it is not enough for the future — please do not release this man into the community.”
Guider was also jailed for sex offences against 13 children, aged between two and 15, whom he drugged with sleeping pills in the 1980s.
The court heard he has completed 55 therapeutic maintenance programs in jail.
Crown prosecutor David Kell said Guider had not shown a willingness to take drugs to reduce his sex drive, if released, because they may interfere with his heart medication. “It will be a high-risk venture … he poses an unacceptable risk of re-offending,” Mr Kell said.
Waiving her anonymity, victim Lisa Giles, 43, urged judge Button not to release the convicted child sex abuser from jail, revealing the former family friend systematically abused her when she was five.
Holding her mother’s hand in the witness box, a tearful Mrs Giles, 43, told a packed court Guider “loved to see the innocence of a child taken on their faces.”
“He has no empathy, he to driven always by the desire to fulfil the physical urge — we were not always sedated, sometimes we were awake and aware”.
“I recall playing hide and seek in my home with him and my brothers while he kept them away and I received oral sex from a giant Michael Guider.
“I was one of his conquests, the State Library holds his publications — his punishment needs to be more bespoke than the current extended supervision order, left free, he’ll do it again.”
Lisa told the court she had lived with the “virus” of being one of Guider’s conquests.
“At 36 I felt I was abusing my own newborn baby by just changing her nappy, I live with complex PTSD — it’s a form of imprisonment,” she said.
“Michael has requested that he live an isolated life because he fears for his safety but the peace and quiet will allow him to retreat into his memories without being judged.
“No amount of education or medication can change him, — if you forbid him material, including access to the internet, he’ll create his own. He’s remorseless and self-righteous.
“Set him free, give him an inch and he will take a mile.”
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