A man with more than 2000 images and videos of child pornography, a ‘sexually frustrated’ father plus a child rapist are among 14 Sunshine Coast child sex offenders named and shamed by The Sunshine Coast Daily this week.
From child pornography to rape and sexual assault, Sunshine Coast courts have dealt with a raft of cases involving the exploitation of children over the past 12 months.
Reports of sexual assault crimes in Queensland reached its highest in 28 years in 2020, increasing by five per cent from 2019 with a total of 5120 victims. Of that figure, just under half (47 per cent) were aged under 15 at the date of the incident with 2409 victims 😔
There were 385 sexual offences recorded on the Sunshine Coast last year with 300 already reported so far this year. Here are the names of 14 people from our region who have been charged with child-sex offences and named by the media today. The details of their crimes, and the minimal punishment many have received, is truly devastating and a very real reminder to parents across the Sunshine Coast and Queensland about the need to keep our kids safe.
🛑 RHYS JADEN FRIEND’S SNAPCHAT ACCOUNT LANDS CHILD PORN OFFENDER IN COURT 🛑
Rhys Jaden Friend, aged 20, who was caught with more than 2000 images and videos of child pornography, breached the terms of his suspended sentence by failing to report a new Snapchat account.
Rhys Jaden Friend was sentenced in September last year after pleading guilty to possessing and distributing child-exploitation material, the Maroochydore District Court heard in May. He was sentenced to three years probation for possessing child-exploitation material and was given one year in jail, wholly suspended for three years for distributing child-exploitation material. A conviction was recorded for the distribution of the material but not the possessing.
This guy, who is a reportable offender under the Child Protection Act, found himself back before the court in May after breaching the suspended sentence. Crown prosecutor Masoumi said Friend was charged with the breach after he failed to tell the registry about a new Snapchat account within seven days, as per his reporting conditions.
🛑 DANIEL JOHN BLYTH BREACHES CHILD PORN SENTENCE WHEN CAUGHT WITH KIDS 🛑
A young man previously convicted for distributing and possessing child porn failed to tell police he had created online profiles and associated with children. Daniel John Blyth, 26, appeared in Maroochydore District Court in May after breaching a suspended sentence on 12 separate occasions.
Blyth was sentenced in 2016 after he uploaded to Facebook an image of two pre-pubescent girls sexually posing in a bathtub. He had also been found in possession of more than 800 unique images of child sexual exploitation. He was given a suspended sentence, which expired in December 2017.
However, Blyth was subsequently convicted for possessing more child sexual material, including videos. He was sentenced in 2019 to two years and three months in jail, but her served just four months. Blyth’s home was raided by police in November last year. Officers discovered he had failed to report five online profiles to social media sites, including Tinder and Twitch. Police also discovered Blyth had failed to inform officers he’d attended social gatherings late last year where children were present.
He was sentenced in Maroochydore Magistrates Court on February 10 for those charges to 12 months in jail and was given immediate parole. The breaches dating back to 2016 and 2018 were found proven but no action was taken, the court heard. Judge Gary Long sentenced Blyth to four months in prison in relation to the breaches of the 2019 suspended sentence. Blyth will be eligible for parole on September 17.
🛑 JASON SCOTT HASTIE PLANNED TO HAVE SEX WITH TEEN AFTER EROTIC CHAT 🛑
A Coast father whose “sexual frustration” led him to start an erotic conversation with a teen girl was found guilty of child-grooming offences at Maroochydore District Court.
Jason Scott Hastie planned to meet an undercover police officer, who he believed was a 14-year-old girl, after having online sexual conversations with her between December 28, 2019 and January 16, last year. The Dulong resident pleaded not guilty in April to using the internet to procure children under 16 and grooming a child under 16 years with intent to expose to indecent matter.
During a two-day trial a jury heard how Mr Hastie had sexual conversations with the girl over a number of social media platforms and told her he would like to “lick her out”, “feel her t. s” and “f. k her”.
He was found guilty on April 30 this year of both offences. Judge Ken Barlow sentenced him to an 18-month prison sentence to be suspended for two years after six months.
Hastie also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing child-exploitation material after a photo of a young girl performing oral sex on an adult male was found on his phone on January 15, last year. Hastie will be subject to a probation order for 18 months after his release. He will be a reportable offender under the Child Protection Act for five years.
🛑 CARLITO RAISTRICK’S GUILTY VERDICT BRINGS MOTHER OF GIRL MOLESTED AT CAMPING GROUND TO TEARS 🛑
The mother of a young girl molested at a Sunshine Coast camping ground cried when she heard the words they had been waiting three years for. “Guilty,” a jury speaker told Maroochydore District Court in February.
