One man’s endless crusade to keep paedophile from other kids

After being sexually assaulted at a children’s sleepover birthday party in 1987, Jesse Elmer is still fighting to keep a paedophile teacher’s aide away from kids.

The accused man, standing rear left, in 1988.

When Jesse Elmer returned to his home state of Tasmania in 2008 he was confronted with a memory he had tried to bury for more than three decades.

A man’s hand on his penis at a friend’s birthday party sleepover when he was 12. His own hand being placed on a man’s genitalia. His body paralysed by fear.

The memories plagued him until he knew something had to be done. Mr Elmer messaged a friend who still lived in the Launceston suburb of Mayfield, where he grew up, to ask what had become of the man he says was his childhood abuser.

The man, now aged in his late 50s, of Launceston, had been working with young children for decades.

“I was shocked to find out he had been working as a teacher’s aide for 25 years and also worked at a community sports centre,” Mr Elmer said. “I learned he had access to disabled children as well and I think I felt a responsibility because I didn’t speak up when it happened.”

Mr Elmer said he reported his abuse to Tasmania Police in 2012 and to the Department of Education soon after.

In 2015 during a private meeting Mr Elmer said he was notified the man had been found by Tasmania’s Justice Department to have, on the balance of probability, committed sexual offences against children.

Mr Elmer said he was informed the man had failed an application for his Working With Vulnerable People Certificate despite appealing the decision in the Launceston Magistrates Court.

The man has never been charged with a criminal offence and is now able to reapply for his WWVP certificate as Tasmanian Law permits failed applicants to undergo a new risk assessment after a period of five years has elapsed.

Mr Elmer, who has begged Tasmanian authorities to take action for almost a decade, said he is terrified the man will be able to gain access to children again.

Mr Elmer, aged 12 years old at the time of offending, reported that on two occasions, while sleeping over at a friend’s house, the man instigated unwanted sexual touching and forced Mr Elmer to touch his penis.

Jesse Elmer (right) aged 11 in 1998.

“I was asleep and was woken by (the man) with his hand down my pants, fondling me,” his statement reads. “I just froze, I don’t think he knew I woke up. I didn’t say anything to anyone. The first person I told was my girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife, when I was 18.”

The man was Mr Elmer’s friend’s neighbour and frequently babysat at the residence at which the abuse occurred.

“After the first time he abused me I stopped going to my friend’s house until it was his birthday and he invited a group of boys from our Grade 6 class to stay over,” Mr Elmer said.

“I was woken by (the man) again fondling me. He got one of my hands and put it on his penis and testicles. I just froze again. After that I never went back to my friend’s house.”

Police were unable to act on Mr Elmer’s statement so he decided to track down other victims himself and identified some who were willing to speak to the police.

With their permission he passed on contact details to the police.

Mr Elmer decided to confront his childhood abuser, but after locating his mobile number on the internet he saw an opportunity to prove the man was still grooming children.

After posing as a 15 year old boy in texting conversations with the man, Mr Elmer started receiving grooming messages that solicited a meeting as well as the production and sharing of homemade pornographic material.

The messages would later be described as ‘crucial evidence’ for a hearing at the Launceston Magistrates Court.

The man’s application to gain his Working with Vulnerable People Registration was denied based on the testimonies of multiple men.

Department of Justice investigators who conducted the WWVP risk assessment of the man found that “on the balance of probability” he had sexually offended against children and that he had lied to investigators in initial interviews.

Investigators from the Department of Justice also took into account the text messages which demonstrated the man had attempted to groom an underage child as recently as 2013.

Mr Elmer said the inaction of authorities has magnified the initial trauma of his abuse and increased anxiety he had experienced at the thought of children continuing to be exposed to his childhood abuser.

“The lack of action messed me up for a while,” Mr Elmer said.

“It took over three years to get him away from the school and the sports centre.”

Tasmania Police maintain there is insufficient evidence to lay charges.

The Tasmanian Department of Education declined to provide comment in relation to this case.

The man accused of abusing Mr Elmer also declined to comment.