Stephen Grimmer, brother of Cheryl Grimmer, admits to molesting teenage girl
Stephen Grimmer, the older brother of murdered toddler Cheryl, has pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault after he molested a teenage girl at a South Coast holiday park.
Illawarra Star
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The older brother of murdered toddler Cheryl Grimmer is facing time behind bars after he molested a 14-year-old girl at a South Coast holiday park in 2016.
Stephen Vincent Grimmer, 55, was set to face the first day of a week-long trial at Nowra District Court on Thursday, but instead entered eleventh hour guilty pleas to three charges of indecent assault, which stemmed from allegations he inappropriately touched and kissed a teenage girl at a holiday park in 2016.
The court heard Grimmer had befriended the girl and her family while holidaying at the popular caravan park several years ago. But, his behaviour toward the girl changed in the 2015 Christmas holidays, with the teen telling police the then 53-year-old started acting “stupid” with her.
Court documents say that during that holiday, Grimmer began isolating the girl from other children at the park so they could spend time together, at one point telling her, “I wish I was your age”.
When the girl returned to the park during the Easter and October holidays the following year, Grimmer assaulted her several times, at one point telling her not to tell anyone or he would “get into a lot of trouble”.
On one occasion, Grimmer took the girl out on his boat, and when they were a considerable way from shore, claimed the boat had broken down and they were stuck.
During the three hour wait out on the water, Grimmer allegedly tried to “force himself” on the girl and kissed her on the lips several times. The young girl repeatedly tried to tell Grimmer to stop, before he told her not to tell anyone or he’d get into trouble.
Later that year, during the September school holidays, Grimmer returned to the caravan park where the girl and her family were staying.
He again indecently assaulted her, this time inside her family’s van. Court documents say Grimmer again kissed the girl on the lips and put his hand under her shirt and touched her breasts.
After this assault, the young victim told one her friends at the caravan park about Grimmer’s assaults, saying she “couldn’t handle it anymore”.
The 55-year-old was arrested in 2017 by detectives from the child abuse squad, after the incidents were reported to police.
Grimmer’s arrest came just one month after a Victorian man was extradited to NSW and charged with the murder of his little sister Cheryl, who disappeared from Fairy Meadow Beach near Wollongong in 1970.
The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions has since dropped all charges against the man, after a crucial piece of evidence was ruled out of his murder trial.
There is no suggestion Stephen Grimmer had anything to do with his sister’s disappearance or murder, he was just a six-year-old at the time.
After the guilty pleas on Thursday, prosecutors put forward an application for Grimmer’s detention until his sentencing in February next year. But, Judge Chris O’Brien refused the request, noting Grimmer had not breached any bail conditions he’d been subject to over the past three years.
“The bail concern here is flight risk now that the presumption of innocence has been lost,” he said.
“He’s a person with limited criminal history, does not have any history of violence and has good history of compliance with bail conditions.”
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As part of his continued bail conditions, Grimmer has been ordered to surrender his passport and will have to report to police twice a week.
While he granted bail, Judge O’Brien noted that a jail term for Grimmer’s crimes was “inevitable”.
The matter will return to court next year for sentencing.