Pedophile Shane Thomas Davidson free, father of victim faces jail

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25654198-662,00.html

A FATHER who bashed a man caught molesting his son, 10, 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.

Today, the father's brother told Radio 4BC's Greg Carey that his sibling snapped after the boy repeated his claim that he had been molested to his mother and then to friends from across the street.

"My brother just lost it then; he dragged him (the sex offender) outside", the brother said.

He said he arrived at the scene to discover "my brother in handcuffs sitting in the back of a police car".

He said it was up to the public to decided whether the pedophile had suffered enough for his crime.

The brother said the pedophile's abuse of his nephew had "absolutely put a wedge in all of our hearts".

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

seriously if my son come to me and told me someone had done something or asked to see his penis id probably attempt to do the same thing
punishing the father and sending him to life and letting the other guy get away with what he did pretty much isnt helping that little boy at all
yes the father shouldnt of taken it into his own hands BUT STIFF Sh!t he deserved it sorry but he did
i hate rapists/molestors anything of the sort i couldnt care if they all got squashed to be honest
the person that did it to the little boy still should be locked up im sure he wouldve got worse then what the father handed out anyways once he got to prison

I think that the judge needs his head read, thats awful.

That poor little boy and his family I'd defend my child like that too and I'm sure Adam would do the same.

If the man who did this does go to prison, he wont be around for long or he'll be someones little friend for the time that he's in there. He should also be castrated.