Operation Kalahari, Cairns: Man sentenced over sex acts with teen

The mother of a 14-year-old girl allowed a 26-year-old man to sleep in her daughter’s bed, perform sex acts with him and supply her with cannabis, a Cairns court has heard. Warning: Distressing content.

Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit (CPIU) detectives arrest a man during Operation Uniform Kalahari. Picture: Queensland Police

The mother of a 14-year-old girl allowed a 26-year-old man to sleep in her daughter’s bed, perform sex acts with him and supply her with cannabis, a court has heard.

The 27-year-old man, who the Cairns Post has not named as it could identify his victim, pleaded guilty to 29 charges involving two minors and one charge of assaulting a police officer before Queensland Chief Justice Helen Bowskill in Cairns Supreme Court on Tuesday.

The man has been in custody at Capricornia Correctional Centre since his arrest on November 10, 2022.

He was arrested as part of the Far North Child Protection and Investigation Unit’s Operation Uniform Kalahari, which kicked off in June 2022 to target the alleged grooming and exploitation of young people across Cairns.

Detective Senior Sergeant Mick Gooiker, head of the Cairns Child Protection Investigation Unit, provides an update on Operation Kalahari. Picture:Emily Barker

Prosecutor Clayton Willis said the offences involved two girls aged 13 and 14 over a period of about five and a half months.

He said the charges involved 13 separate events, with indecent images sent to and from phones, and three instances of unlawful penetration over a four-hour period.

Charges included carnal knowledge, indecent treatment, grooming, using the internet to procure children under 16, engaging with penile intercourse with a child under 16, indecent filming, creating child exploitation material, grooming a child or parent to procure a child to engage in a sex act, and supplying dangerous drugs to minors under 16.

He said communication between the defendant and one girl was intense and graphic and after he was charged with grooming, the man continued calling her.

“He demonstrated defiance, lack of appreciation of the serious consequences he was facing.”

The 27-year-old’s defence barrister Kylie Mythen said her client had anxiety and depression and ADHD, but there was no medical evidence.

Ms Mythen said the man completed an opioid addiction course but conceded there was no evidence he was addicted to opioids.

“He has two children he has no contact with, repeating generational trauma of not having a father figure, he recognises he needs to do better,” she said.

Cairns Child Protection and Investigation Unit (CPIU) detectives arrest a man during Operation Uniform Kalahari. Picture: Queensland Police

Ms Mythen said his criminal record was mainly property offences to fund drug dependency.

“She was a willing participant, she provided consent,” Ms Mythen said of the first girl.

She told the court the girls were accessing cannabis from other people as well.

Justice Bowskill said she questioned the ability of a 13-year-old to make an informed decision.

Ms Mythen said: “It is not a case where he was using the supply of dangerous drugs as a coercive tool, it puts this offending in a category perhaps less serious.”

Ms Mythen said her client did not supply dangerous drugs as a tool for sexual acts with the second girl.

“She was forthcoming, otherwise very supportive of the defendant,” Ms Mythen said.

Justice Bowskill took issue with the concept of the girls being willing participants.

“They are not in a position to make an informed free choice about what they are doing with their bodies, and our society says that you are an adult, and adults in our community have to be responsible enough to make better choices,” Justice Bowskill said.

“To try to minimise it by saying that they were willing is unacceptable, of course it would be worse if you had forced them, but then you’re more likely to be charged with rape.

“Cannabis is no meek or mild or safe drug at all, I can tell you that it is the most common drug leading to psychosis and serious offences.

“If you as an adult make the choice to facilitate supplying to a child, it doesn’t matter if they were getting it from somewhere else as well, it’s a stupid choice.”

Justice Bowskill imposed a head sentence of three years for carnal knowledge and two years for grooming, to be served cumulatively, declared 474 days as time served and set a parole eligibility date of July 9, 2024.

Detectives have laid a total of 301 charges as part of Operation Uniform Kalahari, with 54 child victims also coming forward.

Originally published as Operation Kalahari, Cairns: Man sentenced over sex acts with teen