Mackay Whitsunday sexual offenders in court in 2024

From a mother who sexually exploited her four-year-old son for the promise of $10k, to a man who repeatedly raped his step daughter over three years, here are 13 sexual offenders who faced court in 2024.

Here are 15 men and woman from the Mackay Whitsunday who faced court in 2024 for sexual offending throughout the region.

Here are 13 men and woman from the Mackay Whitsunday who faced court in 2024 for sexual offending throughout the region.

Mackay region man jailed for nine years for raping young daughter

A young teen has bravely confronted her rapist father over his years of abuse as she delivered a powerful speech to “the first man to break my heart before any boy could”.

To the outside world he portrayed himself as a hard working family man, who was heavily involved in junior sports.

But behind closed doors he subjected his little girl to harrowing and planned sex abuse and manipulation for three years and seven months, starting when she was just 10 years old.

“The world is going to see you for what you truly are,” she told him, as he appeared in Mackay District Court via video link.

His abuse, which included constant rape, molestation and manipulation, ended when she was 14.

Since then she has suffered many sleepless nights “dwelling on what’s happened … why me, how do I get rid of this anger in my heart”.

“A dad is someone who is supposed to protect you at all costs.”

Instead she said “he took away my childhood”, and subjecting her to “nightmares and flashbacks” of his terrible actions.

The man pleaded guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with a child, with the aggravated circumstance that he unlawfully and indecently dealt with a child and during the course of the relationship he raped the child between 2019 and 2022.

He was jailed for nine years with parole eligibility after four years. A conviction was recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Whitsunday mother jailed for sexual exploiting 4yo son for money

Blatant greed motivated an “utterly wicked” Whitsundays mother to sexually exploit her four-year-old son for the promise of $10,000.

She made multiple vile videos which she sent to a man in Brisbane she had met over social media and engaged in disturbing conversations about child abuse and exploitation.

The videos involved the 29-year-old mum committing sex acts on her young son, later downplaying her acts to police saying “ he wouldn’t have even noticed this was going on”, crown prosecutor Shannon Sutherland told Mackay District Court.

A Whitsunday mum sent vile content involving her son to a Brisbane man over Snapchat. (Photo Illustration by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

The “incomprehensible” crime came to light after specialist Taskforce Argos police raided the Brisbane man’s home in January 2023 and uncovered child exploitation material sent from the mother’s Snapchat account.

The court heard he had randomly added her and the pair began engaging in sexualised conversations.

“It was clear that it was perverted in nature and involved discussion of sexual acts you were being encouraged to engage in with your son,” Judge Gregory Lynham said, who labelled the offending “utterly wicked conduct which was clearly motivated by financial gain”.

The woman, who is from a suburb in the Airlie Beach region, pleaded guilty to making and distributing child exploitation material.

She was jailed for 3.5 years to be suspended after 14 months and she will be released on two years probation after it was determined it was in her and the community interest to have ongoing supervision. Convictions were recorded
FULL STORY HERE

Mackay man Daniel Leech jailed for ‘scandalous’ relationship with 13yo girl

A child groomer and father of nine who took advantage of a young teenage girl, coaxing her into a sexual relationship and later telling police he did not think it was a big deal to have sex with a minor because she consented.

Mackay District Court heard then 39-year-old Daniel Leech also sent letters from prison to the girl, confessing his love and threatening to take his own life if she did not drop her complaint.

Judge Jennifer Rosengren ripped into Leech calling his continued communication with his victim and her parents from jail as “quite frankly scandalous, irrational and harmful”.

The offending occurred in late 2021.

His gross conduct began with kissing, cuddling and exchanging text messages about smoking marijuana with the barely teen.

The court heard Leech also supplied her with alcohol and drugs and told her she was sexy while trying to organise to hang out with the child, with whom he had sex with five times.

Leech, who had nine children from five women, pleaded guilty to grooming a child under 16, five counts of penile intercourse with a child under 16, and two counts of stalking.

