Mossman man and serial creep Steven Glen Harper, 55, sentenced for public indecency

A disgusting repeat sexual offender has faced Cairns District Court after he approached a mother and her two young children with his pants lowered, masturbating.

Cairns court house. Picture: Brendan Radke

A disgusting repeat sexual offender has faced Cairns District Court after he approached a mother and her two young children with his pants lowered, masturbating.

Mossman man Steven Glen Harper, 55, pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent acts in an area accessible to the public after earlier negotiating with the prosecution to lower the charge from indecent treatment of a child by exposure.

The court heard Harper had a long history of sexual offending including the sexual assault of two young bar workers, as well as indecent treatment charges after exposing himself and masturbating in front of children.

He once again proved he had not dropped the disgusting perversion after exposed himself during the act to a mother and her two children, six and ten months old, outside a cafe in Mossman in April last year.

Crown prosecutor Kurt Macdonald told the court the mother and her children were in the outside sitting area of a cafe by an alley where Harper, near the entrance to a public toilet, stood with his pants down and masturbating while looking at the group.

Mr Macdonald said the woman shielded her children and entered the cafe to escape the man, who followed them and peered through the glass window continuing his disgusting act and staring at them.

“It went on for quite some time and did not finish in the alleyway,” he said, calling it “nefarious and disgusting behaviour”.

He said the woman was horrified and profoundly affected by the incident and suffers constant anxiety, “worrying constantly about her children”.

Judge Joshua Trevino KC asked the prosecution why the man wasn’t being charged with indecent treatment by exposure.

Mr Macdonald said the children may not have witnessed the behaviour and the charge was lowered after submissions from Harper’s lawyers.

He said it was clear Harper had an “ongoing perversion”.

Harper’s defence counsel Rachel Black argued against him having to be given reporting obligations as part of his sentence, which was ultimately unsuccessful.

She told the court Harper had grown up in Mossman and was a part-time farm worker at the time of the offending.

She said he struggled with drugs and alcohol and started the use of methylamphetamine 18 months earlier to treat ongoing back pain, but “underestimated his ability to handle the drug”.

Judge Trevino said he was “unaware that methylamphetamine had a therapeutic use to treat back pain”.

Ms Black said Harper was in the midst of a meth “binge” when the offending occurred.

Judge Trevino said that he was only able to sentence Harper on the basis that he did not “directly” impact a child despite the children being present to his behaviour.

He said the continued “propensity” was a great concern and said the penalty must protect the community.

He sentenced Harper to 346 days in custody — the time he has already spent in prison — and nine months under a prison probation order.

He also made an offender reporting order which would require Harper to complete reporting obligations well into the future.

Originally published as Mossman man and serial creep Steven Glen Harper, 55, sentenced for public indecency