Sex offender jailed

By ANEEKA SIMONIS

A 69-YEAR-OLD Drouin grandfather has been jailed over disturbing sexual assault charges, some involving a foster child under his care almost 20 years ago.
Denis Duggan was recently sentenced to nine years imprisonment over five charges of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 and three counts of committing an indecent act with a child under the age of 16 in relation to crimes dating back to 1996.
Though the matter was dropped after he denied allegations against him in 2002, Duggan was caught out by police in October last year when he was arrested over the repeated sexual assault of a separate underage victim, the County Court of Victoria heard.
Duggan, together with his wife, began fostering children in 1994, caring for 30 children until 2002.
The court heard Duggan began sexually assaulting a six-year-old girl under his care in 1996 – taking advantage of the vulnerable child inside his car and Drouin home.
In sentencing, Judge Grant said it was throughout the traumatic two-year ordeal that the girl was permanently housed with Duggan.
“This must have been incredibly difficult for the first victim who had been abused by you prior to that appointment,” Judge Grant said.
The child remained under the man’s care until 2002 when the assaults were reported to police.
He was not prosecuted by police despite the victim filing another statement eight years later, in 2010.
“(She) was entrusted to your care and you abused that trust in a shocking way … You show no remorse for your criminal behaviour,” Judge Grant said.
But it wasn’t until 2014 when Duggan was arrested over the repeated sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl from his neighbourhood that he was convicted over the gross historic sexual crimes.
The court heard Duggan assaulted the girl with known mental health issues several times between Monday 13 October and Thursday 16 October before being arrested by police on Saturday 18 October.
“Had you not been apprehended for further offences in 2014, it is likely that you would have avoided your responsibility for this earlier offending,” Judge Grant said.
Duggan was sentenced to nine years imprisonment with a six-year non-parole period.
He will be listed on the Sex Offender Registry for life.
Both victims are known to suffer significant mental health problems as a result of the offences.