Dwane Harding fronts court for injecting girls with meth

A meth-addict father of four got two young teen girls hooked on ice after injecting them with the drug in exchange for cash before sexually assaulting them.

Dwane Harding injected two teenage girls in Bendigo with meth and sexually assaulted them. Picture: Supplied.

A Bendigo grub got two teens girls addicted to methamphetamine leaving one “craving ice and pipes” after injecting them with the drug before sexually assaulting them.

Dwane Harding offended against the girls — aged 13 and 15 at the time — in October 2023 after offering crack cocaine to one of the teens if she showered with him and supplied sexually explicit videos to him.

The 40-year-old was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a minimum of two years and eight months after pleading guilty to supplying meth to a child and sexual assault.

Judge Peter Rozen said the girls took a puff from a crack pipe before they allowed Harding to inject them with meth.

He showed a girl a clear syringe filled with meth and tried to kiss her but she pulled away saying “No, I am 13”. Harding asked “Do you still want this?” while he held up the syringe and when she replied she did, he stood her up, kissed her neck and grabbed her breast and buttocks over her clothes.

Two young girls have been left craving ice and pipes after Dwane Harding injected them with the drug.

Harding then injected ice into her arm in a bathroom while he tried to move her arm towards his crotch.

Judge Rozen said Harding injected another girl with ice about nine times after he couldn’t find her veins. He offered to provide more meth in exchange for nudes and warned her that if she told anyone, he’d kill her family.

“She believed that you’d follow through with the threat. Your offending against both your victims was most egregious,” Judge Rozen said.

He said the girls were well under the age of 16 and vulnerable and a degree of preparation and planning was involved.

A victim told the court that she dropped on her knees and curled up and thought she was going to die after being injected with meth.

She said she and her friend were immediately hooked on meth and started seeking it out.

“I was left craving ice and pipes for the rest of my life. I betrayed my mum, my dad, my sister and my boyfriend”.

“I often wonder how my life would be now if this didn’t happen.”

Harding’s total sentence was four years and five months.