Wide Bay Burnett child sex offenders revealed
The Wide Bay Burnett courts have sentenced more than a dozen people in the past 18 months across the region for shocking sexual crimes against the region’s most vulnerable.
Police & Courts
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Sex crimes continue to be a scourge on the community, and despite the best efforts of law enforcement and victim support networks, numbers across the Wide Bay and Burnett continue to exhibit a troubling trend.
Qld police data has revealed that in 2022, the Wide Bay sexual offending rate per 100,000 people was 195, which is 15 points above the Queensland average for the year.
It was almost 20 points higher than the Wide Bay’s 2021 rate of 176.6 per 100,000, an increase of 10.8 per cent on the year, and 18 points higher than the Wide Bay’s 22-year average of 177.2.
The 2022 offending rate was its highest in six years, and sixth highest offending rate across the Wide Bay Burnett district in 22 years.
Sadly some of these offences have been against the region’s most vulnerable.
These are some of the people across the region to have been convicted in the past 18 months of physical sexual crimes against children.
Joshua Robert Jeffrey Miller
A 29-year-old South Burnett man was found guilty of multiple sex crimes against a young girl in Murgon and Goomeri over an eight-year period.
Joshua Robert Jeffrey Miller was charged with five counts of raping a child and three counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 years of age.
He was convicted following a seven day trial at Kingaroy, with the court hearing in one instance he lured the then-six-year-old victim to his bedroom under the pretence they were going to play music.
The 29-year-old then proceeded to show the child explicit pictures and videos before making her perform oral sex.
Miller is scheduled to be sentenced in Maroochydore District Court on August 21, 2023.
More details here
Wilfred George Craig Georgetown
A 39-year-old Murgon man was jailed for nine years for the shocking rape of a teenage girl.
Wilfred George Craig Georgetown, who had been charged with two counts of rape and one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16 with carnal knowledge, was found guilty by a jury following a three-day trial.
The crimes took place in the South Burnett when the girl was 14 years old, and he will be eligible for parole in May 2024.
More details here
Keith Lance Ward
A man who drove a teenager into bushland instead of taking her to his home, where he then sexually assaulted her was jailed earlier this year.
Keith Lance Ward, 41, pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one count of indecent treatment of a child under 16 when he appeared before Maryborough District Court in March 2023.
The court heard Ward picked the girl up from her home at Granville, before driving her into bushland instead of taking her to his home.
Once there he forced her to perform oral sex on him, and digitally raped her.
He was jailed for three years, suspended after 12 months for a period of four years, with 18 months’ probation.
More details here
Lia Ah-Sang
A 32-year-old who made lewd comments to a girl and touched her indecently was placed on 18 months probation as his otherwise extensive criminal history had no similar sexual offending.
Lia Ah-Sang pleaded guilty in Bundaberg District Court in April 2023, to a charge of unlawfully and indecently dealing with a child under 12.
The court heard Ah-Sang told the girl that he would “hurt her badly” if she told anyone about the incident.
More details here
Bayden Edward Byron
A Bundaberg dad who sent text messages to a girl asking for pictures of her body and saying he wanted to “make love” to her was jailed for six months.
Bayden Edward Byron, 38, pleaded guilty to multiple charges including six counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, and using a carriage service to procure a person under the age of 16 for sexual activity.
The court heard he approached the girl three times before sending the text messages and his offending escalated to include hugging, kissing and touching the girl.
More details here
Jacob Daniel Honess
A 26-year-old who had sex with a teenager in a motel was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to charges of unlawful carnal knowledge, making child exploitation material and indecent treatment of a child.
Jacob Daniel Honess, 26, faced Maryborough District Court in March 2023, with the court hearing the girl was 13 years old when he started exchanging messages with her on social media in 2021.
The relationship, which included exchanging explicit photos, was discovered when someone opened the girl’s phone and saw the videos.
Honess’s jail term, suspended after six months, included 18 months’ probation.
More details here
Leslie James Kyte
A disturbing letter written to a woman’s son in October 2016 was the undoing of a depraved predator jailed for six years for his crimes against young boys.
Former diesel mechanic Leslie James Kyte pleaded guilty in April 2022 to three counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, one count of making child exploitation material, two counts of possessing child exploitation material, one count of distributing child exploitation material, one count of using a carriage service to access child exploitation material and one count of intended indecent treatment of a child under 16, under 12.
Kyte’s extensive list of crimes included sexually assaulting a pre-teen boy at a toilet block, the court heard, and he had kept a diary outlining his “conquests” and “training” of an 11-year-old boy.
More details here
Geoffrey Charles Rogers
Well-known Bundaberg businessman Geoffrey Charles Rogers was jailed in January 2023, for crimes he committed against a 15-year-old girl in 1998.
Rogers, 59, and the owner of AustralianSeafood.com and Wizard Drilling, pleaded guilty to multiple charges including two counts of rape, two counts of common assault and three counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
He was sentenced in the Maroochydore District Court in January 2022 for the “violent” sex crimes against the under age girl.
