Qld man jailed for abuse of five-year-old

Laine Clark | January 18, 2023

For years, the little boy silently carried his shame and guilt.

He was worried that his parents would no longer love him if he revealed that the man he once affectionately called “uncle” had abused him for 12 months.

In the end, the boy finally told them because he was concerned he may not be able to have children due to the man’s “gross, deviant behaviour”.

The parents broke down in tears when they revisited the moment as a 28-year-old Queensland man appeared in Brisbane District Court on Wednesday.

“The little boy’s mother says you broke the soul of an innocent child,” Judge Leanne Clare told the man at his sentencing.

The boy was aged five when the year-long period of “predatory and callous” abuse began in his family home north of Brisbane in February 2017, the court heard.

The man – a school friend of the boy’s father – became close with the family and went to live at their property.

“He (the boy) called you uncle. You were treated like a family friend and they trusted you,” Judge Clare told the man.

Each morning the boy watched TV, as his parents slept, and the man performed indecent acts on him.

The boy was too afraid to speak up but the parents became suspicious, the court heard.

They finally evicted the man when the father arrived from work early and found his son without pants with the family friend on the couch.

However, they did not know the full extent until their son told them in August 2021 after asking his shattered parents whether he could still have children.

“He (the boy) carried the shame and guilt of your crime on his own,” Judge Clare told the man.

“He worried that they (parents) would stop loving him, he worried that he would not be able to have children.

“He bore those things on his own for three years until finally it was burning him up so much that he confided in his parents – I cannot imagine how heartbreaking that must have been to hear.”

The man told police the boy was “like a son” but admitted his offending when interviewed after the father went to the authorities.

The man has shown remorse but has not engaged in any psychological treatment, the court heard.

“There’s no question this is gross, deviant behaviour that has been persisted in on a daily basis for an extended period of time in a calculated way in the family home,” Judge Clare said.

“There can be no doubt that at this point in time you remain a risk to other children.”

The man was sentenced to five years in jail after pleading guilty to maintaining a sexual relationship with a child.

He is eligible for parole in May 2024.

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)