He was jailed for 3.5 years with parole eligibility on April 19, 2024. Convictions were recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Joel Douglas Jorgensen jailed for raping child

A convicted child sex offender has preyed on a teenage girl who was avoiding police, offering her a getaway before raping her.

Joel Douglas Jorgensen, who became a registered child sex offender after he tried to procure sex with teenage girls via Snapchat and sent them photos of his penis, was in Mackay about 10.30pm on Tuesday, September 5 last year.

Joel Douglas Jorgensen was jailed in a Mackay court for raping a child. Picture: LinkedIn

Mackay District Court heard the then 34 year old approached a 13-year-old girl and her school friend who were sitting in a paddock.

Crown prosecutor Lydia Devereaux said the children told Jorgensen they were trying to avoid police and he in turn said officers were at the nearby service station.

He offered to “protect them” and they got into his car.

Ms Devereaux said Jorgensen drove to his mother’s house to pick up a swag before heading to Seaforth where they camped for the night.

The court heard Jorgensen digitally raped the 13-year-old as she lay beside her friend and was “too scared to move”.

Jorgensen pleaded guilty to rape and was jailed for three years and nine months with parole eligibility in December 2024. A conviction was recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Mackay man charged with raping step daughter

A child rapist may have avoided facing punishment for some of his horror crimes but not for a chance encounter with police.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sexually abuse two sisters, one of whom described the traumatic impact his offending had in an emotional victim impact statement describing how “memories of that night … are still etched in my mind like a fresh wound”.

The younger girl was only 11 when he forced himself on her, digitally raping her. She was too scared to tell anyone, Mackay District Court heard.

What he did to her older sister was even worse and involved multiple counts of sexual abuse and rape when she was aged 13 to 15.

When she cried during his abuse he ignored her.

The rapes left her “shaking and scared” and when it finished she barricaded her bedroom door with her bed to stop him coming back into her room.

The man pleaded guilty to six counts of rape and three counts of indecent treatment with the offending mostly in the Mackay region.

He jailed the man for three and a half years suspended after serving 12 months. Convictions were recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Mackay grandad was jailed for molesting his 9yo granddaughter.

Mackay granddad jailed for indecent treatment against 9yo granddaughter

A vile pop who has previously been convicted of child sexual offending has been jailed for molesting his nine-year-old granddaughter while she slept at a family gathering.

She still has nightmares, and the offending had significant impacts on the family.

When police confronted the Mackay man, aged in his 70s, he denied the terrible conduct and blamed his victim “calling her a spiteful child”.

Mackay Magistrates Court heard it was the second time he had committed a sexual offence against a child he was related to, spending three months of a 12 month sentence in jail in the late 1990s.

Crown prosecutor Shannon Sutherland said the latest incident occurred when the family had been gathered at the man’s home – the little girl had gone to sleep and woke to her grandfather moving her bed.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 12 and making child exploitation material.

He was jailed for 21 months to be suspended after serving five months, with an operations period of three years. A conviction was recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Mackay man pleads guilty to ‘brazen’ child sex offending

A Mackay man lured a 13-year-old girl away from school and into nearby bushes to have sex in what has been labelled a brazen sexual crime.

The pair knew each other through family and she thought of and referred to him as “her protector”, Mackay District Court heard.

She is still suffering emotional and mental impacts from this offence.

They had been messaging sporadically until early 2021 when the victim teen’s mother saw their communication which included the then 30-year-old professing his love for the young girl and telling her he wished she was older and asking is she was home alone, and told them to stop.

The court heard it picked up again later that year and involved him asking for an explicit photo and sending her an image of his penis via Instagram before deleting it once she had viewed the picture.

Then twice he asked her to leave school to meet him – the first time they just talked, the second time he told her to meet him in some bushes where they had sex.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty to carnal knowledge of a child under 16 and indecent treatment of a child under 16 in the Mackay region.

