Cairns Childrens Court: Harrowing watch house video shown of 14yo being threatened with rape

Harrowing footage of the moment a 14-year-old boy hides his face under a blanket in an overcrowded watch house cell as an older boy taunts and threatens to rape him has been shown in a Qld Childrens Court.

Accommodation cells in the boys unit at the Cairns watch house, Picture: Queensland Ombudsman

Harrowing footage of the moment a 14-year-old boy hides his face under a blanket in an overcrowded watch house cell as an older boy taunts and threatens to rape him has been shown in a Cairns court.

The video shows the younger child lying on a raised concrete bench inside the cell as the older and much bigger boy stands over him, exposing his genitals and masturbating while making the vile threats.

Afterwards, the younger child asked to be moved to another cell, the court heard.

The now 17-year-old, who was 16 in January 2024 when the incident occurred, was sentenced in Queensland Childrens Court on Monday after pleading guilty to one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16.

In the CCTV vision, the older boy can be heard calling his victim a “c**ksucker” and saying “I’ll show you right now, I’ll rape you little boy”.

As he steps off the bench he touches the 14-year-old on the bottom through the blanket.

Throughout the ordeal, the young boy hides his face while two other young people in the cell seemingly ignore what is happening.

Crown Prosecutor Matt Hancock labelled the older boy’s offending as “bullying” and “intimidation” of a younger and smaller boy.

Accommodation cells in the boys’ unit at the Cairns watch house, Picture: Queensland Ombudsman

Mr Hancock said the offending was aggravated as it happened “under the strict conditions of a watch house”.

“He is a bigger and older child, (in) an intimidating position and a position of a kind of authority over him in that confined space,” he said.

“Although it may seem as an idle threat, the defendant was clearly affected enough to request to move cells.

“It is a serious example of a form of bullying taken much too far.”

Mr Hancock revealed the boy’s lengthy juvenile history primarily consisted of property offending but “no sexual offences at all”.

“He has been before the court on 13 occasions in total, he has been dealt with for 176 offences,” he said.

“He has one charge of assault occasioning bodily harm, three common assaults, 11 wilful damage, 11 charges of fraud, 28 of either unlawful use of a motor vehicle or unlawful entry of a vehicle, 21 charges of enter premises or attempted entry, 34 burglaries or attempted burglaries and 25 stealings.”

Defence counsel John Seccull told the court the boy had been detained in the Cairns watch house for 16 days before the offence occurred in an overcrowded cell with three other boys, two of whom had to sleep on the floor.

“It is clearly an inordinate period of time to keep a young person in those conditions,” he said.

He said the offending arose out of “boredom and frustration from being in that cell for so long”.

“He instructs he had no sexual interest in the other child whatsoever, and didn’t intend for his threats to be taken seriously.”

Mr Seccull said it was on the “low end” for this type of offence.

He said the boy had an extremely disadvantaged background and was under the care of child services.

Inside the Cairns watch house.

“He ceased school when he was 12 and began hanging around with other youths engaged in offending behaviour and fell into a lifestyle of substance abuse.”

Judge Dean Morzone said the defendant “tormented” the 14-year-old boy in the presence of two other children sharing the cell, prompting the child’s relocation to another cell.

“It seems to me the offending is one of torment and bullying and in that sense violence, but it is concerning that you turned to sexual violence in this way,” he said.

Judge Morzone said while there was no sexual offending in his past, there were instances of offending where the boy sought to “overlord” others with violence and intimidation.

A Youth Justice representative confirmed the boy had spent 65 days in custody in relation to the charge being sentenced.

Judge Morzone sentenced the boy with a reprimand, citing his time already spent in custody.

The judge spared the boy a conviction and a designation as a reportable offender.

The boy who is now in detention on unrelated charges will be released in March under a supervised order until August.

Originally published as Cairns Childrens Court: Harrowing watch house video shown of 14yo being threatened with rape