The decision brought a moment of happiness to the Brisbane family and sealed the fate of Carlito Raistrick, who was sentenced to 12 months in jail to serve six for the indecent treatment of a child under 12. Her daughter was touched by Raistrick, who also goes by Carl Desacola, while she was camping at Kenilworth in 2017.
Raistrick was the director of Brisbane law firm Winthrop Mason and was involved with several sporting groups and organisations in the region.
🛑 IAN BLOOMER PHOTOSHOPS WIFE INTO CHILD SEX ABUSE IMAGES 🛑
A 70-year-old Sunshine Coast man has avoided jail time after more than 800 child-exploitation images were found on his computer.
Ian Bloomer, 70, was sentenced in Maroochydore District Court on February 5 after pleading guilty to possessing child-exploitation material, using a carriage service to access child-pornography material, using a carriage service to make available child-pornography material and making child-exploitation material.
Crown prosecutor William Slack said in July 2019 police identified a computer registered to Bloomer had been used to download hundreds of child-exploitation images, many depicting “naked, pre-pubescent girls in various poses, with a focus on their genitals”.
Police searched Bloomer’s Forest Glen home on July 19, 2019 and found more than 881 child-exploitation images, of which 589 were unique, on his computers. Two “homemade” child-exploitation images were also found on a computer, and Mr Slack said Bloomer had ”essentially Photoshopped” images of his wife into the material.
Judge Glen Cash sentenced Bloomer to two years in prison for possessing child-exploitation material, and eight months for making child-exploitation material, immediately suspended for two years. For using a carriage service to download and make available the child-exploitation material, Judge Cash sentenced him to two years each, to be served concurrently, with immediate release on a $1000 good behaviour bond.
🛑 JOEY MYER GUILTY OF RAPING AND INDECENTLY TREATING TEENAGER 🛑
A teenage girl described herself as a “broken piece of glass” unable to go back to shape after a former political candidate was found guilty of raping and indecently treating her.
Joey Myer indecently treated the girl, then 14, he had trained in his position as a personal trainer on seven occasions between October 1, 2018 and January 6, 2019. He also raped the teen on January 4, 2019. After more than eight hours of deliberations the jury delivered their guilty verdict for all 12 offences at Maroochydore District Court in March. Myer had pleaded not guilty on the first day of the trial, to 11 counts of indecently treating a child under 16 and one count of rape.
Crown Prosecutor Christopher Cook described the offending as predatory, persistent, and put the teen in a position where she felt powerless and unable to tell anyone. Myer had run for the seat of Fisher in the 2013 federal election.
Myer was sentenced to eight years and six months jail. His pre-sentence custody was noted as time served under the sentence. A non-contact order between him and the girl was also ordered.
🛑 COURT OF APPEAL RULES AGAINST FORMER NOOSA COUNCILLOR FRANK JAMES PARDON 🛑
Frank James Pardon, 70, was ordered to serve 18 months behind bars for indecently assaulting a teenager over four months at her workplace during the 1990s after they had met at a wedding.
Following a trial in the Maroochydore District Court, a jury heard that Pardon, who was in his 40s at the time, had performed oral sex on the girl in his car and inappropriately touched and kissed her multiple times at his home and at her workplace.
The former councillor was found guilty of five counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, four counts while under care, and one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a minor.
He was sentenced to a head sentence of three years’ jail, suspended after 18 months, and automatically disqualified from office as a councillor. Pardon attempted to have the convictions quashed in the Court of Appeal, arguing the verdicts were unsafe and unreasonable. But in December last year, 12 months after his original sentencing, three justices ruled against Pardon and unanimously dismissed the appeal.
🛑 MATHEW JAMES RONALD BROOKS ‘EMBARRASSED BY CHARGE’ FOR HEINOUS ACT 🛑
Mathew James Ronald Brooks was jailed for a “heinous” act on a little girl who was later cross-examined in court. The 30-year-old was in October last year found guilty of touching the girl’s vagina on the Sunshine Coast. Brooks was not related to the girl, who was under the age of 12.
After a three-day-trial at Maroochydore District Court, a jury found him guilty of the indecent treatment of a child under 12. Defence barrister Mark Dixon said Brooks at that time had fallen in with a bad crowd who regularly used drugs. Brooks showed little emotion as he was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended after serving six months.
🛑 WOMAN FINDS 100S OF CHILD PORN PHOTOS ON PARTNER SHANE MALCOLM WATSON’S IPAD 🛑
A Queensland father who was busted with hundreds of child-porn photos told police he only made the “stupid mistake” when he was high on meth, a court heard. Hundreds of child-exploitation images were found on Shane Malcolm Watson’s devices when police searched his Mooloolaba house.
