Child predator’s vile ‘50 Shades’ brag

WARNING: CONFRONTING DETAILS

A predator who groomed and sexually abused vulnerable young girls gave a chilling and callous excuse to police when he was caught tying one to his bed – all while on bail.

John Patrick Gillespie kept his eyes closed and head tilted down as he was sentenced for indecently treating the young girls.

After being charged in August 2022, Gillespie breached bail multiple times – including one occasion where he was caught tying one of the girls on his bed with rope.

When questioned by police, Gillespie explained he was “showing her how he tied his friends” and joked if they had seen the film 50 Shades of Grey.

“Your breaches of bail … show a concerning lack of insight into the criminality over which you’ve been charged, and a concerning persistence in sexualised contact with one of your victims,” District Court Judge John Allen told Gillespie on Friday.

“It is somewhat inexplicable you first offended in this way.”

Gillespie pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent treatment of children under 12, four counts of breach of bail conditions and a single count of rape.

The court was told Gillespie effectively groomed one child by giving her money and buying her alcohol, cannabis and vapes to entice her to spend time with him.

Crown prosecutor Melissa Wilson said Gillespie was caught licking the complainant’s vagina.

On other occasions, he pinned the same girl on her stomach and grabbed her vagina over her clothing, “squished” her bottom and touched her breasts at a public pool.

Ms Wilson said another girl, then aged 11, was at Gillespie’s home when he lifted up her skirt without warning, exposing her underwear.

The rape charge occurred against a third girl – who was then aged 16 – after Gillespie subjected her to the same grooming-type behaviour where he would buy her “alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes, vapes, clothing and food”.

“He would also make sexualised comments to her … that he could not stop thinking about her, that he wanted to touch her, that she had a ‘nice p***y’,” Ms Wilson said.

The court was Gillespie digitally raped the girl after she passed out while consuming alcohol.

“The next morning, she woke up on the couch with her jeans undone and blood in her underwear,” Ms Wilson said.

“(She) had no memory of the events due to her intoxication.”

After Gillespie was charged and released on bail conditions, he repeatedly breached orders by not abiding by his curfew and having contact with the complainants.

Police found a picture of one of the girls lying on his bed, while he was standing beside her in his underwear.

Another included the video of Gillespie tying the girl with rope at his bedhead.

“The defendant initially told police he was just playing with her jewellery before saying he was showing her how he ties his friends,” Ms Wilson said.

“He laughed and asked the officers if they had seen (the film) 50 Shades of Grey.”

In sentencing Gillespie to four years’ jail, Judge Allen suspended the sentence but also imposed a probation order to last for two years.

Gillespie’s 758 days spent in pre-sentence custody was declared as time served.

Defence barrister Steven Dickson said Gillespie otherwise had a good work history as a painter, whose life revolved around working and family.

Mr Dickson said his client’s offending was “relatively inexplicable” but could have been as a result of isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He had since gained insight to his offending while in custody, Mr Dickson said.