County Court: Cranbourne East’s Alan Leah guilty of child sexual assault

A Melbourne tradie who asked a girl to perform a sex act on him near a school “before the bell” has been unmasked as a vile predator.

Alan Leah was called “pathetic, diabolic and depraved monster” by his victim’s mother

A Melbourne dad who called a child a “p***y” and “weak” while sexually assaulting her has been labelled a “pathetic, diabolic and depraved monster” by the victim’s mother.

Cranbourne East’s Alan Leah pleaded guilty to child sexual assault and sexual activity in the presence of a child in the County Court via videolink last week.

Between June 2020 and February 2021, the then 31-year-old sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and performed sexual acts in front of her at Frankston and Langwarrin.

The court heard that on October 23 2020, Leah drove the child and her mother to a Frankston shopping centre and while the mother was inside he remained in the car with the victim and put his arm around her, lifted her top and put his hand down her pants.

The victim used force to push his hand away before he gave up and called her a “pussy” and “weak”.

Prosecutor Alisa McVean said a few days later, Leah was driving the child to pick up a sibling from school when he exposed his penis and told her to perform a sex act but she refused

They were parked near the school when he told her to “do it quickly before the bell goes”.

Alan Leah exually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and performed sexual acts in front of her at Frankston and Langwarrin.

In court, Ms McVean read from a victim impact statement from the girl’s mother where she labelled him a “pathetic, diabolic, depraved monster”.

“You had the audacity to call my 14-year-old daughter a p---y and weak when she tried to defend herself from a grown man in his 30s, but the only weak person is you Alan to do that to a child, you’ve gotten away with this diabolic behaviour for too long,” the statement read.

“Here we stand to expose what really is beneath this great guy persona that he projects to the world that is simply the dangerous predator you are, Alan.”

The woman said due to his offending her daughter no longer sees the world with wonder and mystery and was engulfed in darkness and struggles to find the will to live.

Defence lawyer Martin Kozlowski asked Judge Anne Hassan to adjourn the matter so he could provide further details about Leah’s mental health at the time of the offending.

Mr Kozlowski said his client had symptoms of bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety at the time and was seeing a professional but the psychological report did not convey that on the “face of it”.

He said defence were only provided with the victim impact statement on Friday afternoon.

Leah is expected to be sentenced on October 5.