He was 36 at the time, the court heard.
More details here
Wayne Anthony Sheehan
A 64-year-old IT worker was jailed for 18 months after performing a sex act on a teenage girl while they were on a boat.
Wayne Anthony Sheehan, 64, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of indecent treatment of a child following a trial in the Maryborough District Court in March 2023.
The incident happened between 2006 and 2007 when Sheehan was living in Maryborough.
His sentences was suspended after nine months was served, for a period of three years.
More details here
Tristane Shane William Webb
A “manipulative” mechanic who groomed and raped a young girl was sentenced to seven years jail for his crimes, which also included a campaign of terror against neighbours.
Tristane Shane William Webb, 32 from Monkland in Gympie, pleaded guilty in Gympie District Court in September 2022 to 20 crimes committed over more than a year, with a May 2023 parole eligibility date.
Webb pleaded guilty to grooming, indecent treatment of a child, two counts of rape, five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, five counts of common assault, assault occasioning bodily harm, wilful damage, serious threatening violence, unlawful stalking with violence, two counts of threatening violence at night, and strangulation (relating to a third matter unconnected to the grooming or stalking crimes).
Judge Bernard Porter said Webb groomed the young girl over a prolonged period using a combination of manipulation, his “position of power”, force and persistence.
More details here
Gympie man molested daughter
A Gympie dad who maintained an unlawful relationship with his daughter from when she was eight or nine years old was jailed for six years in May 2023.
The 48-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced at Gympie District Court, with the judge telling him he was responsible for his family’s suffering.
He was found guilty following a trial of two counts each of attempted rape and maintaining an unlawful relationship with his daughter.
More details here
Bundaberg teacher molested his daughter
“Exceptional circumstances” kept a former Bundaberg teacher from spending time behind bars after he was convicted of indecently treating his daughter.
The man pleaded guilty in April 2023 to one count of indecently treating a child under the age of 16 who was a lineal descendant with the circumstance of aggravation in the Bundaberg District Court.
Crown prosecutor Anica Fritz told the court the case presented “exceptional circumstances”, with the man making “full and frank admissions” to police when his partner gave him an ultimatum: go to them or she would.
He was given a 15 months jail term, immediately suspended for two years.
More details here
Maryborough man indecently treated daughter
A Maryborough man was handed an 18 month suspended jail term after molesting his teenage daughter on four separate occasions.
The 46-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Gympie District Court to four counts of indecent treatment of a child under the age of 16, and while in his care.
He took over as the girl’s primary carer after her mother landed in hospital as a result of drug use.
The court heard his abuses included grabbing her thigh on one occasion, rubbing her back and touching her breast on another, and touching her genitalia.
More details here
Man tried to soothe toddler in shocking manner
A Maryborough bartender made a shocking admissions to police that he tried to calm his screaming toddler by touching her on her genitalia.
The 39-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Maryborough District Court in October 2022 to indecent dealing.
The court he had consumed a significant amount of beer and Jager bombs on the night his two-and-a-half-year-old toddler woke screaming.
He was sentenced to one year’s jail, suspended immediately for two years, and placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years.
More details here
Maryborough man raped girlfriend’s daughter
A man who raped his girlfriend’s daughter during a game of hide and seek was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The 35-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in the Maryborough District Court on May 29, 2023, to one count of rape, seven counts of indecent dealing and one count of attempted rape.
He was in a relationship with the young girl’s mother and living on the Fraser Coast town when he committed the crimes.
More details here
Grandfather guilty of raping child
A Fraser Coast grandfather was sentenced to five years jail after being found guilty of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child, and four counts of rape.
Hervey Bay District Court heard the 72-year-old, who cannot be legally named, committed the crimes when the girl visited her “nan and pop’s” house on the Fraser Coast.
The man was the girl’s step-grandfather.
The court was told there were four particular instances the young girl remembered, which happened between the ages of 7 and 12.
More details here
Gympie man abused partner’s daughter
A Gympie man with previous convictions for indecent treatment was handed a nine-year jail sentence for abusing his girlfriend‘s young daughter for almost a year.
The man, 50, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in Ipswich District Court to three counts of rape, seven counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, grooming a child under 16, indecent treatment of a child under 12, making child exploitation material, possessing child exploitation material, and six counts of failing to comply with his reporting conditions.
The crimes occurred from 2020-2021, with the court hearing he indecently touched the girl while dropping her off at school, raped her on several occasions, photographed and filmed her naked, and sent inappropriate videos and photos to her.
More details here
Uncle sexually abused nephew
A 56-year-old man was sentenced to eight years jail for sexually abusing his young nephew 30 years ago.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty on October 25, 2022, following a six day trial at the Maryborough District Court of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child under 16.
The court heard the man sexually abused his young nephew on a number of occasions from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, an abuse described by Judge Michael Byrne KC as “vile”.
His crimes included oral sex and attempting to have sex with the young boy.
More details here
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