Salvation Army Blacktown volunteer charged with historic teen sex assault

A Salvation Army volunteer who impregnated a vulnerable teenage girl has learned his fate in court. The court heard how abuse, addiction and trauma had marred both their lives.

A former volunteer from the Salvation Army in Blacktown has been convicted of impregnating a teenage girl he met at the church’s youth group.

A western Sydney Salvation Army volunteer who impregnated a vulnerable teenage girl who was half his age has avoided jail, years after the historic crime came to light.

The 50-year-old man – who the Blue Mountains News has chosen not to identify – pleaded guilty at Katoomba District Court to having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in January 2004.

The girl became pregnant and gave birth to a child in October 2004 as a result.

The court heard a sorry tale of how abuse, addiction, and trauma characterised their toxic and violent relationship for years to come.

The man and the girl met midway through 2003 through their attendance at a Salvation Army youth group in Blacktown, while the man was seeking housing assistance through the church.

The Salvation Army building in Blacktown.

In early 2004, the girl called the man and asked to stay with him at his Blacktown unit, which had been arranged for him by the Salvation Army, as she was couch surfing.

The girl then moved into the unit and shortly after the pair had unprotected sex, before she discovered she was pregnant the following month.

The man was then 31, and the girl was 15 – and the court heard the man told police he did not become aware she was 15 until March that year.

The court heard the man asked the girl to terminate the pregnancy – but when she did not, they instead began a relationship and slept in the same bed from then on.

Their daughter was born in October 2004, but the man’s name was never added to the birth certificate.

The pair then carried on a defacto partnership for 11 years and had three more children.

At Katoomba District Court on October 24, Judge Ian Bourke highlighted the significant age difference between the pair.

The pair initially lived in a unit organised by the Salvation Army.

“The offender was more than twice her age, and there’s an obvious power imbalance that arises,” Judge Bourke said.

“She was vulnerable in that she had no stable accommodation, (though) there is no suggestion it involved threats, coercion, violence or degradation.”

Judge Bourke said it was clear the victim continues to experience a “high degree of emotional stress and turmoil which she attributes to the offender”.

The man had custody of the pair’s three youngest children while the victim was in hospital due to smoking the drug ice, then lost custody when she shortly thereafter reported his conduct to police.

“The victim has endured significant hardship and trauma, and it’s probable that much of this occurred in the course of the relationship with the offender,” Judge Bourke said.

“The man told (a psychologist) he had been violent to her during the relationship.”

The court heard the man was himself a victim of childhood abuse, whose mother had fallen pregnant with him as the result of being raped aged 15.

He was the victim of sexual abuse aged eight and 10 while he was living with family, and again in three care homes he was placed in after being declared “uncontrollable”.

The abuse he suffered is now the subject of legal proceedings the man has brought against the state of Queensland.

“The childhood physical and sexual abuse has left him with a profound lack of trust in people, a feeling that he was different and socially dysfunctional,” Judge Bourke said.

“He has a long history of drug abuse, including heroin, cocaine and amphetamines.”

The man was also in custody between April and September 2021 in relation to drug and firearm offences.

He was charged with abusing the girl shortly after his release on parole.

The man also has a terminal lung disease which has reduced his lung capacity to approximately 46 per cent.

Judge Bourke – who characterised the girl as a “willing participant” in the sexual intercourse at the time, though legally unable to consent – determined the matter did not cross the imprisonment threshold.

The man was convicted and sentenced to a three-year community correction order with supervision, along with a prohibition on consuming any drugs illicit or otherwise unless prescribed by a doctor.

He was also ordered not to approach or contact the victim and come within 500m of any residence or place of employment.