Convicted child sex offender Shannon Norgate has sentence reduced on appeal

One of Queensland’s most notorious predators had his jail sentence reduced on appeal despite befriending and then attempting to solicit sex from a 12-year-old boy just a few weeks after his previous release from jail for previous child sex offences.

Notorious predator Shannon Daniel Norgate may soon be released from jail after his sentence for grooming a 12-year-old boy was reduced on appeal.

The 26-year-old Lockyer Valley man was jailed in March 2020 after he pleaded guilty to five child sex offences, including taking a child under 16 for immoral purposes.

At the time the case drew national headlines as Norgate had dressed as a security guard and lured three children into toilet blocks at a Gladstone shopping centre and at a school.

In each case Norgate exposed his penis to children, one of whom was a four-year-old.

After pleading guilty Norgate was handed a four year jail sentence, and two separate, wholly suspended three-year jail sentences.

He had served 406 days in pre-sentence custody and was released on parole.

Within weeks of his release Norgate befriended a 12-year-old boy who lived near his parole address.

Shannon Norgate previously faced Mackay Magistrate's Court on charges of impersonating a police officer.

The appeal court was told that the pair spoke about sex and drugs and this led to Norgate enticing the boy into his apartment where he exposed himself and offered the boy money in exchange for oral sex.

Norgate was arrested and charged with grooming, to which he would again plead guilty.

At sentencing the judge described Norgate as a “true predator” and noted that while the victim had not been touched, he was in “very real danger” and that Norgate’s intentions were very clear as to performing oral sex upon the victim if he had accepted the applicant’s proposal.

The sentencing judge further noted that Norgate had breached his parole on several occasions by contacting an underage girl.

Norgate was sentenced to three years in jail for this offence, to be served cumulatively with the earlier suspended sentences, which were wholly activated.

It is this three-year sentence that Norgate appealed at the hearing on October 24.

Norgate’s lawyer argued that the sentencing judge did not take into account the principle of ‘totality’ which was accepted.

“The principle of totality requires that in undertaking a sentencing process, ultimate regard is to be had to the effect of the overall sentence,” Judge David Boddice said.

“The totality principle necessitates that a judge ‘look at the totality of the criminal behaviour constituted by all of the offences’.

“A perusal of the sentencing judge’s remarks reveals no such consideration in the instant case.

“Further, a sentence of three years imprisonment for grooming, to be served cumulatively on activated suspended sentences, resulting in an overall sentence of five years 10 months imprisonment, was not a just and appropriate sentence for the applicant’s overall criminality.”

The court was told this sentence far surpassed other sentences for similar offending.

Judge Boddice noted that Norgate had a traumatic upbringing, marked by violence, that he was autistic, could not read or write, heard voices and had a history of expressing violent attitudes and fantasies.

“While he has significant intellectual and mental disabilities, they are not mitigating factors as those very conditions increase his risk to children,” Judge Boddice said.

Norgate’s three-year sentence for grooming was downgraded to two years.

He is now eligible for parole.