Gippsland paedo Craig Beck jailed for sexually assaulting schoolgirl in back of his ute
A Gippsland paedo who sexually assaulted a schoolgirl in the back of his ute before molesting the student outside her school has dodged a longer jail sentence despite the sex fiend blaming his victim on the offending.
Bass Coast News
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A Gippsland paedophile who sexually assaulted a 13-year-old schoolgirl in the back of his ute then telling police she wanted it to happen has been jailed.
Craig Beck, 36, was sentenced in the County Court on Thursday to a minimum 12 months’ jail after pleading guilty to charges including sexual penetration of a child under 16.
Beck frequently messaged his victim after getting her phone number in August last year.
He sent the victim lewd messages telling her she was pretty and asking what type of bra and underwear she was wearing.
Beck twice messaged the girl asking if they could date but she “deflected and ignored” the requests.
She told him not to text her phone because her mum checked it.
Beck then fronted at the girl’s school and gave her a phone.
On another occasion, Beck asked the girl if she “wanted to go for a drive” after he saw her walking through town.
Beck drove her to a nearby logging plantation.
The victim took photos of the view but Beck took the phone off her and placed it in his car.
He told the victim he “hadn’t brought her there for the view”
Beck also told his victim that he “needed and wanted her”.
“Don’t give me that look,” Beck said.
“I know you want it.”
Beck said “they were going to do it because (his wife) didn’t want to”.
Beck placed the girl in his ute tray and raped and sexually assaulted her.
The depraved paedophile continued to contact the victim and attended her school during breaks where the court heard he would “often” molest her.
Beck also drove the girl to a lookout and asked her if they could have sex “again”.
Phone records later obtained by police showed Beck contacted the victim 2567 times between August 1 and his arrest on November 12.
Investigators discovered many of the messages contained lewd material and images.
Beck downplayed his vile conduct telling police the victim was “clingy” with phone contact and would keep “ringing and texting” if he didn’t answer her calls.
He admitted “sexting” the victim with messages he described as “telling sexual
fantasies to the other person” to “keep it going”.
Beck claimed the victim had sent him photographs of herself in the bath which “surprised” him but replied the “photos looked nice and left it at that”.
Beck claimed the victim had planned the sexual encounter about “two weeks before it occurred” because she “wanted to have her first time with someone that she knows”.
Beck claimed he told the victim he wasn’t sure he should (have sex) but she “kept on
pursuing” him.
Beck claimed the victim told him it would be their “little secret”.
The court heard Beck worked in various jobs including as a cook, an electrician and a dairy farm hand before a medical issue forced him to stop working.
“Your offending is serious and moral compatibility is high,” Judge Anne Hassan said.
“Any sentences I oppose must be heavily moderated because of your ill health”.
Judge Hassan said imprisonment for Beck would be a “greater burden on [him] than a prisoner of robust health”.
“The law imposes an absolute prohibition on sexual contact with children in order to protect them from harmful premature sexual activity,” she said.
“Adults who transgress this prohibition must accept stern punishment.”
Beck – who also pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child and use a carriage service to transit indecent communication –was jailed for a maximum 24-months.
He was made a registered sex offender for life.
Beck also had seven months of his sentence wholly suspended for two years.
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