Sex crimes skyrocket by 300 per cent in Greater Shepparton

Reported sex crimes in Shepparton have risen by almost 300 per cent in the last year but police say there is one reason for it.

A one-man sex spree has almost tripled Greater Shepparton’s reported sex offences.

Data from the Crime Statistics Agency revealed the number of reported offences increased to 558 to the year ending June 2021 — up from 190 at the same time last year.

It is the highest on record since 2012 but Goulburn Valley superintendent Matthew Ryan said it was due to one man facing more than 350 charges.

“Every single incident of sexual offending deeply concerns police due to the traumatic and often long lasting effects on the victim,” he said.

“However, the latest crime statistics data surrounding sexual offences in Shepparton are heavily skewed by one incident in particular.

“During this period, detectives from the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Taskforce (JACET) charged one individual with 367 sex offences against children.”

Superintendent Ryan said that accounted for more than 65 per cent of all sexual offences committed in Shepparton for that period of time.

“The 48-year-old man from Shepparton was charged with a range of offences, including use service to groom minor for a sexual act, use service to transmit indecent communications to a minor, solicit child abuse material using service, and groom minor for sexual offence,” he said.

“Victoria Police, led by the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Taskforce (JACET) detectives, will continue to work tirelessly to proactively identify sexual offending against children and hold those who prey on some of our youngest and most vulnerable people to account.”

Overall Shepparton’s crime grew by 9.4 per cent to 9672 up from 8839.

Criminal damage offences slightly went up to 712 from 677.

Alarmingly, breaches of family violence orders significantly increased to 2226 from 1405 the previous year.

Family violence incidents in regional Victoria rose by 8.9 per cent, compared to Melbourne which recorded a 4.3 per cent rise in incidents.

Domestic Violence Resource Centre Victoria executive director Louise Simms said there were further barriers for people experiencing family violence in regional areas.

“So there are fewer services to access and there are all kinds of particular experiences and barriers that might not apply to people living in cities which can be exacerbated during the pandemic,” she said.

“These statistics refer to reports to police and we know that any increase in reports to police is likely to be amplified when it comes to the actual experience of family violence and the increase in service demand.

“So what we know from specialist family violence services in Victoria is that demand has increased absolutely exponentially and services are extremely stretched.”

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