Dubbo paedophile sentenced for sex act on child under 10

A judge has slammed a man who tried to blame the drug ice for his decision to get into bed with a scared girl and perform a sex act on her in regional NSW.

A 32-year-old Dubbo man who deliberately moved to “distress and destabilise” the mother of a child he performed a sex act on has been handed an eight-year prison sentence.

The truck driver, who cannot be identified because of a court order, appeared to learn his fate in the District Court at Dubbo on Friday via an audiovisual link from Parklea jail after pleading guilty to one count of having sexual intercourse with a child aged under 10.

The Dubbo man who was convicted of having sexual intercourse with a girl aged under 10. Picture: Facebook

The court heard the victim was known to the man and the act that landed him behind bars occurred sometime between March 2016 and January 2017 on the bottom bunk of the girl’s bed.

Judge Nanette Williams said from time to time the girl got scared at night and asked for someone to be with her while she went to sleep.

It was on one of those occasions that while at the girl’s home, the man took off her underwear performed a sex act on her after saying “just let me look at something”.

The court heard the man told the girl not to tell anyone about what happened because it could have landed him in jail.

After internalising the trauma for three years, the court heard that the girl broke down in 2020 when she experienced a flashback as the man went into her room again and got on the floor to look for a cat while she was in bed.

Afterwards the girl asked the man what he was doing in her room and he claimed he was offering her breakfast.

“I remember what you did to me,” the girl told the man.

“I want to tell mum, I hate keeping secrets”.

The court heard the man told the girl he was sorry.

“I didn’t mean to … please don’t tell mum,” he said.

When the girl’s mother entered the room to ask why she was upset, the girl said “I don’t want to tell you, I don’t want to be in trouble, I don’t want (the man) to get angry”.

“I keep trying to forget it but I can’t”, the girl told her mother.

The man was reported to police and after his arrest he told officers he was addicted to methylamphetamine, also known as the drug ice.

After being granted bail in court, the man was slapped with a three-year apprehended violence order and ordered to leave Dubbo and live with his mother in Sydney.

Two weeks later he sent the girl’s mother an intimidating message on Snapchat, saying “I’m going to kill myself OK, is that what you want?”.

In another message the man said “well hate me what the f*** can I do, I can’t do f****** nothing, I’m not allowed near them for three years … I’m better off dead”.

The court heard the man later sent the girl’s mother two pictures of his penis, along with a video of himself masturbating which he threatened to send to her friends.

After his bail privileges were revoked the man was remanded in custody and while behind bars he lied to prison officers in order to call the girl’s mother repeatedly.

The court was told the man claimed he sent the explicit messages to the woman because he was jealous after she sent a “hot” picture of herself to him.

The man appeared in court via audiovisual link from Parklea Correctional Centre in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

As a child, the court heard the man witnessed domestic violence and was moved around various homes after his drug addict mother was jailed and his father died of a heroin overdose.

When the man gave evidence during a previous court appearance he claimed he was sexually abused as a child, however that alleged crime was never reported or spoken about until after he was remanded in custody.

The man also said he was in a “dream-like” state high on ice when the offence took place.

Judge Nanette Williams said the man’s crime was not planned and she accepted he was disgusted with himself and remorseful.

“I have found that some of the evidence given by the offender is self serving and designed to deflect the blame away from him,” Judge Williams said.

“Moreover I found that there were inconsistencies in his account, particularly that he was acting in a dream-like state at the time of the offending, but nevertheless engaged the victim in a pact of secrecy the very next day, warning her that if she disclosed the sexual activity he would go to jail.

“I do not accept that he was acting in a dream like state.”

Judge Williams said the man “engaged deliberately in acts to distress and destabilise” the girl’s mother.

“This does not really demonstrate positive prospects of rehabilitation, but rather a predilection to continue in his old ways.

“I’m also concerned about the offending conduct of sending photos of an erect penis and video of himself masturbating to the mother of the victim.

“On the other hand I accept unreservedly that the offender has been a hard worker for many years, and provided for his family in an otherwise largely prosocial way with useful skills that will enable him to find employment when he does return to the community.”

Judge Williams said she did “not accept that illicit drug use played a role in the offending”

“I do find that the offender has exaggerated the extent of his drug use and I do find that he tried to deflect blame and responsibility away from himself and onto his self professed extensive drug use,” she said.

“Whilst it may be the case that the offender was a drug user at the time of the offending, I have found no evidence he was necessarily affected by drug use at the time of the offending behaviour.”

The man was sentenced in the District Court at Dubbo. Picture: Ryan Young

Judge Williams told the court that because the man had lied about being in a dream like state when he committed the crime, he lacked credibility and she could not find that he was abused as a child.

“Whilst it fair to say that the offender denies sexual attraction and a motivation born out of sexual gratification, there is simply no other explanation other than that it was motivated by sexual gratification,” Judge Williams said.

The man was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison, backdated to when he first entered custody in February 2020.

He was handed a five year non-parole period and will be eligible for release in February 2025.

In NSW, the maximum penalty for having sexual intercourse with a child is life in prison.

Attached to that is a 15-year standard non-parole period which serves as a guidepost or reference point for judges to consider when imposing sentences for the offence.