The Maroochydore District Court heard Watson’s partner was looking through his iPad when she found the concerning images on July 5, 2019. The court heard 118 accessible photos and 639 inaccessible images, all in Category 1 were found on Watson’s devices. Watson pleaded guilty in Maroochydore District Court in October last year to possessing child-exploitation material.
Watson was sentenced to one year in jail, wholly suspended for two years.
🛑 TEWURITAI KARITO JAILED FOR RAPING TEEN 🛑
Tewuritai Karito, 29, has been jailed for raping a 16-year-old. The teenage girl repeatedly screamed and kicked at a rapist before he muffled her pleas and assaulted her.
Tewuritai Karito, 29, was jailed for the trauma he inflicted on the girl at a Sunshine Coast home last year. Maroochydore District Court heard the victim had repeatedly told Karito to get off her as he touched her vagina. Crown prosecutor Christopher Cook said Karito then penetrated the girl’s vagina with his penis, thrusting three times. The family had moved to the Gold Coast since the offences.
Karito in October last year pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of rape. He was sentenced to six years in jail with parole eligibility after 20 months. Karito will be eligible for parole on June 7, 2022.
🛑 DARREN JOHN AINSWORTH’S QUICK COURT GETAWAY AFTER MOLESTING TEEN 🛑
A dad of four daughters was sentenced in September last year for molesting a 16-year-old girl. The teenager said she could remember the smell of bourbon on Darren John Ainsworth’s breath as he repeatedly groped her while she tried to sleep at a Sunshine Coast home on October 12, 2019.
Ainsworth, 44, was not related to the girl. Maroochydore District Court heard he repeatedly touched her breasts over her shirt, and her vagina over her shorts. Ainsworth pleaded guilty to sexual assault. He was sentenced to nine months in jail, suspended for 18 months.
🛑 KIRK MARTIN ANTHONY WARD ASSAULTS 13YO GIRL WHILE SLEEPING 🛑
Kirk Martin Anthony Ward, 30, sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl and then said he didn’t remember doing it. Crown prosecutor Christopher Cook told Maroochydore District Court in September last year Ward and the victim were involved in a club. There was a Christmas party for the club on December 22, 2019.
After the party the group went home to a Coast home, where the victim went to sleep on a couch. Crown prosecutor Cook told Maroochydore District Court the victim woke to Ward rubbing her breast over her clothes after a Christmas party. Ward pleaded guilty to indecent treatment of a child under 16.
Defence barrister Malcolm Harrison said the offending was at the lowest level. Ward was sentenced to eight months in jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.
🛑 GRAEME LEIGH SMITH PREYS ON GIRL, 10, AT SLEEPOVER 🛑
A Coast church member who rubbed cream and his penis all over a 10-year-old girl’s vagina said she “wanted” it, a court heard. Graeme Leigh Smith, 58, was sentenced to three years in jail in September last year and will be eligible for parole on September 17 this year.
Maroochydore District Court heard Smith touched the victim’s vagina before asking her to sneak into another room with him. “He pulled his own pants down and rubbed his penis against her vagina for approximately a minute,” crown prosecutor Alex Stark told the court.
The court heard Smith was a member of a local Sunshine Coast church community. Barrister Scott Lynch said Smith, who was a father to a young son, was remorseful for what he did.
Smith pleaded guilty to eight charges of indecent treatment of a child under 12.
🛑 OLIVER BRADY ALCORN’S SLEEPOVER WITH CHILD AFTER DISGUSTING BUS ACT 🛑
Oliver Brady Alcorn didn’t tell police he had moved into a Pomona home where young children were living. Noosa Magistrates Court heard in September last year Alcorn was a registered sex offender, previously convicted of four counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16.
Police prosecutor Alison Johnstone said he was previously placed on probation and given an 18-month suspended sentence for the offences which happened on a bus.
“Facts in relation to those matters were masturbating on a bus in front of young girls about the age of 14,” Sen Constable Johnstone said. The court heard Alcorn then failed to report contact he had with a 14-year-old girl. “She was sleeping over and, for two nights, they had shared a bed,” Sen Constable Johnstone said.
Sen Constable Johnstone said Alcorn’s other offences regarded his move to a Pomona address where he had contact with young children who also lived there. He pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations. Alcorn was sentenced to six months in jail with immediate release on parole.
The COBRA team is absolutely sickened by these men, who are just a small sample of the many KNOWN AND UNKNOWN child sex offenders in our immediate local area.
Keep your kids close and educate your children on ways to defend themselves against these predators. Because one child is too many.
*For 24-hour sexual violence support call the national hotline 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or MensLine on 1800 600 636.
Thank you to The Sunshine Coast Daily for the content contained within this blog post.