Sex offender jailed

By Jeremy Sollars

A WARWICK man found guilty of repeatedly molesting an underage girl will spend just four months behind bars.
The 73-year-old, who cannot by law be named in order to protect the identity of the victim, was found guilty on Thursday by a Toowoomba District Court jury of indecent treatment of a child under 16 and maintaining a sexual relationship with a child under 16.
The Crown case was that the man had repeatedly molested the girl over a period of time when the girl, now aged 18, had been around 13 or 14 and the man was aged 67 to 69.
The court heard the offending took place while the man and the girl were engaged in equestrian competitions outside Warwick and on properties in the Warwick area.
The female complainant told the court the man would put his hand down her shirt touching her breasts and rub his hand over the outside of her jeans near her pubic area.
She said the incidents had occurred virtually every time they were alone but she had been afraid to tell anyone, until an argument with her parents in 2014 prompted her to make a complaint to the police.
The jury considered a victim impact statement from the complainant as part of their deliberations.
Judge David Searles said he accepted the man was of otherwise good character and had no previous criminal history, before sentencing him to 18 months’ jail, to be suspended after serving four months’ actual time behind bars.