Molester free while dad who bashed him could be jailed

Print Robyn Ironside, David Earley and Neale Maynard
June 18, 2009 09:42am

UPDATE: A QUEENSLAND father who bashed a man caught molesting his 10-year-old son is facing a prison sentence, while the boy's attacker walks free.

In a highly unusual case, Shane Thomas Davidson was spared jail despite pleading guilty to molesting the boy on State Of Origin night last year.

Judge Ian Dearden told Beenleigh District Court the sentence was reduced because the young victim's father had wrongly taken action into his own hands and badly beaten Davidson.

"There is no place in our community for a vigilante approach," he said.

Davidson was sentenced on Monday to a nine-month intensive corrections order.

The boy's father is awaiting trial on one count of grievous bodily harm, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Child safety campaigner Hetty Johnston yesterday slammed the sentence for Davidson.

"In this case, they've got it woefully wrong," she said. "What the offender did was totally unnatural."

In handing down his sentence on Monday, Justice Dearden said adult offenders who committed sex offences against children must serve actual jail time – unless exceptional circumstances were found to exist.

"This is one of those rare and exceptional cases," he said. "When an individual takes the matter of punishment into their own hands, the offence committed by the person may be far, far more serious and, therefore, have far more serious consequences then the original offence."

The court was told Davidson was at the child's house at Eagleby in June last year to watch the State of Origin match with the boy's father and a few other people.

After the game, Davidson went into the boy's bedroom and began massaging the child's penis under his clothes.

When the boy woke up, Davidson asked the boy to show him his penis and offered to do the same.

The child refused and went to tell his father what happened.

The man then attacked Davidson, dragging him outside, throwing him on to a concrete path where he struck his head and repeatedly kicking him.

Davidson later underwent extensive facial surgery in the Princess Alexandra Hospital.

Yesterday Davidson told The Courier-Mail he regretted what he had done but didn't think it was something he should go to jail for.

"As far as these sorts of offences go, it's pretty minor," he said.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... %2C00.html