A sexual predator who victimized a teenager on a cruise liner said that the boy is “95 percent culpable” for what transpired.
According to forensic psychiatrist Professor David Greenberg’s testimony to the ACT Supreme Court on Monday, John Ronald Brown, 49, thinks his adolescent victim is mostly to blame for the crime he admits to perpetrating.
Brown admitted to having a sexual relationship with a youngster last year.
The teenage boy’s parents were acquaintances with the 49-year-old at the time.
He is said to have molested the boy at a party in Canberra before sexually touching him on an international cruise late 2019 and early 2020.
After being postponed in February when psychologist Douglas Boer told the court that Brown was not guilty because of mental disability, major depressive illness, and an alcohol use disorder, his sentencing has taken a long time to complete.
According to the Canberra Times, Professor Greenberg stated on Monday that he disagreed with Professor Boer’s assessment that Brown had a serious depressive condition.
Although he acknowledged Brown had an alcohol use disorder, he pointed out that the condition does not make a person mistreat children.
The youngster who was molested and members of his family wrote five victim impact statements, which were then read aloud by chief crown prosecutor Anthony Williamson.
The boy stated Brown was once a person he respected, admired and even looked up to but said in his statement, ‘he broke my trust… I cannot express how much this has had an impact on me and my family’.
‘To be told, ‘Don’t worry about your mum and dad, it’s friends’ fun, it’s our secret’, made me sick.’
The father provided a statement in which he characterized his former friend’s behavior as unacceptable, unredeemable, and unforgivable.
The mother of the small kid just labeled it “evil.”
She claimed, “I can honestly state that I have never in my life held such much hatred and feeling of betrayal.”