Man who allegedly sexually abused 30 children over three decades faces court
A man alleged to have sexually abused 30 children over three decades while providing schooling and accommodation is before the courts following a joint police investigation.
The 65-year-old South Australian man is alleged to have travelled multiple times to the Northern Territory, returning with children who he then abused.
The man was arrested and charged with two child sex offences in 2023.
Further charges have now been laid — totalling 44 alleged sex offences against 30 children from 1990 to 2023 — after an ongoing joint SA and NT police investigation.
The charges include sexual abuse of a child, unlawful sexual intercourse, indecent and aggravated indecent assault and possessing child exploitation material.
The man appeared in SA District Court on Wednesday.
SA Police acting Assistant Commissioner of Crime Service Catherine Hilliard said it was a 'complex and incredibly confronting investigation'.
'The privacy and safety of the victims remains our number one priority,' Hilliard said.
'We have been providing updates, along with support, to everyone effected.'
Northern Territory Police Force Assistant Commissioner Michael White said the alleged offending was 'abhorrent' and its scale disturbing.
He assured the community it was believed the alleged offender acted alone.
The two commissioners urged anyone with further information to contact police.
In an emergency, call 000.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
13 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Shame on those who whip up hate against trans athletes for clicks and votes
'We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren's participation in the girls' track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.' Brava, brava, brava. What decency. And what a wonderful stand to take. Closer to home, last month we had our own major tabloid/talkback story about a transgender athlete at a South Australian Catholic school, who, it was breathlessly reported, had run riot at an athletics carnival. One father was quoted, saying the student 'broke a number of records competing against girls at a recent sports day ... breaking all the girls records'. It was great hate-bait, and the usual suspects on talkback and tabloid went hard. Got some hate you want to spread? Our lines are open! The former Liberal MP Gary Hardgrave certainly opened up on Sky News. Loading 'In the end,' he said, 'weak men want to compete against women and they put on the skirt and say, 'I'm a woman now, and I want to compete against you'. But even weaker men support those people in that kind of decision.' I repeat, great hate-bait! Manna from heaven. Did anyone pause, ever, to think what effect this has on the target of the hate-bait? This week, the ABC show Media Watch did, and made enquiries. And whaddya know? Most of it was nonsense. There was a school athletics meeting last year, creating precisely no controversy in the school at the time. Yes, the 13-year-old transgender athlete did indeed break a record, but it was another girl who actually swept the day breaking seven records. And the effect on the child in question from the pile-on? Devastating. 'No child or family should have to experience the trauma or fear that we have been through,' the mother of the child told the ABC. 'My child's privacy and innocence has been violated without consideration or empathy for the devastating lifelong harm this can cause. It's hard to express how horrific it is to read hateful articles about your child and have them used as clickbait for a political agenda created by adults and forced down the throats of kids who are just trying to be kids.' Read it and weep. Yes, yes, yes, occasionally the issue of an unfair advantage by transgender athletes in sport does arise – usually only at elite level – and is one to be discussed and sorted out by serious people. But that ain't this. The point is that we need to call this kind of stuff for what it is. It is not a genuine attempt to achieve fairness in sport put out by people who have a genuine track record of earnestly examining that very thing. It's just hate-bait, no more, no less, put out by people whose job in life is to stir up big trouble way above and beyond what the actual problem is. It's just hate-bait callously thrown out there to bring in swarms of bone-stupid groper fish who live off that very hate – to boost your ratings, clicks and votes – and to hell with the trauma it causes to their targets. For shame, you bastards. For shame, you bastards. What They Said Lachlan Galvin on the Wests Tigers fans: 'I understand where [Tigers fans] are coming from. I