Samuel Gaulai Misi pleads guilty to vile child sex abuse offences

It is any parent’s worst nightmare. A little girl is playing with her friends when a strange man waits until she is alone and lures her away. What happened next has left the young victim forever scarred. WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT

A little girl was playing with her friends in a park when a strange man lured her away with a handful of coins and committed “heinous” sex acts on her.

Traumatised, she is now “a scared little girl” who does not want to be too far from her mother.

The man, a convicted sex offender, had been riding his bicycle on the search for drugs when he came across the nine year old at Cairns Villa and Leisure Park, Mackay District Court heard.

The pair had never met before.

About 5.30pm on April 6, 2020, Samuel Gaulai Misi was near a park area within the Pease St accommodation site where the girl was playing.

“He rode his bike around, he did a few laps and he was watching the children who were playing hide and seek,” Crown prosecutor Julie Aylward said.

“He waited until (she) was alone and called out to her ‘do you want some money?’.”

She followed him to a secluded location within a closed off community area nearby and “gave her some coins” – he then moved to an even more hidden spot and digitally raped her.

“At this point, (she) was shaking and crying,” Ms Aylward said.

Misi then put the little girl on the ground and performed oral sex until she put her clothing back on and he rode off on his bike.

She told a sibling, who told her mother. Misi was identified via CCTV cameras at the park area.

The 31 year old had been jailed previously for indecent treatment of a six-year-old and attempted indecent treatment against a sleeping 13-year-old girl.

As a result, he became a reportable child sex abuse offender and failed to comply with the stringent conditions multiple times.

He pleaded guilty to taking a child under 12 for immoral purposes, rape, two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12 and five counts of failing to comply with reporting conditions.

Defence barrister Kelly Goodwin said he acknowledged “how serious and how heinous” his client’s crimes were.

He argued Misi had “not acted with a premeditation”, which Judge Julie Dick accepted but said his conduct was “very deliberate”.

The court heard Misi had been exposed to domestic violence and sexual abuse as a child.

Mr Goodwin said Misi instructed he had been “off my head” and had expressed ”genuine remorse” and shame for his behaviour.

The Crown was pushing for 10 years jail, while Mr Goodwin submitted for eight to nine years.

“She is a scared little girl now, she doesn’t want to be away from her mother,” Judge Dick said as she told Misi his offending had a significant impact on the child and her family.

To take into account his plea of guilty and the time spent in custody during the Covid pandemic, Judge Dick reduced the penalty to seven years, but made a serious violent offender declaration.

He must serve at least 5.6 years before he is eligible for parole. Misi has already spent 596 in pre-sentence custody.

Originally published as Samuel Gaulai Misi pleads guilty to vile child sex abuse offences