NSW child sex offences: Rise in recorded incidents, offenders jailed in 2021 named
A shock spike in child sex crimes across NSW has been recorded with more than 10,000 incidents reported. Now, some of the state’s newly-convicted child sex offenders can be revealed.
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It is considered one of the most despicable acts a grown man or woman could do - preying sexually on a vulnerable child.
The number of monstrous sexual acts committed by adults on children has risen in recent years, with more than 10,000 incidents recorded in the 12 month period before September last year.
Criminals convicted of horrific child sex crimes in 2021 include a Christian brother, a lead singer of a Newcastle rock band, a martial arts instructor and a school employee.
In the 12 month period before September 2021, there were 10,771 recorded incidents of sexual offences against children or juveniles according to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) data.
Five years earlier, there had been only 9346 incidents recorded in the same 12 month period.
Across NSW, the rate of sex crimes against children and juveniles has increased at an average of 4.2 per cent a year in the past decade.
Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad detective superintendent Jayne Doherty said, worryingly, that any member of society could be a child sex offender,
“Child sex offenders come from all walks of life, all socio-economic back grounds and all levels of education,” she said.
“It is about getting access to children, this can be online, through befriending children through common groups or interests, gaining access through friends and family.
“Often, we find the offenders are family members of the victim. There is no constant that would allow us to identify child abusers so we must enlighten children to recognise when they are being groomed and build pathways for them to speak up knowing they will be believed and supported.”
Statistics from BOCSAR revealed the 10 local government areas (LGAs) with the highest recorded incidents of sex crimes against children in a 12 month period before September were; Central Coast (610), Blacktown (567), Lake Macquarie (411), Penrith (336), Campbelltown (311), Canterbury-Bankstown (287), Newcastle (280), Liverpool (257), Wollongong (246) and Shoalhaven (235).
The Central Coast, Blacktown and Lake Macquarie areas recorded the highest number of incidents a decade earlier.
Supt. Doherty said identifying signs of sexual abuse of children was difficult but the key was to build trust so a child feels like they can speak up.
“The signs and symptoms can be as unique as the child themselves,” she said. “Their reaction to the abuse can alter depending on their relationship to the offender, their relationship and trust of other adults around them, their knowledge of appropriate sexual relationships, what other things are impacting their life at the time of the abuse.
“There is no black and white sign of abuse, it can include changes in behaviour, acting up or being recluse, emotional outbursts or being withdrawn.
“These changes can also be a sign of other issues but what is important is that adults around the child make sure that they are open to listen and act upon what a child tells them is affecting their life.”
Below are ten individuals who have been convicted of sexual crimes relating to juveniles in 2021.
Kevin Jewell
The former Marist Brother was sentenced in May last year for disturbing child sex offences he committed almost 50 years ago.
Kevin Joseph Jewell admitted to molesting boys in his class in the 1960s, some as young as nine, when teaching at the Marist College in Eastwood and at another in Randwick.
His victims told the court of the emotional damage they suffered as a result of the sexual abuse at the hands of Jewell.
Jewell pleaded guilty to 19 counts of indecent assault and his lawyers had previously asked for leniency because the former Marist Brother is in poor health and there had been issues with his fitness to be before a court.
Judge Ian Bourke sentenced Jewell to seven years jail but will be eligible for parole in 2025.
Daniel Hanson
Lead singer Daniel ‘Jimmy’ Hanson, of Newcastle, used his band status to prey on young females to fulfil his own sick fantasies of committing sexual acts with them.
Of the 14 victims, aged between 12 and 22, most were children. The court heard he flattered the victims with compliments before coercing them to do things they didn’t want to and pressuring them into thinking it was all okay.
Judge Hock detailed Hanson’s emotionally deprived background and noted he had been sexually abused as an 11 and 12-year-old and he had attempted two suicide attempts.
Hanson surmounted a staggering 111 charges. In 2020 he pleaded guilty to a fraction of those, with 85 charges being dismissed and three charges of common assault taken into account on sentencing.
Two other charges he was sentenced for were an adult maintaining an unlawful relationship with a child, a charge that was strengthened following the royal commission and now carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Hanson pleaded guilty to 23 charges of child sex and indecent assault offences and was jailed for 28 years, with a non-parole period of 21 years.
He won’t be eligible for release until August, 2040.
Troy Gurney
A Blacktown man is behind bars after being convicted of child sex offences in April last year.
Troy Stanley Gurney, 34, was charged for inciting a young girl known to him to sexually touch him several times.
The western Sydney man pleaded guilty to one count of carrying out a sexual act on the girl, who is aged under 10, and five counts of inciting the girl to sexually touch him.
Gurney was jailed for a minimum of 13 months in April, 2021 and will be eligible for release in May this year before spending a further seven months on parole.
He was also ordered to have no contact with the girl for seven years.
Graeme Barwick
A child sex offender who abused a minor for three years vowed to protest his innocence “until the day he dies” after he was jailed in 2021.
