WARNING: Confronting
A Sydney tradie who sexually abused an eight-week-old infant and two girls under five has been sentenced to 30 years prison by a judge who lashed his actions as “shocking and depraved in the extreme”.
Stomach-churning details of the abuse Bryan Michael Grange inflicted on three children between 2014 and 2018 were aired in Downing District Court on Thursday as his sentence was handed down over several hours.
He will be in prison until at least 2044 after Judge Kara Shead sentenced him to 30 years’ prison for child sexual abuse as well as four and a half years for possessing child abuse material.
One of his victims was an eight-week-old baby who he opportunistically abused while the infant’s mother and Grange’s wife smoked a cigarette outside.
He later told a psychiatrist: “I had Viagra that morning. It was a pretty f..ked up time. I have no excuse for it.”
“All right-minded members of the community would be disgusted and disturbed,” Judge Shead said as she described the rape of the infant, for which Grange was sentenced to 21 years.
Another victim was a toddler, aged one or two when she was abused by Grange as he accompanied her in a public toilet.
A third girl was repeatedly molested by Grange over a number of years when she was aged between infancy and five years old.
“You are getting good at it,” he told the girl as he filmed her while inciting her to expose her genitalia to the camera.
He made numerous videos depicting him molesting the girls as well as filming their genitalia from carefully crafted camera angles.
Many details of the abuse are too graphic to publish.
The girls were known to Grange and his abuse was a severe breach of trust, both for the girls and their parents, the court heard.
Grange also amassed more than 30,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse, storing the sickening material across seven devices.
Hundreds of his videos and images were classified as the very worst kind, including videos of children who were restrained, forced into bestiality, and subject to highly degrading sexual acts.
Grange used his own name and credit card details to sign up to a subscription website where he spent $7156 on child abuse material.
Judge Shead stressed that possessing such images was not a victimless crime and often involved impoverished children in underdeveloped countries who had few protections.
“Those who make use of this product feed on that exploitation and abuse,” she said.
Judge Shead noted Grange had expressed some remorse to a psychiatrist and in a letter, but found it was “limited”, as was his insight into his crimes.
“He said he did not believe the victims would remember his offending and subsequently would not be affected by his actions,” she said.
“The suggestion that they suffered no harm because they were too young to remember must be rejected outright.”
“Further, equating sexually assaulting a child victim with cheating on his wife speaks volumes about the offender’s lack of insight into the true nature of his abhorrent offending.”
Grange pleaded guilty to a string of child sex offences, under both state law, concerning his abuse of the girls, and Commonwealth law, regarding his possession of abuse material.
Judge Shead noted his co-operation with police and early plea — which entitles him by law to a 25 per cent discount on his sentence — but said it was countered by the “overwhelming” prosecution case he faced.
“His voice, face, hands, home and car were shown in the footage he took,” she said.
“The Commonwealth charges involved the use of his name, his credit card, and he was in physical possession of the material.”
Grange appeared by video link from Parklea Correctional Centre, where he is in protective custody and permitted to leave his shared cell for 7.5 hours each day.
He continues to have the support of his wife, who saw him in prison twice a week before Covid-19 restrictions halted visitation.
Grange looked glum and stared at the floor as Judge Shead spent hours detailing his crimes on Thursday.
In the morning break, he asked his lawyer how much longer the sentence would go for.
“I don’t know,” the lawyer replied.
Grange chuckled and said: “Not that I’m going anywhere.”
He will be eligible for parole on March 29, 2044.
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