Mum Sues State of Victoria Over Convicted Paedophile’s Assault On Daughter

A mother is suing the State of Victoria for allowing a convicted paedophile to have access to her teenage daughter who he molested.

This comes after the man, who had been convicted of having sex with two 14-year-old girls, was moved from a sex-offender facility, Corella Place, into the same crisis housing as the mother’s 15-year-old daughter, who the man then preyed on after he hired her as a cleaner.

The mother also said that this happened despite the paedophile admitting he believes he was not ready and he did not have “the ability to cope” outside custody.

The man was moved to a block of flats in regional Victoria in 2013. He then offered a 15-year-old girl who lived with her mother in the same block of flats $10 an hour to clean his flat. As the girl agreed, she was soon regularly going to the flat, once visiting when the man and another convicted sex offender were present.

From February to April 2013, the man gave the girl a key to his flat, and molested her by touching her leg, trying to hug her and touching her hair and encouraging her to come over to play Xbox. He was jailed for eight months in November 2014 for 13 charges of breaching his supervision order.

Now, the teenager’s mother is suing the State of Victoria, claiming that the registered sex offender had not been properly monitored, despite being on a supervision order. She is also taking action against the accommodation provider for housing the offender in the same block of flats as herself and her daughter.

The mother’s legal action is part of a series of lawsuits filed by families of victims of sex offenders, rapists and murderers, including five people killed by offenders released on parole.

The County Court civil action gathers the victims of five parolee killers Joanne Wicking, Evan Rudd, Raechel Betts, Sarah Cafferkey and Douglas Phillips as well as two victims of sex offenders, including the 15-year-old girl.

Helen Wicking, mother of murdered woman Joanne Wicking, is also suing the state government and the Adult Parole Board after her daughter was stabbed to death by Sean Maraffko when he had been on parole for 18 days in 2010. In November 2011, Maraffko was jailed for 35 years for the murder.

Ms Wicking is also taking action against Telstra, alleging that the company’s triple-0 operators failed to put the desperate calls of a mother through to police on the day she was murdered. The Supreme Court court heard that Joanne Wicking called triple-0 crying and screaming for help three times between 4.51pm and 4.57pm on the day she was murdered. However, Maraffko informed the call-taker every time that it had been an accidental call.

In her writ, Ms Wicking said Telstra and the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority were responsible for “responding to calls to police about the offender’s behaviour”.

Shine Lawyers senior solicitor Paula Shelton, who is acting for the families, said that the State, and other defendants, had a duty of care to the victims because of their knowledge of the offenders. They also had a responsibility to house them or monitor their lives in the community.

Corrections Minister Steve Herbert recognised the “tragic circumstances” for the seven families involved in the legal action. He said the parole system had been “comprehensively reformed” as part of a review by High Court Justice Ian Callinan in 2013.

A Telstra spokesman said the death of Ms Wicking was a tragic situation, however they couldn’t comment further due to the legal action. An Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority spokesperson said that there are now new guidelines for handling triple-0 phone calls after a review into the incident.

Source: Theage.com.au