He was jailed for two years with immediate parole eligibility because he had already spent 217 days in presentence custody. A conviction was recorded

FULL STORY HERE

Reilly Owen Manning faces Mackay court for rape, sexual assault of woman

A former high school sports vice-captain has taken an “inexcusable” fall from grace as he apologised to his rape victim before his family and friends in court.

Mackay District Court heard Reilly Owen Manning raped and twice sexually assaulted a woman, leaving her traumatised and unable to be the person she feels her family deserves.

Reilly Manning received a suspended jail term for the rape and sexual assault of a woman.

Crown prosecutor Steph Gallagher said Manning and his victim had been having consensual sex but were not in a relationship leading up to the first incident where she’s woke up to him sexually assaulting her.

The court heard one night after she’d been out drinking with friends she had asked Manning to pick her up and she went to sleep in his bed and woke up to him digitally raping her.

He pleaded guilty to the charges. He was jailed for 2.5 years, wholly suspended and placed on probation. Convictions were recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Uncle figure handed suspended jail term after molesting teen victim twice

A man who was “like an uncle figure” to his young victim molested her twice while she was under his care in a “grave breach of trust”.

The court heard the teen, who had been 14-15 at the time, “physically resisted” the first time, but he persisted.

The conduct involved him touching her chest over her clothing while they were playing video games and also putting her hand on his genitalia when he was only wearing underwear.

Mackay District Court heard the offending occurred sometime over a between 2022 and 2023 when she had visited the man’s home about five times.

On the second visit he began making inappropriate comments with sexual innuendo to her, the court heard.

“It’s a grave breach of trust,” crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton said.

The man, who was aged 39 to 40 at the time, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16 as a lineal descendant/guardian/carer.

He was jailed for 12 months, immediately suspended for 18 months, and convictions were recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Bowen Basin miner found guilty to mine camp rape

A Bowen Basin mine worker has been called “calculated” and without “remorse” after a jury found him guilty of raping a sleeping woman while the pair were both at a mine camp, a court heard.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons and who is a New Zealand citizen will be deported once he is released from jail.

He had denied the allegations from early 2020, pleading not guilty in Mackay District Court to rape.

It was alleged the pair had been staying at the same Bowen Basin mine camp and that she had woken up to him digitally raping her and asking “what’s the time”.

An eight-man, four-woman jury found him guilty following a three-day trial.

The man was jailed for three years to serve half with 365 days declared as time already served on remand. A conviction was recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Stephen Zivkovic’s push to overturn guilty rape verdict dismissed

A rapist who forced himself on a sleeping woman has tried to blame his victim as unreliable in an attempt to have the conviction quashed.

She had been out drinking and socialising and ended up at Stephen Zivkovic’s house with two others where she fell asleep, a recent court judgment stated.

He was not known to her.

She told a court she had woken gradually the next morning to Zivkovic raping her.

He had pleaded not guilty to rape during a trial in Bowen District Court.

Zivkovic accepted that sex had occurred but claimed the woman’s evidence she did not give consent “was unreliable because of inconsistencies in the evidence, including about (her) drug use”.

But a jury found him guilty and he then tried to appeal the verdict, but the appeal was dismissed.

FULL STORY HERE

Mackay man found guilty of raping mentally impaired stepdaughter

A Mackay man has been jailed for three years for sexually abusing his mentally impaired stepdaughter after a jury found him guilty of one count of rape.

Mackay District Court heard the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was aware of his stepdaughter’s disability and her need for love and affection, which she argued was part of his manipulation and “how he preyed on her”.

Judge Bernard Porter KC said there had been no coercion or force used but the victim’s limited intelligence and dependence made the crime confusing and difficult for her to figure out how to react to the offence.

The court heard he would be a registered sex offender and subject to strict obligations.

He will serve 12 months of the three year jail term that will then be suspended for three years. A conviction was recorded.

FULL STORY HERE

Originally published as Mackay Whitsunday sexual offenders in court in 2024