10 hours ago
No-nonsense judge loses it at paedophile - and hands down tough jail sentence: 'Abhorrent'
A judge has unleashed on a man described as one of Queensland 's worst paedophiles, jailing him for life and barring him from parole for at least 20 years.
On Friday the man, who cannot be identified in order to protect the identities of his victims, was found guilty by a jury of two counts each of indecent treatment of children under 12 and rape, one count of indecent treatment of children under 12 under care, and one count of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.
The man had moved in with a woman he met online and began grooming and sexually abusing her young daughter.
The man had entered guilty pleas at the start of the trial to his less serious charges -four counts each of making child exploitation material, and indecent treatment of children under 16 under care, and one count of possession of child exploitation material.
But during sentencing, Judge Michael Byrne described the guilty pleas as a 'cynical attempt to persuade a jury to the false argument that you had pleaded guilty to everything you had done to these children'.
'Your offending is fundamentally abhorrent,' the judge said, according to The Courier Mail.
'You have shown to remorse.'
Crown prosecutor Ben Jackson described him as 'one of the worst sex offenders in the state of Queensland' and said the offending against what was effectively his stepdaughter was 'haunting'.
'He did have a level of sexual obsession of (the victim) which was extremely depraved in nature,' Mr Jackson told the Ipswich District Court.
'The offending itself... involved an extreme abuse of trust, and there was a level of cunning that he displayed.
'The utter depravity of the man was demonstrated by him showing the victim images of her own abuse that he had carried out.
'He also filmed it... He didn't care about her one bit. He was all about himself and his sexual needs, regardless of the price she had to pay for that.'
The man was sentenced to life in prison, and he was one of the first offenders to be barred from parole for at least 20 years under recent law changes.
His latest conviction comes after he was in and out of the courts for years for similar offences, including maintaining a sexual relationship with two children who were the daughters of a previous partner.
His previous conviction for maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and rape meant he automatically faced a life sentence.
With time already served, he will be eligible for parole in 14-and-a-half years.
