Mark Anthony Higgins ceases company director for Shake It Up Music

Further details of a Nambour music shop owner’s fall from grace can be revealed after he was jailed over historical child sex offences. Read the latest.

Further details into Nambour music shop owner Mark Anthony Higgins’ fall from grace have been revealed after he was jailed over historical child sex offences.

A popular Nambour music shop has changed company directors after the former director was jailed over historic child sex offences.

Mark Anthony Higgins, 57, was found guilty in the Maroochydore District Court and convicted on March 3 of two historical charges of indecent treatment of a child under 16 dated between August 26 1997 and August 27 1998.

Higgins also faced two charges of indecent treatment of a child under 12, but was acquitted by the jury.

He was sentenced to one year in jail, but will only serve six months before he is released and the rest of his sentence suspended for a further six months.

Higgins was best known in the community for his successful music store, Shake It Up, on Currie St in Nambour.

Mark Anthony Higgins was jailed after a jury found him guilty of two counts of historic child sex offences.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission documents reveal Higgins’ tenure has ended as company director of MAEC Holdings Pty Ltd – which is listed as the business name holder for Shake It Up Music.

Shake It Up Music in Nambour opened in 2004 and later expanded into a three-storey mega store, making it one of the biggest on the Sunshine Coast. Photo: Elizabeth Neil

He ceased his role on February 28, two days before his trial began in the District Court.

The documents show Victorian man Robert Frank Lamberti took over as sole director on February 28, having been appointed as a director and secretary for MAEC Holdings on June 21, 2019.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Mr Lamberti’s behalf.

The business opened in 2004 and later expanded into a three-storey mega store, making it one of the biggest on the Sunshine Coast.

In 2016, Higgins told the Sunshine Coast Daily the shop “personally (serviced)” 80 per cent of all Sunshine Coast schools, having employed 12 teachers and coaching 300 students after becoming a preferred supplier for the Queensland Government’s Department of Education and Training.

Higgins had previously coached a 20-piece show band comprised of school students from 10 different schools and his former store celebrated its 11th birthday in 2016.

The Sunshine Coast daily reported in 2016 Higgins also played in the Shake It Up All Stars band and was a main man in popular Sunshine Coast band The Cumquats, which frequented several licensed premises and were a regular on the surf club music scene.

Originally published as Mark Anthony Higgins ceases company director for Shake It Up Music