‘Devastating’: Isiah Campbell guilty of act of gross indecency with a 9-year-old boy

A Palmerston boy having an afternoon nap has been the victim of a horrific sexual assault after a recently released prisoner broke into his home. WARNING: DISTURBING

A 9-year-old Palmerston boy has suffered a horrific ‘sexual assault’ after a stranger broke into his home, a Darwin court has heard.

A 9-year-old boy was woken from his afternoon nap and been the victim of a horrific sexual assault, committed by a stranger who broke into his Palmerston home just nine days after being released from prison, a court has heard.

Isiah Campbell, 23, pleaded guilty to committing an act of gross indecency with a child after the terrifying December 7 attack in which he assaulted the boy for up to 20 minutes before being discovered.

The boy was in the care of his aunt, sleeping in the living room of her home in the southeast of Palmerston while she left for short periods to run errands.

At about 2.30pm Campbell entered the home through a side door that had been left unlocked and startled the boy awake.

“Who are you,” the boy said, according to the facts of the case read in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Despite being a complete stranger, Campbell replied “I am your uncle, I live across the road” before exposing his penis and beginning to masturbate.

“Sit on my lap, if you don’t I will bash you,” Campbell said.

Campbell carried the boy into a bedroom and attempted to penetrate him, calling him “baby”.

The boy continued to resist and push against Campbell throughout the terrifying incident.

Isiah Campbell pleaded guilty to a terrifying attack on a Palmerston boy at the Supreme Court. Picture: Jason Walls

At about 3pm the boy’s aunt returned home, finding Campbell lying naked on the bed and holding the boy.

She screamed “who the f**k are you, what the f**k is going on?”.

Campbell slowly got to his feet, walked out of the house and ran naked down the street.

Crown prosecutor Marty Aust told the court the boy was “highly distressed, crying and washing out his mouth with water from a plastic bottle” as the offender fled.

Campbell was arrested two days later in Palmerston and has been remanded in custody ever since.

Mr Aust described the aunt’s victim impact statement, which detailed the “devastating effect” of the incident.

“What she does make clear … is that she had a pretty difficult life coming up through the world and she tried to make that better for members of her family,” Mr Aust said.

“This has had a pretty devastating effect on her family.”

Mr Aust told Justice Jenny Blokland the offender was a significant risk to the community.

“He’s breached every order he’s ever been on, he’s only been out of custody for nine days or thereabouts when he committed this offence,” Mr Aust said.

Defence lawyer Joseph Bourke told the court Campbell “has a number of significant cognitive issues” and had suffered deprivation and sexual abuse.

A psychological assessment of Campbell was ordered, and the matter is expected to return to court on August 9 for sentencing.