A child rapist appealing for a private cell has lost his application to keep his case secret.
Former Gold Coast yoga teacher Jason Daron Mizner was sentenced to 19 years in jail in 2018 after he assaulted his partner’s two-year-old girl repeatedly over three months, while also assaulting the baby of a second woman in Thailand.
He pleaded guilty to more than 60 child sex offences from the early 2000s, including more than 30 counts of rape and videotaping the assaults.
After being caught in Thailand, he served 11 years of a 35-year sentence before he was deported and arrested by Australian authorities when he returned to Brisbane.
Currently at Wolston Correctional Centre in Queensland, Mizner launched an application to court claiming that he shouldn’t have to share a cell because his multiple disabilities meaning that he can’t tolerate having a cellmate.
The matter is set to be heard in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in April but Mizner moved to try to have the hearing closed and the evidence and outcome of the four-day hearing suppressed.
Child rapist Jason Mizner who was sentenced to 19 years in jail in 2018 for raping a two-year-old girl has failed in his bid to keep his application for why he can’t have a cellmate secret
In an application to the tribunal, Mizner argued his case should be kept private for the safety of both himself and a fellow prisoner who will give evidence to support his claim.
He also said the media’s coverage puts himself and his witness at risk of assault while they remained in prison and that suppressing his application will ‘protect’ his victims.
In a tribunal judgement published on Friday the tribunal determined that while they accept the claim that a section of the community had ‘disdain’ for sexual offenders’ and that could increase the risk, the court proceedings would still not be closed.
‘We simply do not consider we can determine that there is such a level of risk posed by conducting the proceedings, as usual, in open court that makes it necessary to take the exceptional step of closing the court and prohibiting publication of all detail to avoid it,’ the tribunal stated.
The tribunal also refuted Mizner’s claim that he was looking out for his victim’s families by the way of a non-publication order.
The baby rapists prison witness told lawyers he would not supply evidence unless it was under the guise of full anonymity, which the tribunal agreed to.
Mizner previously sought apologies from the prison after they couldn’t guarantee him a single cell as he said cellmates turning on the lights or getting up to the toilet at night triggered his PSTD, which stemmed from more than a decade in a Thai prison.
The discrimination case alleges he is impaired because of his mental health illnesses, resulting in him being hypersensitive to sleep disturbances.
Mizner’s application to the court claims he shouldn’t have to share a cell at Wolston Correctional Centre in Queensland (pictured) due to his multiple disabilities, including PTSD, which means that he can’t tolerate having a cellmate
Mizner had previously argued his jail term for relentlessly raping his girlfriend’s daughter was ‘excessive’, despite only receiving 19 years’ jail time for the repeated assaults.
The extent of the material tabled in Mizner’s sentencing resulted in the judge having to take a break to ensure he received a fair sentence.
During sentencing, Justice Leanne Clare said she had struggled to cope with the disturbing footage of Mizner’s offences despite 30 years of experience with extreme child abuse cases.
‘I only watched a portion and it has been a battle to get the vision of your offending out of my head,’ Judge Clare said.
‘I cannot imagine the horror of it for (the girl’s) mother.’
The court was told Mizner, who was 31 at the time of the assaults, formed a relationship with the Australian girl’s mother, before committing the offences over several months.
The former Gold Coast yoga teacher assaulted his partner’s two-year-old girl repeatedly over three months, while also assaulting the baby of a second woman in Thailand who he had befriended
While he was on a holiday in Thailand, the girl’s mother found videos he had made and a range of other unrelated child exploitation material.
Mizner stayed in Thailand, where he formed a relationship with a local woman before assaulting her young daughter and being arrested by Thai authorities.
Mizner’s sentencing was also delayed when a doctor preparing a psychological report for the court suffered a heart attack.
That report, the defence argued, showed that a motorcycle accident when Mizner was 21 left him with a brain injury, which ‘uninhibited’ him.
Justice Clare said it also showed he had a ‘predilection for babies’ and had a medium-to-high chance of re-offending if not incarcerated.
‘Even a low risk of re-offending when it comes to raping babies is a substantial risk to deal with. When it’s a medium-to-high risk… it’s alarming,’ she said.
Justice Clare said Mizner showed no remorse for his heinous crimes.
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