Paedophile Greame William Barwick was found guilty at trial in 2021 of raping and sexually assaulting a child from the age of seven until they were 10.
Barwick’s victim said they had been admitted to psych wards three times and self harmed in the years after the attacks and said: “I will never be able to get those years back it is painful to remember what he did to me”.
Judge Trail sentenced Barwick to a jail term of nine years and six months.
Mark Richards
A Riverina school employee has been sentenced for grooming a teenage student by sending pictures of him masturbating and his sex toy collection through Snapchat.
Mark Richards, pleaded guilty to eight offences, including grooming a child for unlawful sexual activity, aggravated sexual intercourse with child (aged between 14 and 16) and possession of a prohibited weapon.
The court heard Richards met the victim as coach of an all-girls school sports team he coached and began messaging her on Snapchat.
The court heard in early 2020 Richards told the teenager he wanted to have sex with her and asked her to bring a towel to a park.
At the park the school employee kissed and groped the victim before attempting to have sex with her. When that didn’t go to plan, he looked at her and ejaculated on the ground.
Richards was sentenced to six years and six months with a non parole period of four years and four months. He will be eligible for parole on April 2025.
Bryan Grange
A western Sydney man admitted in court to his sickening abuse, rape of children and his stomach-churning collection of tens of thousands of abuse images and videos.
Bryan Michael Grange, 38, was living just streets away from a primary school when he downloaded tens of thousands of videos and images of child sexual abuse from an online paid child abuse subscription service.
He was arrested in October 2019 following a tip-off to the Australian Federal Police, who raided his suburban home and uncovered a stash of child abuse material stored on laptops, data storage devices and DVDS.
Grange pleaded guilty to having sex with a child under 10, using a child under 14 to create child pornography, indecently assaulting a child under 16, possessing child abuse material, using a carriage service to access child pornography and using a carriage service to transmit child pornography.
Grange will be in prison until at least 2044 with Judge Kara Shead sentencing him to 30 years’ prison for child sexual abuse as well as four and a half years for possessing child abuse material.
Justin Radford
A Central Coast man who filmed himself sexually abusing a young boy before he was caught with thousands of “horrific and depraved” child abuse images was sentenced to eight years prison with a non-parole period of 12 years.
Former Nine Network tape library assistant Justin Kenneth Radford was 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 the child to produce child abuse material and disseminating it and thousands of images and videos of child abuse and bestiality material to 19 separate individuals.
The court heard when the AFP raided Radford’s home they seized three mobile phones and a laptop containing an estimated 4416 videos and 11,151 photos of child sex abuse and bestiality material with 56 per cent of the files rated “category 4”, being the second worst type conceivable.
With time served since his arrest he will be eligible for parole on February 6, 2032.
Robert Beavis
A Hunter life saving member for almost three decades pleaded guilty to a historical charge of indecent assault and two charges of sexual intercourse with a person under 10 in 2021.
Robert Beavis was jailed for 10 years with a non-parole period of five years and six months for charges relating to two girls — aged eight and nine — at Belmont between 2003 and 2006.
The court heard Beavis in December 2017 went to trial for the sexual and indecent assault of a 10-year-old girl in 2004. For that matter he was found guilty and jailed for seven years, with that sentence set to expire in February this year, except for the fact that the new sentence last year resulted in him staying behind bars until at least June 2024.
Dale Whiteman
A junior rugby league referee with “deviant sexual interests” toward young girls was been jailed for 16 years, after grooming and having underage sex with multiple teen girls over a 15-year period.
Dale Whiteman, 32, was sentenced on 15 charges, including having sexual intercourse with a person aged 14 to 16, possessing child abuse material, aggravated indecent assault and using a carriage service to groom a child under 16 years for sex.
The junior rugby league referee used his connections with the sport to meet his 22 victims across the Illawarra and Sutherland Shire.
He contacted the girls, aged between 13 and 16, via social media platforms and text messages, with his offending dating back to 2006.
Whiteman was first arrested in December 2019 and released on bail. He was then hit with additional charges related to a USB police uncovered at his home.
The device contained folders under the names of more than 70 different girls, each folder containing screenshots of texts and photos of them either naked or in their underwear.
Whiteman was jailed for 16 years with a non-parole period of 11 years.
With time served he will be eligible for release to parole in 2031.
Unnamed man
A man, 33, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told a court he knew molesting his stepdaughter was wrong but “it felt good” at the time.
The man pleaded guilty to two counts of intentionally sexually touching a child aged between 10 and 16 and one count of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child.
An agreed set of signed facts stated the man lived with his wife and her daughter at Chain Valley Bay and indecently assaulted the girl over a period of six months before making her perform a `sick’ sexual act.
He was sentenced to seven years jail with a non-parole period of four years and three months.
With time served since his arrest on June 28, 2020 he will be first eligible for parole on September 27, 2024.
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