Sunshine Coast child sex offender told boy, 10, abuse was ‘completely normal’

A repeat child sex offender would tell his young victim it was ‘completely normal’ for him to touch the boy’s genitals, then escalated the abuse over five years.

A repeat child sex offender from the Sunshine Coast has lost an appeal to have his conviction overturned.

A REPEAT child sex offender who horrifically abused a young boy over five years will remain behind bars after losing his appeal.

Sunshine Coast man Dennis Norman Douglas, 48, began sexually abusing a young family friend at Albany Creek when the boy was just 10 years old.

A jury found Douglas guilty of eight counts of child sexual offences in July 2018 after the young victim, now 23, was forced to give evidence at the trial.

The court was told Douglas would frequently visit the family’s house and would sit on the couch with the boy while he played video games, placing a blanket over both of them so he could touch the boy’s genitals.

Douglas assured the boy that it was “completely normal”, the court heard.

The abuse escalated when the family moved to The Gap and Douglas would be asked to babysit.

He would masturbate the boy and performed oral sex on him at least 15 times, sometimes in the family’s swimming pool.

The boy disclosed the abuse aged 17 at a school camp.

Douglas, whose sexual offending history dates from 1994, appealed his conviction in the Queensland Court of Appeal.

He argued that the trial judge did not sufficiently warn the jury about paying heed to the time that had passed between the offences and the boy’s disclosure.

Three justices disagreed.

On Tuesday in the Court of Appeal, Justice Anthe Philippides dismissed the appeal.

Douglas was convicted on other child sex charges in June and his full-time release date was set at January 23, 2022. — NewsRegional

Originally published as Sunshine Coast child sex offender told boy, 10, abuse was ‘completely normal’