One of Qld’s worst child sexual predators jailed for life

A Queensland man has been barred from parole for at least 20 years after he was jailed for life for his heinous offending against children.

One of Queensland's worst child sex preadtors has been jailed for life.

One of Queensland’s worst sexual predators has been jailed for life for his heinous offending against children and under recent legislative changes he is one of the first to be barred from parole for at least 20 years.

The man’s extreme abuse of trust against the children of his partners was so egregious he even filmed the abuse, Ipswich’s District Court heard Wednesday.

The man, who cannot be identified to protect his victims, was found guilty by a jury on Friday of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child, two counts each of indecent treatment of children under 12 and rape and one count of indecent treatment of children under 12 under care.

At the start of his trial he pleaded guilty to four counts each of making child exploitation material, and indecent treatment of children under 16 under care and one count of possession of child exploitation material.

Because the man had previously been convicted of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and rape he automatically faced a life sentence.

Crown prosecutor Ben Jackson said the current offending against what was effectively his stepdaughter was “haunting” in its similarity to his earlier crimes which were also against the children of his then partner.

“He is now one of the worst sex offenders in the state of Queensland,” Mr Jackson said.

“He’s now been convicted of an unlawful sexual relationship with a child on three separate occasions. One notes the very young age of the children … they were all his stepchildren.

“He’s also been convicted now of nine rape offences involving those child complainants.”

As Mr Jackson detailed the offending against the girl, her mother quickly exited the court and erupted into tears.

The man, who cannot be identified to protect his victims, was found guilty by a jury on Friday of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.

The man had moved in with her after an online relationship and began grooming her young daughter before starting the heinous sexual abuse which included an attempt to molest her as she lay seriously ill in a hospital bed.

“He did have a level of sexual obsession of her which was extremely depraved in nature,” Mr Jackson said.

“The offending itself ... involved an extreme abuse of trust and there was a level of cunning that he displayed.

“The utter depravity of the man was demonstrated by him showing the victim images of her own abuse that he had carried out.

“He also filmed it, and the complainant knew at least for some of it that she was being filmed,” Mr Jackson said.

“He didn’t care about her one bit. He was all about himself and his sexual needs, regardless of the price she had to pay for that.”

Victim impact statements by the girl’s mother and sister spoke to the “extreme pain” caused by the man.

The man also indecently assaulted the girl’s friend who had to endure cross-examination where it was put to her that she had agreed to the offending.

“Highly offensive from her point of view,” Mr Jackson said.

Judge Michael Byrne said the man’s guilty pleas at the start of his trial to the less serious offending were ”a cynical attempt to persuade a jury to the false argument that you had pleaded guilty to everything you had done to these children.”

“Your offending is fundamentally abhorrent,” he said.

“You have shown no remorse.”

Judge Byrne activated a suspended sentence of three years and nine months that the man had been serving at the time of some of his offending.

The man was first dealt with by the courts in 2008 when he was sentenced for maintaining a sexual relationship with a child who was the daughter of previous partners. After that sentence police located a video that depicted the rape of that child. He was sentenced for this in 2010.

In 2015 he was again sentenced for maintaining a sexual relationship with a child in relation to his earlier victim’s sister.

The man’s latest offending triggered life imprisonment for the subsequent convictions of rape and maintaining a sexual relationship with a child. Recent law changes raised the non-parole period from 15 years to 20 years, the same as murder.

The man will be eligible for parole in 14.5 years with time already served.

Originally published as One of Qld’s worst child sexual predators jailed for life