Dads held on kid sex charges
TWO men have been charged with sex offences against their stepdaughters in separate North Queensland cases.
A 42- year- old Charters Towers man was arrested on Monday and charged with a raft of offences against his teenage stepchildren.
Police will allege the offender sent an explicit image of himself to one of the teens, which sparked an investigation leading to his arrest on historical sex offences.
Townsville Child Protection Investigation Unit officerin- charge Detective Senior Sergeant Dave Miles said the man was arrested yesterday after the investigation started in November.
“We will allege a 42- yearold man sent indecent images of himself to his stepdaughter over the phone. As a result of that investigation further evidence was identified in relation to contact offences he had committed against that child and also against another teenage male,” Sen- Sgt Miles said.
“The image sent started a discussion between the child and her mother and that sparked the investigation.
“The offences, that we know of, are historical in nature dating back a number of years.
“The offender has been charged with three counts of indecent dealing of a child under 15 and one count of use telecommunications device to transmit indecent material.”
In an unrelated case, a Townsville man, 39, has been charged with the rape of his 11year- old stepdaughter.
“She reported to police that she had been sexually assaulted by her stepdad, which sparked an investigation,” SenSgt Miles said.
“Some of the offences do date back, but the most recent offence was only a couple of days old after being reported to us.
“As a result of that investigation, detectives arrested the man on Monday and we have charged a 39- year- old male with five counts of rape.”
Sen- Sgt Miles reiterated the importance of people coming forward to police if they had been the victims of sexual offences.
“It demonstrates the majority of these sorts of offences are committed in the family home, by persons who have a position of power and authority over these young children,” he said.
“These investigations represent their own different challenges and the time that it takes to investigate a matter is dictated by a wide variety of influences.”