PASTOR’S SON FACING RAPE CHARGES
EXCLUSIVE: Accused of attacks on girls aged between 12 and 15
THE son of a Gold Coast pastor is facing a string of serious charges including rape and indecent treatment of a child after being accused of assaulting four young girls, some of whom he met through his father’s church.
Police allege the man committed the offences against the girls, who were aged between 12 and 15 years, during sleepovers and in a car.
A GOLD Coast pastor’s son sexually abused four girls, one just 12 years old, whom he met through his father’s congregation, police allege.
The man, who legally cannot be named, has been charged with attempting to commit rape, using a carriage service to procure a child, three counts of indecent treatment of a child and three counts of rape.
Police allege the man, who is now aged in his early 20s but was aged 17 to 19 when the alleged offences occurred, met the girls through a relative, his former high school and his father’s church.
Police allege the offences happened between 2014 and 2016 during sleepovers at the family home and also in a car.
The man is accused of forcing a 13-year-old girl to kiss him while she was staying at his house on the night of a church Christmas party.
Police allege he then pinned the girl to the ground and forced her to perform oral sex by aggressively pulling her hair.
In 2016, the man allegedly put his hands down the pants of a 15-year-old girl, who was also staying at the home, before trying to pull her to the ground.
Police alleged that later that year he said “Come on, just do it” to another girl, aged 13, before forcing her to perform oral sex in a dark room at his parents’ home.
Afterwards he allegedly told her: “Don’t tell anyone”.
The man is also accused of sending naked images of himself to a 12-year-old girl he met at a local school when he was in his final year and she was in Year 5.
He encouraged the girl to send naked images before engaging in sexual acts with her in a car after she snuck out of home, police allege.
The investigation of the matter has been fraught with controversy, with police coming under fire in the courtroom from defence solicitor Adam Guest.
Yesterday, new evidence of Snapchat conversations that allegedly indicated the girl in the car had consented to the sexual acts was tendered during the second day of the man’s committal hearing in the Southport Magistrates Court. It had not been included in the original brief of evidence when Detective Senior Constable Francesco Distefano was called to the witness box in December.
“That was not disclosed, that was not part of your brief of evidence, those messages,” Mr Guest said yesterday.
“How does this slip through the loop?
“(From) the text exchange, it was entirely consensual, would you agree?”
Det Sen-Const. Distefano said: “From what it appears, yes it does.”
The court previously heard the officer failed to seize crucial telephone evidence from alleged victims because his workload was too “exhausting”.
“I didn’t ask for their phones,” Det Sen-Const. Distefano told the court in December.
“There is no answer to that.”
Yesterday, the officer conceded he did have the phones but had “misinterpreted” Mr Guest’s question. “For you to sit there and (say) you didn’t understand the question is unbelievable,” Mr Guest said.
Outside court, Mr Guest said it was “very concerning” the Snapchat conversations had not been made available.
“This material was disclosed after I cross-examined (the officer) on the first occasion,” he said.
“It didn’t form part of the brief, it should have been disclosed and wasn’t.
“Although he said he didn’t have the phones, he had to retract his evidence and something more may come out if it.”
The man has not yet been required to enter a plea.