- John Patrick Gillespie guilty of indecent treatment
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A predator who groomed and sexually abused vulnerable girls gave a chilling and insensitive 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 bowed as he was sentenced for indecently treating young girls.
After being charged in August 2022, Gillespie breached bail several times, including one occasion when he was caught tying one of the girls to his bed with rope.
When questioned by police, Gillespie explained that he was “showing them how he tied up his friends” and joked if they had seen the movie Fifty Shades of Grey.
“His breach of bail … shows a disturbing lack of understanding of the crime of which he is charged, and a worrying persistence in sexualized contact with one of his victims,” the District Court judge said Friday of Brisbane, John Allen, to Gillespie.
“It is somewhat inexplicable that you have offended like this for the first time.”
Gillespie pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent treatment of children under 12, four counts of failing to comply with bail conditions and a single count of rape.
The court was told Gillespie effectively groomed a girl by giving her money and buying her alcohol, cannabis and e-cigarettes to entice her to spend time with him.
The Brisbane District Court was told that John Patrick Gillespie was caught on video tying one of the girls to his bed and joking with police whether they had seen the film 50 Shades of Grey, based on the book.
Crown prosecutor Melissa Wilson said Gillespie was caught licking the complainer’s vagina.
On other occasions, he pinned the same girl face down and grabbed her vagina over her clothing, ‘squished’ her butt and touched her breasts at a public swimming pool.
Wilson said another girl, then 11, was at Gillespie’s house when he lifted her skirt without warning, exposing her underwear.
The rape charge came against a third girl, then 16, after Gillespie subjected her to the same grooming behavior in which he bought her “alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes, vapes, clothing and food.”
“He also made sexualized comments to her… that he couldn’t stop thinking about her, that he wanted to touch her, that she had a ‘nice pussy,'” Wilson said.
The court was told Gillespie digitally raped the girl after she passed out while consuming alcohol.
“The next morning, he woke up on the couch with his jeans unbuttoned and blood on his underwear,” Wilson said.
‘(She) had no memory of the events due to her intoxicated state.’
After Gillespie was charged and released on bail, he repeatedly breached orders by breaking his curfew and failing to have contact with the complainants.
Police found a photo of one of the girls lying on his bed, while he stood over her in his underwear.
Another included video of Gillespie tying the girl with rope to the head of her bed.
“The defendant initially told police he was just playing with her jewelery before saying he was showing her how he tied up his friends,” Ms Wilson said.
“He laughed and asked the officers if they had seen 50 Shades of Grey.”
Sentencing Gillespie to four years in prison, Judge Allen suspended the sentence but also imposed a two-year probation order.
The 758 days Gillespie spent in pre-sentence custody were declared time served.
Defense lawyer Steven Dickson said Gillespie otherwise had a good work history as a painter whose life revolved around his job and family.
Dickson said his client’s offending was “relatively inexplicable” but could have been a result of isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He had since realized his crimes while in custody, Dickson said.