think they can have their opinion, and they can have their hatred and that against me. I understand that.' Joe Montemurro, new coach of the Matildas: 'I've followed their incredible journey closely and am energised by the passion, resilience, and identity they've built. The only promise I make is that we will play an exciting brand of football and that the integrity and the level and the respect of the Matildas will always be at the top of my thinking.' Tennis player Daria Kasatkina on her first major tournament after switching allegiances to Australia: 'To feel the support from the stands so many times. I don't know if everyone who was screaming, 'Aussie', were from Australia, but I felt this support . . . So this is the kind of support which I honestly didn't have before, it feels like it's something new to me — but it feels so nice.' Oi! Football manager Pep Guardiola doesn't think he's special: 'Do you think I feel special because I won a lot of titles? No! Forget about it! I feel that special is the doctor that saves lives. The people who invented penicillin. That is a genius. Me? Genius? Come on.' Kath McCann, the Tasmanian Devils' general manager of marketing, corporate affairs and social impact on alternative stadium options: 'This is Plan A and there is no Plan B.' Ticketek on the demand for Ashes tickets: 'We recognise that when we have high-demand events with limited inventory that some fans will miss out and will be disappointed. We encourage all customers not to use multiple browsers when trying to access tickets.' Tennis player Lois Boisson, ranked No.361 in the world, found herself in the headlines in April when an opponent, Harriet Dart, told the umpire, 'Can you tell her to put on some deodorant? She smells really bad.' This week she shocked No.3 seed Jessica Pegula to make the quarter-finals at the French Open, becoming the lowest-ranked quarter-finalist at Roland Garros in at least 40 years. 'I'm not sure what to say. Playing on this court, with this atmosphere, was amazing. I gave my all and in the end I won, which is just incredible. I hope I'm going to win it all!' Boisson was beaten by Coco Gauff in the semi-finals. Loading Aussie Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri on winning his Spain, his fifth win of the season: 'Hard to complain, it has been a great year and this weekend has been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for . . . The team gave me a great car once again, it's a lot of fun winning races at the moment and I've been enjoying it and I hope the team are too.' New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on the 'run it straight' tackle challenge that has gone viral on social media after a teenager died from a serious head injury: 'All I can say to young adults who are participating is you've got some personal responsibility in this. You're hearing the advice from police, from the medical fraternity, from government, from principals saying don't do it. To the adults that are involved in more formal organisation of it and are influencing it and leading this out on social media, I think you need to stop and I can't be any clearer.' 75-year-old runner British runner Sarah Roberts, who took up running just eight years ago, and now holds the over 75 world records over every track distance from 800m to 10,000m indoors and outdoors, as well as 5km and 10km on the road: 'I'd like people to think that they should always try something. You never know what you can do until you try it. Never think you're too old. Give it a go. You will surprise yourself at what you can do if you really try to do something.' Australian 100m sprinter Lachlan Kennedy has broken the ten-second barrier: 'It's so good. I can finally say I run nine.' Here we were, thinking he was going for Best Supporting Actor. He thinks he's the star, and going for Best Actor – and he might be right! Loading Team of the Week Callan Ward. The career of this fellow, the heart and soul of GWS could be over after he tore his ACL – a badly buggered knee, to you and me. Alex Johnston. South Sydney speedster notched 200 NRL tries. Just 12 behind the all-time record held by Ken Irvine. Reds and Brumbies. Good luck to them in the Super Rugby Pacific finals. The Waratahs, meanwhile, have shown some improvement, but finished disappointingly. Australia/South Africa. Competing in next week's World Test Championship final at Lord's. Socceroos. Beat Japan for the first time in 16 years with a thrilling last-minute winner in Perth and as long as they don't lose to Saudi Arabia by five goals early Wednesday morning, they qualify directly for a sixth straight World Cup – an extraordinary turnaround from recent grim times.
