Queensland life coach Wolfgang Raven Wildgrace jailed for years of child sexual abuse, rape

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5 hours ago

A Queensland man who once touted himself as a life coach and therapist, has been sentenced to almost a decade behind bars for rape and child sexual abuse.
One of Wolfgang Raven Wildgrace's claims was that he helped people "manage their emotions effectively".
It was this reputation that led him to his involvement with an AFL pre-season camp for the Adelaide Crows in 2018 that became notorious for being "psychologically stressful" and offensive to Indigenous players.
But in the years before, he psychologically manipulated two children and sexually abused them.
Wildgrace was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years behind bars at the District Court in Cairns today after pleading guilty to a raft of offences.
They include two counts of rape, two counts of repeated sexual conduct with a child, and more than 30 counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
The court heard Wildgrace, now 59, committed the offences over eight years from about late 2009 until 2017.
The abuse escalated to occurring on an almost weekly basis, the court heard, with victims made to believe the acts were "sexual training".
Wildgrace's former partner Sonya Maria Lindley-Jones, 52, also pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent treatment of a child under 12.
Her charges related to an incident in which the couple performed a sex act in the presence of children.
A concern was first raised with police in 2015, but the victims did not disclose the abuse when they were questioned.
Almost a decade later, in early 2024, Wildgrace disclosed the offending to a friend after learning a report was to be made to police.
But after a meeting was called to discuss the offending, he and Lindley-Jones suddenly disappeared from their south-east Queensland home, leaving their bank accounts untouched.
The pair was arrested and charged in March last year, having been found in the far north Queensland town of Kuranda.
Wildgrace and Lindley-Jones' victims addressed them directly in court, reading out statements in which they detailed how the "twisted sort of therapy" shattered them psychologically.
"You knew the moment you met me that I had no-one to look out for me, to protect me," one victim told Wildgrace.
Another told the court she needed regular therapy to recover from what she had endured.
She said the fact that Wildgrace and Lindley-Jones ran a therapy business themselves had "shattered the trust a person should be able to place in a healthcare professional".
Defence counsel Aaron Dunkerton, representing Wildgrace, said his client was sorry, had suffered abuse as a child, and had PTSD symptoms from a siege in the 1990s when he was held hostage by a gunman.
From 2011, Wildgrace had been drinking heavily and he had also used cannabis and mushrooms, which caused his sense of reality to "become quite warped", Mr Dunkerton said.
Rachelle Logan, acting for Lindley-Jones, said her client was "genuinely remorseful" and had only since understood she was controlled by Wildgrace in their relationship.
Neither Wildgrace nor Lindley-Jones had any criminal history.
In sentencing, Judge Anthony Rafter SC said the offending was serious and involved a "grave breach of trust".
Wildgrace will be eligible for parole at the end of 2028.
Lindley-Jones was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' jail, but the remainder of her sentence is suspended, having already served 14 months. She will be subject to three years' probation on release.