The Townsville Bulletin reported that a man who had previously been convicted of indecent treatment of a three year old girl, has pled guilty to guilty to indecent treatment (expose) child under 12 years lineal descendant and indecent treatment of children under 16, in relation to several incidents of sexually abusing his seven year old granddaughter.
I don’t even know where to start. “Grandfather” or “man with a history of sexually abusing children”? They’re the same person but not the same thing.
“Naked horseback rides”? Or “sexual abuse of a seven year old girl”, a child who had every right to expect men in her family to care for her and protect her from harm, not inflict it.
The comments about the seriousness – which depends on physical force and penetration – are to do with the law not the reporting. It does, however, demonstrate how far we have to go on legislation catching up with what we know about the harm done by grooming, power and manipulation in child sexual abuse cases.
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