‘Naively believed I was the only person’: Child rape victim speaks

It was only once this pedophile was unmasked in the media, that one of his first victim’s felt safe enough to tell police what happened to her as a five year old girl in Townsville.

Townsville Courthouse Court: The man is currently held in a high-security prison and is listed as a ‘dangerous prisoner’ not suitable for release

It was only once a Townsville pedophile was unmasked in the media, that one of his first victim’s felt safe enough to tell police what happened to her as a five year old girl.

In an ironic twist, the Townsville Bulletin cannot identify the man in this story because the two counts of rape he pleaded guilty to occured in 2002 when he was 14 years old.

The victim, who was five or six years old at the time of the rapes, reported the incident to police as an adult after seeing NewsCorp articles naming the man and his long history of pedophilic crimes.

The man is currently held in a high-security prison and is listed as a ‘dangerous prisoner’ not suitable for release because of his persistent attempts to approach young girls, even when supervised by parole officers.

Townsville Courthouse: The man is currently held inside a high-security prison and appeared in Townsville District Court via videolink.

Crown prosecutor Rana Aldas said the rapes occurred when the victim’s family attended a friend’s house.

The victim was playing in the backyard when the then-14-year-old boy “sung out to her” from his spot under the house.

“The two played together for a short period of time before the defendant has asked the complainant to remove her clothing,” Ms Aldas said.

“The defendant told her ‘you need to be clean, because you are really dirty’.”

This line was used as a thin excuse to undress, touch and lick the child, and it would have an enormous psychological impact on the victim.

The boy then digitally and orally raped the child, and then locked her in a room.

Judge Brad Farr noted this action of locking the girl in a room was “very concerning behaviour” and the girl was only let out when an adult came past, at which point the boy started chasing her to appear as if they’d been playing.

In her victim impact statement, the woman said shame manifested in her life as she grew up and processed what had happened.

“I was told that the most intimate parts of myself were unclean, which meant I needed to be assaulted,” she said.

“The thought process of ‘what did I do wrong for this person to want to hurt me’ has psychologically impacted every aspect of my life. I felt responsible, which is why I kept it to myself for a while.”

The woman said as she got older, she understood the older boy was in the wrong, but when she told adults she was not believed.

“From that point on, I shared with some people what had happened and I was made to feel like an alien. Once my friends told their parents, I was not someone they wanted their child exposed to,” she said.

“Instead of the criminal being kept away, I was isolated. No one wanted to talk about it, and pretended it never happened. Unfortunately we live in a society that relies on a system to decide if someone is guilty for a victim to be taken seriously.”

The woman said the comment of her being “dirty” makes her skin itch, and she developed a compulsion to shower multiple times a day.

“Water restriction signs are a stressor,” she said.

“I have naively believed I was the only person disgusting enough to be assaulted by this person. This thought process led me to forgive and feel pity for the wrong person... it was only a few years ago that I discovered he’d been convicted for this same offence over and over again.”

The victim said after discovering through news articles that her rapist was a repeat child sex offender she decided to “pursue justice again” and made statements to the police, which started a process of horrific flashbacks for her as she tried to remember the incident.

“Moving forward, I am not sure I will ever get off antidepressants,” she said.

The court heard the rapist has been diagnosed with pedophilic disorder, substance abuse disorder, a personality disorder with “significant narcissistic, anti-social and psychopathic traits”, and is now taking anti-libidinal injections (sometimes referred to as ‘chemical castration’) and is reporting his thought pattern has changed and he no longer has sexual desires.

Judge Farr sentenced the rapist to 18 months imprisonment.

“It is quite obvious you are a paedophile,” Judge Farr said.

“I will set parole as required by law, but in the context of this matter it is meaningless.”

The rapist will not be released from prison due to his ‘dangerous prisoner’ status.

Originally published as ‘Naively believed I was the only person’: Child rape victim speaks