Police failed to investigate a known sex offender in Shadow of Doubt podcast case

Episode 4 of Shadow of Doubt is live in the app now | A couple who claim to have been wrongfully jailed for sexually abusing their daughter say police failed to properly investigate whether a known sexual offender who lived in their home may have been the real perpetrator.

Shadow of Doubt is available on The Australian’s app and shadowofdoubt.com.au. Illustration: Emilia Tortorella

A NSW couple who claim to be wrongfully jailed for sexually abusing their daughter say police failed to properly investigate whether a known sexual offender who lived in their home may have been the real perpetrator.

The parents told police, before they were charged, that a family friend had groomed and molested one of their daughters while living in their home, and might have been responsible for her sister’s disturbing memories of childhood abuse.

The man had a history of violence and had been reported to police as a suspected paedophile, the Shadow Of Doubt podcast reveals this week. But he died while under investigation.

The parents were subsequently charged with 86 counts of sexual abuse, which they claim were based on their daughter’s false memories recovered during counselling. They are seeking a judicial review of their case after being sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

According to medical records in the case, the couple’s 18 year-old daughter, ‘Emily’, had been undergoing psychiatric treatment for six months when she remembered her father had entered her bedroom when she was eight and lay on top of her. The medical files note she was frustrated because she could not remember more.

When police interviewed the father, he alerted them to the fact that he was not living at home at that time, because he and his wife had separated for a year. He told police he was concerned that his daughter might be remembering an incident involving a swimming coach who had befriended the family and moved in with his wife and children during the separation.

The swimming coach – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was already known to police for two violence offences, against a woman and a teenage boy. After he moved out of the family’s home, one of the couple’s daughters, ‘Sarah’, reported that he had groomed and sexually assaulted her, beginning in primary school when he was coaching her and continuing into her teens when he lived in their home.

After the parents reconciled, they took ‘Sarah’ to police to report the assaults. By that time the swimming coach’s suspicious behaviour with children at the local swimming pool had been reported to police on at least two occasions. The NSW police database noted “previous intell for suspected paedophile activity”.

Detective ‘Dave Miller’.

Therapist ‘Donna Shepherd’.

Speaking from prison for the podcast, the parents say they have only recently become aware of the man’s criminal history and the extent of his suspected paedophile activity with other children. They say police should have been alert to the possibility that he may have been preying on their other daughter ‘Emily’, which would explain her vague memory from the time she was eight.

‘Emily’ would eventually remember that she had been raped and tortured by her father from the age of five to 18, and that her mother had participated in the abuse. Her sister ‘Sarah’ also made sexual assault allegations against her parents and testified against them at her trial.

Their mother told The Australian that she believed it was vital for the jury in their case to know the background information about the swimming coach’s offending in their home. But that evidence was never presented at the trial because of a legal prohibition on questioning alleged victims about their prior sexual history.

“We were told we can’t mention these things in front of the jury,” she said. “But it was really important, ecause it gave a background to perhaps why this has, you know, developed.”

*The images used with this podcast investigation are for illustrative purposes only and bear no resemblance to the real people in this story, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

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