BOCSAR data: Central Coast crowned child sex abuse capital on NSW

The Central Coast has resumed the nefarious position of child sexual abuse capital of NSW according to new data that shows the equivalent of almost one child a day was the victim of a sexual act in the past 12 months.

The Central Coast has topped the state for the number of child sexual abuse incidents in the past 12 months for the first time in four years.

Analysis of Bureau of Crime Statistic and Research (BOCSAR) data over the past 10 years shows the coast and Blacktown, in Sydney’s west, as having the highest number of sexual touching, sexual acts or other sexual offences against child victims every year.

This excludes incidents of sexual assault, which are recorded as a separate stand-alone crime category.

The Central Coast ranked number one in NSW ahead of Blacktown for the first time in four years with 310 incidents of sexual touching, sexual acts or other sexual offences against children in the 12 months to September 21.

Blacktown recorded 294 incidents in the same 12-month period.

The Central Coast has eclipsed Blacktown for child sexual abuse incidents for the first time in four years.

This compares with the next two closest local government areas of Campbelltown and Canterbury-Bankstown with 179 and 176 incidents respectively.

A further 300 incidents of sexual assault were recorded on the coast against children in the 12 months to September 2021, the highest number of incidents in 10 years and up from a low of 189 sexual assaults in the year to September 2015.

This was again higher than the 273 recorded in Blacktown for the same period and more than double the sexual assaults recorded against children in the next two closest LGA of Campbelltown (132 incidents) and Canterbury-Bankstown (111 incidents).

While Blacktown has recorded a 4.7 per cent annual increase in sexual assaults against children and a 1.9 per cent increase in sexual touching and other sexual offences in the past decade, the rate of sexual offences against children on the coast – per 100,000 population – has largely remained statistically unchanged.

The Central Coast Local Government Area has ranked the highest in child abuse figures for the past 12 months. (File image)

However this is despite the number of offences rising steadily by between 10 per cent and up to 25 per cent a year.

The courts meanwhile continue to deal with hundreds of cases a year. The following is a look at some of the most high profile matters to be concluded on the coast last year.

UNDIE SNIFFING DAD

A 37-year-old father-of-four was sentenced in March to six years and eight months jail with a non-parole period of three years and four months after pleading guilty to three counts of indecently assaulting his daughter.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged in June 2020 after his daughter participated in an interview with police where she disclosed three incidents, which began shortly after her 10th birthday.

His wife caught him sniffing an item of underwear in the ensuite of their bedroom.

An agreed set of facts states the man looked startled and when his wife asked what he was doing he replied “I’m sniffing your undies”.

The man was caught sniffing his daughter’s underwear by his wife.

His wife said “that’s f…ing disgusting” and walked away but became suspicious and decided to put a load of washing on and discovered the underwear belonged to their daughter.

She confronted him the following day at his workplace and he later said “I did it”.

Giving evidence at his sentencing the man said he didn’t seek help for his paedophilia before he was caught out of “fear and failure” because his family owned two child-related businesses, which “put food on the table” for 40 staff and their families.

He said he did not start the businesses, which had since been sold, with the intention of gaining access to young girls.

ERIC PHU SOKSAN

Wambie Whoppers owner Eric Phu Soksan commanded a cult-like following for his traditional milk bar hamburgers which had gone up against the might of US-based fast food giant Hungry Jacks in a naming dispute and won.

That was until he was charged with fiddling with a young boy over the course of three years.

The 46-year-old pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexually touching and two counts of intentionally sexually touching a child but changed his plea on the day of his hearing.

Eric Phu Soksan (blue jacket), 46, of Terrigal, arriving at Gosford Local Court where he was sentenced for sexual touching a young boy. Picture: Richard Noone

The court heard Soksan was the victim of a “cultural misunderstanding” having grown up in Cambodia in the 1970s where it was normal for adults to grab children on the genitalia.

However a magistrate convicted him and on appeal, a District Court Judge, found it “matters little to the child victim what the motivation was for the offending”.

The Judge also found Soksan had spent most of his adult life in Australia where he had owned the popular burger shop for the past 16 years and it would have been “highly improbable” that he was not aware his offending was illegal.

The court heard his prolonged behaviour started with hugs from behind to putting his hand down the victim’s pants. He was also captured on a recorded telephone call telling the victim “not to tell anyone”.

Soksan was sentenced in August to 10 months jail with a non-parole period of five months.

Wambie Whoppers owner Eric Phu Soksan was jailed for his offending. Picture: Peter Clark

JUSTIN RADFORD

A former Channel 9 tape librarian filmed himself sexually abusing a young boy before he was caught with thousands of “horrific and depraved” child abuse images and videos.

Justin Kenneth Radford, 30, of Wyong was arrested in 2020 following a tip-off by US authorities about a Snapchat account being used to disseminate child sex abuse material.

Wyong man Justin Radford was arrested in February 2020 as part of an Australian Federal Police investigation into an alleged child sex abuse ring. Picture: AFP

He was first charged with more than 100 offences but later pleaded guilty to 17 including seven counts of sexually touching a young boy; four counts of using a child to produce abuse material and disseminating thousands of images and videos of child abuse and bestiality material to 19 separate individuals.

Radford was sentenced in Gosford District Court which heard the images and videos depicted penetrative acts with victims ranging from newborns to teenagers and were described as “horrific and depraved”.

Radford was jailed for “horrific and depraved” child abuse material. Picture: Instagram

His arrest prompted the Australian Federal Police to establish Operation Arkstone, which has led to the arrest of 17 men across NSW, Western Australia and Queensland.

Radford was sentenced in July to 18 years in prison with a non-parole period of 12 years.

ALEX CHAK LAU

A vile paedophile who abused eight children — six boys and two girls — between 2008 and 2016 was sentenced in December to 10 years jail with a non-parole period of six years and six months.

Alex Chak Lau, 50, of Buff Point, pleaded guilty to 21 offences including two counts of sexual intercourse with a child; two counts of detaining a person with intent, aggravated breaking and entering; two counts of aggravated sexual assault and 10 counts of indecent assault.

Lau broke into one boy’s house while his mother was out and sexually assaulted him and on another two occasions offered to drive him home but stopped at a carpark where he locked the car’s doors and indecently assaulted him.

His offending only came to light years later when the victims confided in their parents and a teacher filed a report. He will be first eligible for release on May 5, 2026.