‘Father figure’ who sexually abused son’s girlfriend released on parole

‘opportunistic in nature’: A Tasmanian dad who repeatedly sexually abused his son’s 13-year-old intellectually-impaired girlfriend – after acting as her “father figure” – has made a bid for parole.

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A MAN who sexually abused his son’s intellectually-impaired 13-year-old girlfriend has been released on parole after enjoying numerous community visits during his time as a prisoner.

The man, who is in his mid-40s but cannot be named for legal reasons, had acted as a “father figure” to the girl and continued abusing her even after he became aware police were investigating him.

He was jailed by Justice Michael Brett for a maximum of four years – and a non-parole period of two years – from October 2017 after he was found guilty by a jury of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under 17.

The name of that crime has since been changed to persistent sexual abuse of a child.

The Parole Board of Tasmania, in a newly-published decision, has decided to release the man on the proviso he not contact his victim, visit a certain suburb, and attend psychological counselling.

While sentencing him, Justice Brett said he abused the girl between early 2015 and May 2016 when she was aged between 13 and 14.

“Psychological evidence establishes that her intellectual capacity function is in the extremely low range, is characterised by impaired reasoning skills, and results in her being gullible and easily manipulated,” the judge said.

“It is clear that the complainant’s intellectual capacity provided you with an opportunity to commit this crime.”

The parole board said while in custody, the man had achieved minimum security classification and described him as “hardworking and polite”.

“The applicant has engaged in … leave visits with family, supervision outings into the general community and visits to his proposed parole address without an incident or compliance issues,” it said in its decision.

The board said the man’s offending appeared to be “opportunistic in nature” and “appeared to be driven by avoidance behaviours and poor attempts to manage varying emotional states”.

It said while a psychologist said the man had deficiencies in empathy, understanding his offending and the impact on the victim, he was able to identify some of the issues that had contributed to his criminal behaviour and was at low risk of reoffending.

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