The Age
13 hours ago
- The Age
Shame on those who whip up hate against trans athletes for clicks and votes
'We are all just kids trying to make our way through high school. Participating in sports is the highlight of high school for some kids. No one was harmed by Soren's participation in the girls' track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.' Brava, brava, brava. What decency. And what a wonderful stand to take. Closer to home, last month we had our own major tabloid/talkback story about a transgender athlete at a South Australian Catholic school, who, it was breathlessly reported, had run riot at an athletics carnival. One father was quoted, saying the student 'broke a number of records competing against girls at a recent sports day ... breaking all the girls records'. It was great hate-bait, and the usual suspects on talkback and tabloid went hard. Got some hate you want to spread? Our lines are open! The former Liberal MP Gary Hardgrave certainly opened up on Sky News. Loading 'In the end,' he said, 'weak men want to compete against women and they put on the skirt and say, 'I'm a woman now, and I want to compete against you'. But even weaker men support those people in that kind of decision.' I repeat, great hate-bait! Manna from heaven. Did anyone pause, ever, to think what effect this has on the target of the hate-bait? This week, the ABC show Media Watch did, and made enquiries. And whaddya know? Most of it was nonsense. There was a school athletics meeting last year, creating precisely no controversy in the school at the time. Yes, the 13-year-old transgender athlete did indeed break a record, but it was another girl who actually swept the day breaking seven records. And the effect on the child in question from the pile-on? Devastating. 'No child or family should have to experience the trauma or fear that we have been through,' the mother of the child told the ABC. 'My child's privacy and innocence has been violated without consideration or empathy for the devastating lifelong harm this can cause. It's hard to express how horrific it is to read hateful articles about your child and have them used as clickbait for a political agenda created by adults and forced down the throats of kids who are just trying to be kids.' Read it and weep. Yes, yes, yes, occasionally the issue of an unfair advantage by transgender athletes in sport does arise – usually only at elite level – and is one to be discussed and sorted out by serious people. But that ain't this. The point is that we need to call this kind of stuff for what it is. It is not a genuine attempt to achieve fairness in sport put out by people who have a genuine track record of earnestly examining that very thing. It's just hate-bait, no more, no less, put out by people whose job in life is to stir up big trouble way above and beyond what the actual problem is. It's just hate-bait callously thrown out there to bring in swarms of bone-stupid groper fish who live off that very hate – to boost your ratings, clicks and votes – and to hell with the trauma it causes to their targets. For shame, you bastards. For shame, you bastards. What They Said Lachlan Galvin on the Wests Tigers fans: 'I understand where [Tigers fans] are coming from. I think they can have their opinion, and they can have their hatred and that against me. I understand that.' Joe Montemurro, new coach of the Matildas: 'I've followed their incredible journey closely and am energised by the passion, resilience, and identity they've built. The only promise I make is that we will play an exciting brand of football and that the integrity and the level and the respect of the Matildas will always be at the top of my thinking.' Tennis player Daria Kasatkina on her first major tournament after switching allegiances to Australia: 'To feel the support from the stands so many times. I don't know if everyone who was screaming, 'Aussie', were from Australia, but I felt this support . . . So this is the kind of support which I honestly didn't have before, it feels like it's something new to me — but it feels so nice.' Oi! Football manager Pep Guardiola doesn't think he's special: 'Do you think I feel special because I won a lot of titles? No! Forget about it! I feel that special is the doctor that saves lives. The people who invented penicillin. That is a genius. Me? Genius? Come on.' Kath McCann, the Tasmanian Devils' general manager of marketing, corporate affairs and social impact on alternative stadium options: 'This is Plan A and there is no Plan B.' Ticketek on the demand for Ashes tickets: 'We recognise that when we have high-demand events with limited inventory that some fans will miss out and will be disappointed. We encourage all customers not to use multiple browsers when trying to access tickets.' Tennis player Lois Boisson, ranked No.361 in the world, found herself in the headlines in April when an opponent, Harriet Dart, told the umpire, 'Can you tell her to put on some deodorant? She smells really bad.' This week she shocked No.3 seed Jessica Pegula to make the quarter-finals at the French Open, becoming the lowest-ranked quarter-finalist at Roland Garros in at least 40 years. 'I'm not sure what to say. Playing on this court, with this atmosphere, was amazing. I gave my all and in the end I won, which is just incredible. I hope I'm going to win it all!' Boisson was beaten by Coco Gauff in the semi-finals. Loading Aussie Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri on winning his Spain, his fifth win of the season: 'Hard to complain, it has been a great year and this weekend has been exactly the kind of weekend I was looking for . . . The team gave me a great car once again, it's a lot of fun winning races at the moment and I've been enjoying it and I hope the team are too.' New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on the 'run it straight' tackle challenge that has gone viral on social media after a teenager died from a serious head injury: 'All I can say to young adults who are participating is you've got some personal responsibility in this. You're hearing the advice from police, from the medical fraternity, from government, from principals saying don't do it. To the adults that are involved in more formal organisation of it and are influencing it and leading this out on social media, I think you need to stop and I can't be any clearer.' 75-year-old runner British runner Sarah Roberts, who took up running just eight years ago, and now holds the over 75 world records over every track distance from 800m to 10,000m indoors and outdoors, as well as 5km and 10km on the road: 'I'd like people to think that they should always try something. You never know what you can do until you try it. Never think you're too old. Give it a go. You will surprise yourself at what you can do if you really try to do something.' Australian 100m sprinter Lachlan Kennedy has broken the ten-second barrier: 'It's so good. I can finally say I run nine.' Here we were, thinking he was going for Best Supporting Actor. He thinks he's the star, and going for Best Actor – and he might be right! Loading Team of the Week Callan Ward. The career of this fellow, the heart and soul of GWS could be over after he tore his ACL – a badly buggered knee, to you and me. Alex Johnston. South Sydney speedster notched 200 NRL tries. Just 12 behind the all-time record held by Ken Irvine. Reds and Brumbies. Good luck to them in the Super Rugby Pacific finals. The Waratahs, meanwhile, have shown some improvement, but finished disappointingly. Australia/South Africa. Competing in next week's World Test Championship final at Lord's. Socceroos. Beat Japan for the first time in 16 years with a thrilling last-minute winner in Perth and as long as they don't lose to Saudi Arabia by five goals early Wednesday morning, they qualify directly for a sixth straight World Cup – an extraordinary turnaround from recent grim times.
