FED:Toddler tried to escape sex attack

AAP General News (Australia)
08-27-2010
FED:Toddler tried to escape sex attack

EDS: Please note graphic content throughout



By Andrew Drummond

SYDNEY, Aug 27 AAP - The 14-month-old girl had an inkling of the imminent sexual attack on her.

She tried desperately to crawl away from the man, but was grabbed by the legs and dragged
across the bed so that the vile assault could begin, a Sydney court has been told.

She screamed and struggled in vain as her nappy was ripped off...

The toddler was one of eight victims molested by David Shane Whitby, who in July was
found guilty of 120 child sex offences.

He assaulted children over a 10-year period, photographing and filming the acts.

Another of Whitby's victims rushed crying from Sydney's Downing Centre District Court
during sentencing submissions on Friday, as details of his attack on the toddler were
read out by Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi.

During the trial, which was heard without a jury, Judge Peter Berman viewed the videos
and photographs made by Whitby.

One of those videos showed the attack of the baby girl.

"The child sees the offender approaching her, she exhibits extreme fear ... she obviously
had some inkling of what was about to happen. He grabs her by the legs, pulls her towards
him and commits the offences," Mr Tedeschi said in court on Friday.

Whitby sat in the dock of the court, occasionally shaking his head as the details were read.

He claimed during the trial that he was not the offender. The offender was a man he
used to know but with whom he no longer had any contact, he said.

In some videos, Whitby wears items including a pink fairy outfit, a black mask, a black
body suit, black high heels or a suspender belt and stockings - as do some of his victims.

A sign on the door of the court warned people of the graphic nature of the case.

Details of the assault on the toddler were harrowingly graphic.

"Screams and struggles are heard from the child ... that would send chills down the
spine of any reasonable person," Mr Tedeschi said of the video.

"This toddler did all that she could to get away from the offender in a vain attempt
to avoid the offending behaviour.

"The offender's only motivation ... is to obtain sexual gratification from his conduct
with a very young child."

Judge Berman asked if this was the attack that ended with Whitby ejaculating on the
child's torso, to which Mr Tedeschi replied: "Yes, after attempting to ejaculate in the
child's mouth".

Earlier on Friday, another of Whitby's victims - now an adult mother of three - said
that being forced to relive the details during the prosecution case had "ruined her life".

"I feel like I'm worthless as a mother now because I'm so consumed about what happened
to me I can't look after my kids. I don't cope with daily life at all," said the tearful
woman, who can't be identified.

Her brother was raped and assaulted by Whitby - charges involving the boy totalling 91.

Mr Tedeschi said Whitby sexually conditioned his victims and that the assaults would
sometimes take place while the children were watching television or talking on the phone.

"The offender committed the acts for his own immediate gratification and also for the
purposes of recording the acts for his later sexual titillation," Mr Tedeschi said.

The sentencing submissions continue.

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KEYWORD: WHITBY

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