THE insidious crimes of after-school carer Brenton Kelly Dickson are worse than those that sparked the Education Department child sex scandal, a court has heard — prompting another angry, public assault.
Dickson was found guilty of the persistent exploitation of a child under his care. But he was acquitted on multiple other charges allegedly involving nine other children between 2007 and 2013.
“You walk away, you get found not guilty and you walk away,” one woman, whose evidence against Dickson did not result in a conviction, yelled.
“I hate myself because of you ... f**k you, I hate you.”
Minutes earlier, Dickson had asked Judge Michael Boylan to use the state’s controversial home detention sentencing legislation to punish him.
Prosecutor Mark Norman SC dubbed that inappropriate, given Dickson faces a maximum life sentence for his ongoing abuse of a six-year-old girl.He said the offending was more serious, more sustained and more damaging than that of
Mark Christopher Harvey, whose crimes and five-year jail term
sparked the 2014 Debelle Inquiry.
“This abuse cannot be categorised as a momentary lapse or aberration ... these were multiple offences committed over a number of years,” he said.
“They are insidious (and) cause an increasing and terrible loss of public confidence in those, particularly men, who care for children.
“Home detention is a substantially less severe penalty than custody ... a significant term of immediate imprisonment is inevitable in this case.”
Dickson, 36, of Elizabeth Grove,
pleaded not guilty to eight counts of persistent sexual exploitation and two count of aggravated indecent assault.
Dickson insisted he acted only in an “appropriate”, non-sexual manner — he was found guilty of only one of the offences after Judge Boylan deliberated on the case for 12 months.
He filed an appeal, claiming the girl’s willingness to return to the OSHC facility cast doubt on the reliability of her evidence, but
that was rejected on Monday.On Wednesday, Mr Norman read aloud a victim impact statement written by Dickson’s now-adult victim.
“Although I honestly don’t rember much of what life was like before my trust was betrayed, I was a happy and bubbly child,” she wrote.
“I was cheeky, I always had a smile on my face ... since this act, the real smile has faded and it’s often fake for the people around me.”
The woman wrote that she “lives in fear” of Dickson “coming after her” and is repulsed by men of similar stature, or who have similar facial hair.
She told the court she struggled with ongoing emotional and psychological issues, sparked by childhood confusion over the wrongfulness of Dickson’s actions.
“As children, we are told certain things are wrong by people we are supposed to trust, yet one of those people betrayed my trust,” she wrote.
“What he was saying was true, yet he went against that and did those (same) things to me.
“I feel disgusted that people in this world can do things like this and get away with it ... I’m so hurt that someone I should have been able to trust would do this to me.”
The woman wrote that Dickson “disgusted” her and, while she still questioned why he targeted her, conceded she was “not entirely sure I want to know”.
“You ruined my life and took away my innocence, now I hope your life is ruined too,” she wrote.
“You have changed me and destroyed me ... you need to know that the little bubbly girl you did this to no longer exists.”Counsel for Dickson said they were not seeking a suspended jail term but asked the court order their client be assessed for a home detention sentence.
Mr Norman, however, said Dickson’s case was “analogous” to that of Harvey — who was jailed for 2 ½ years by Judge Boylan, and increased on appeal.
“There’s no real mitigation here ... he does not accept his guilt and shows no contrition or remorse,” he said.
“Absent acceptance, absent insight, his prospects for rehabilitation must be extremely poor.”
Judge Boylan remanded Dickson on continuing bail for sentencing on Thursday.
Outside court, the mother of one of the alleged victims said Dickson must not be allowed to remain in the community.
“If he doesn’t take responsibility for it, what’s to stop him doing it again? And if he’s on home detention, what’s to stop him doing it again?” she said.
“He needs to be locked up for life.”