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
Chris Dawson loses bid to quash carnal knowledge conviction over unlawful sexual relationship with teen in the ‘80s
Convicted wife killer Chris Dawson has lost his bid to quash a conviction over his unlawful sexual relationship with a teenage schoolgirl in the 1980s. Dawson was in 2023 found guilty of carnal knowledge of a girl, who can only be known as AB, when she was just 16 years old in 1980. He was sentenced to three years in prison with a two year non-parole period after Judge Sarah Huggett found him guilty of one count of carnal knowledge following a two-week District Court trial. Dawson launched an appeal against the conviction, with the primary argument being reasonable doubt about the timing of the first sexual encounter between Dawson and AB. Dawson's barrister, Stephen Rodgers SC, in March told the Court of Criminal Appeal there was doubt about whether it had taken place before December 1980, as AB was in Year 11 up until that month. AB said the first sexual intercourse occurred when she was 16 during the trial, however Dawson claimed the girl was 17. 'The central issue at the trial and on this appeal relates to timing – there was no dispute that sexual intercourse did ultimately take place between the appellant and the complainant, but the question was whether the prosecution proved whether it occurred prior to December 1980,' Mr Odgers told the court in March. Mr Odgers submitted there was a period in 1980 when Dawson engaged in 'romantic behaviour' with AB, including 'saying things indicating love, standing close'. 'There's a difference between being romantic and engaging in sexual intercourse and particularly when the sexual intercourse constitutes a serious offence,' Mr Odgers said. Mr Odgers in March put to the CCA there was doubt over whether the first sexual encounter occurred before the charged indictment period, citing doubt about when driving lessons occurred between Dawson and AB, which is where the 'first kiss' or sexual encounter took place. Crown prosecutor Helen Roberts SC said it was 'not necessary' for the Crown to establish whether AB did or did not hold a learner's permit at the time of the first sexual encounter. Justices Kristina Stern and Sarah McNaughton moved to dismiss the appeal on Friday, despite Justice Peter Hamill dissenting. The court was told Justice Hamill was to allow the appeal to quash the conviction and enter a not guilty verdict, with the judgement stating he was not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the first sexual intercourse took place before December 1980. However, the decisions of Justices Stern and McNaughton were upheld. Mr Odgers had earlier raised questions in March over whether AB had attended fitness classes - led by Dawson and his brother - in 1980 or 1981, as AB testified the first sexual intercourse took place after she'd begun fitness classes with Dawson. He said there was a 'reasonable possibility' AB was mistaken and didn't attend the classes in 1980, which he argued would make the sexual intercourse having occurred in 1980 'inconsistent'. However, Ms Roberts said even if AB had only attended in 1981, this didn't 'necessarily give rise to reasonable doubt' as the agreed facts of the trial stated Dawson and his brother ran the classes in both years. She told the court there was only one 'really important' question, being whether the evidence as a whole was sufficient, credible and reliable to satisfy that the first act of sexual intercourse took place before December 1980. She said the trial had found AB to be a 'truthful witness' noting the passage of time, although some aspects were unreliable. Dawson was previously convicted of the murder of his wife, Lynette Simms, and was given a 24-year jail sentence with an 18-year non-parole period. While he unsuccessfully appealed the decision in the CCAl last year, Dawson's legal team filed an application for special leave to appeal to the High Court in February. The fresh application asks for the High Court to quash his conviction and order a fresh trial.
