Infuriating reason a vile child sex predator who abused SEVEN boys and then shared the footage with a paedophile ring will have his sentenced reduced
- Bad abuser complained his original punishment was ‘manifestly excessive’
- Sick groomer complains that he was beaten up by other criminals in prison
A vile pedophile and volunteer football coach who sexually abused seven boys has had six months shaved off his lengthy prison sentence. During a hearing, he was attacked in prison and authorities were forced to move him to another prison.
Grant Harden, from St Clair in Sydney’s west, was jailed after filming his sexual abuse of seven children and sharing the videos online with a pedophile ring.
Harden’s crimes were described as ‘extreme’ and the sick child abuse material he produced as ‘of a most shocking kind’ after subjecting his victims, who were as young as four years old, to horrific crimes.
He was arrested in May 2020 as part of the AFP’s sweeping attack on a pedophile ring before ultimately receiving a 30-year prison sentence.
After pleading guilty, he was convicted of two major misdemeanors.
One involved the rape of the seven young boys and included 26 cases of sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10 and 35 cases of sexually touching boys under the age of 10.
The court was told Harden exploited one of his victim’s loves for video games and groomed him by offering him ‘skins’ for Fortnite.
Grant Harden, from St Marys, has been attacked by fellow inmates after being found guilty of the sickening abuse of seven young boys in his care
The second group of offenses included the use of a carriage service to produce, possess, transmit and advertise child pornographic material.
When police seized his phone, they found more than 450 videos and images, including material showing Harden’s abuse and exploitation of the young boys.
His non-parole period was set at 22 years and he was told he would not be eligible for release until May 2042, when he would be 51.
This year, however, he appealed, claiming in part that his sentence was “manifestly excessive.”
The Court of Criminal Appeal – made up of Judges Natalie Adams, Ian Harrison and Peter Hamill – rejected two of the three grounds on which he appealed.
Harden gained the trust of the boys and their parents, creating an environment in which he could abuse the victims and hide his transgressions for his own sexual gratification.
“The possession and distribution of images depicting the sexual abuse, torture and humiliation of very young children, including toddlers and infants, constitutes a serious offence,” Judge Adams said in a judgment published on Friday.
She added that Harden was “seeking more extreme content from those he dealt with.”
They concluded there was an error in his sentence because District Court Judge Sarah Huggett had been given incorrect details by the prosecutor about the maximum sentence for the substantive child abuse offences.
The mistake at the time was also not picked up by Harden’s lawyers.
In June 2020, the law was changed, increasing the maximum penalty for transferring child abuse material via a carriage service from 25 years to 30 years.
However, some of Harden’s violations predated the law change.
Harden was arrested in 2020 as part of the AFP’s crackdown on a pedophile ring
The Court did not believe that he should receive a lower sentence for that group of facts.
But they did think there should have been a greater overlap between the two sentences.
His total sentence was reduced to 29 and a half years, with a non-parole period of 21 years and six months, meaning he will remain in prison until at least November 7, 2041.
The court was also told that Harden had been targeted in prison and had to be transferred to another prison last year.
“He has also been the target of a number of attacks by fellow inmates, the most recent of which resulted in his removal from the Junee Correctional Center in late 2023,” Judge Adams said.