Sterling Mervyn Free, 27, was jailed for eight years in October after he kidnapped and sexually assaulted a seven-year-old girl
A predator and father-of-two who kidnapped a seven-year-old girl at Kmart and molested her in nearby bushland watched child porn before the horror attack.
Sterling Mervyn Free, 27, was jailed for eight years in October, with a Queensland judge describing his crime as ‘abhorrent’ and ‘every parent’s worse nightmare’.
Free will be eligible for parole from August 10, 2021, just two-and-a-half years after he was first locked up.
In the Queensland Court of Appeal, Crown Prosecutor Carl Heaton QC said the release date was too soon for someone who admitted to watching porn moments before the terrifying attack.
A psychology report presented in court showed Free’s history of struggling with lack of impulse control.
His porn addiction, diagnosis of paedophilia, and lack of intimacy with a partner all led to the kidnapping and attack on the young girl, the Courier-Mail reported.
‘It increased his vulnerability to engage in impulsive and reckless behaviour with no consideration of the consequences,’ Mr Heaton told the court.
He also said that Free had previously mentioned he was attracted to children and his lack of control was a danger to society.
‘… Mr Free appears to have increasingly viewed paedophile imagery or struggled with such ideation prior to the offence… before spontaneously acting on impulsive ideation.’
A psychology report presented in court showed Free’s history of struggling with lack of impulse control
The little girl was searching the toy aisles for a present while her mother stood nearby, when the predator led her away
He told the court that their decision to let him out just two-and-a-half years into his sentence did not send a ‘clear message to the community’.
Free’s defence barrister Angus Edwards, who represented him for free, said his client’s remorse, no previous conviction, returning the girl to the shopping centre, and co-operating with police should be enough to let him out of jail.
Security camera footage captured Free lurking about the toy aisle for 20 minutes, the judge said.
‘I found this video footage… chilling. (Your behaviour) warrants the description ‘opportunistic and predatory,’ she said.
It wasn’t long until the mother realised her daughter had disappeared. Free later confessed that he had told the victim ‘follow me’ and led her away.
He drove her to remote Pumicestone Passage, where he sexually assaulted her.
Free leads the little girl away from Brisbane’s Westfield North Lakes, in footage shown to the court
Free was jailed for eight years and will be eligible for parole from August 10, 2021, just two-and-a-half years after he was first locked up
Meanwhile, the alarmed mother had spoken to store staff, and soon enough a security guard had found vision of the girl being walked out of the shop by Free.
At 2.23pm, a security guard noticed the girl arriving back at the shopping centre, having been dropped off by the T-shirt wearing sex offender.
‘Sometime later her mother noticed two long scratch marks down her back,’ the judge said.
‘The child refused to tell how she got them and wouldn’t tell the police when they tried to talk to her.’
The images were sent out to police statewide, with two officers coming forward to say they recognised him as Sterling Free.
One officer had seen him holding the girl’s hand at the shops, while another believed him to be a previous employee of their father.
CHILD PREDATOR STERLING FREE’S LETTER TO THE COURT
Child predator Sterling Free wrote a letter to the court, which was read out by his lawyer outside the court complex today
‘I accept full responsibility for my actions against the young girl. I know the enormous pain I have caused her, her family, my own family and children.
‘I today accept without reservation the punishment imposed by the justice system today.
‘I do not wish to cause any further pain to the young victim or her family or delay justice any further.
‘I cannot comprehend the pain that I have caused her. I took away her innocence and scared her family.
‘I hope that today my sentence provides her and her family some hope for the future.
‘I can only ever say sorry. I know that this is not good enough.
‘I’m not looking for forgiveness but only to let you know the harm that I have done, the harm that I have caused.
‘I cannot imagine the pain and fear I have caused. I can’t take that back.
‘To my family, the shock you have had to deal with, the public scrutiny was immense, my children deserve better.
‘They will now grow up without a father and I can only blame myself. I cannot comprehend the damage I have caused. I will seek treatment to ensure this doesn’t occur again.
‘I am committed to using my incarceration to seek professional assistance that I duly require.’
In a police interview, Free freely admitted he had noticed the victim and then ‘the urges crept in’. He confessed to what he had done.
He had a criminal history involving property offences but not similar charges to this nature, the judge said.
The judge considered evidence from a psychologist that he had provisionally been diagnosed with a paedophilic disorder and was addicted to online porn.
She also acknowledged he was a victim of child sexual abuse himself, and that victims are more likely to offend in the future.
But, she said, ‘the family (of the victim) continues to suffer anxiety which is easily understood.’
‘It is easy to imagine the mother’s distress in the circumstances and you acknowledged as much.’
Free has spent 306 days in custody, including five months in solitary confinement
The girl’s mother remained composed throughout the sentencing. Several of her supporters appeared upset at the decision.
Free appeared grim throughout the sentencing, his hands clasped in front of him.
The victim’s family were accompanied by a sizeable police contingent and child protection advocates Bruce and Denise Morcombe.
Mr Morcombe said the mother was ‘shaken’ by the sentence but ‘she was in a space where the advisers had indicated that was probably where (the sentence) was going to sit’.
‘Let’s hope he is cured of this sickness, but I find the sentence inadequate in terms of setting a deterrent.’
Free has spent 306 days in custody, including five months in solitary confinement. The girl is receiving counselling and is being actively supported by her family.