A New South Wales horse trainer has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail for raping and impregnating a 13-year-old girl in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n
Warning: This story contains details that may distress some readers, including references to abortion.<\/p>\n
That girl, now a woman, fought back tears on Thursday while delivering a victim impact statement in the Port Macquarie District Court.<\/p>\n
“I’m here today as a woman trying to give voice to the 12-year-old girl I used to be,” she said.<\/p>\n
“A child who was manipulated, violated and silenced by a man twice her age.”<\/p>\n
Sexual assault\u00a0support lines:<\/p>\n
She referred to the child she later terminated.<\/p>\n
“I was carrying a child whilst still a child myself. The physical pain, the emotional trauma, the secrecy. I had no say,” she said.<\/p>\n
“My body was used, my life altered. My ability to trust destroyed. My sense of worth \u2014\u00a0shattered. I didn’t get to grow up like other kids.”<\/p>\n
In July, Dwayne Donald Schmidt, 56, pleaded guilty to two counts of the charge of having sexual intercourse with\u00a0a child aged between 10 and 16.<\/p>\n
The offending happened at Port Macquarie in 1994 and 1995, when the girl was 12 and 13.<\/p>\n
At the time Schmidt was a jockey and later became a horse trainer.<\/p>\n
Admissions in phone sting<\/p>\n
Agreed police facts outlined how Schmidt made admissions and apologised in a phone call that was covertly recorded by police.<\/p>\n
Police got a warrant to tape a call between the victim and the offender.<\/p>\n
The following admissions are part of the conversation recorded on October 2, 2024.<\/p>\n
Victim: I’m just ringing you about, you know, what happened all those years ago
Offender: You alright mate? Or not?
Victim: Well no, not really. Like I just sort of can’t, I don’t know, understand why it all happened.
Offender: Ohh, I don’t know mate, it was consensual, you know.
Victim: It’s not consensual, I was 13.<\/p>\n
Schmidt ended the taped call by saying, “I’m really sorry. You know, like just feel shit now.”<\/p>\n
He was arrested about five weeks later.<\/p>\n
Employment lost<\/p>\n
In his sentencing submission, defence solicitor Brendan Green said his client had suffered from “media attention and public humiliation in the local community”.<\/p>\n
“Since charges were laid, Mr Schmidt has been suspended from holding a licence to be a race horse trainer,” he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The victim’s impact statement was delivered in the Port Macquarie District Court on Thursday. (ABC Mid North Coast: Kerrin Thomas)<\/p>\n
“One might expect his employment in that industry going forward would be highly unlikely to be continued.”<\/p>\n
Crown prosecutor Kristy Mulley rejected claims that lost employment and media attention could amount to extra curial punishment.<\/p>\n
“There is no evidence of threats or having to move house and loss of employment should follow,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The fact that he is not around children in the racing industry or pony club is as it should be,” the Crown prosecutor said.Pregnancy heartbreak<\/p>\n
In sentencing Schmidt to a term of three years and four months in prison, with two years non-parole, District Court judge Roy Ellis categorised the offending.<\/p>\n
“In my view the offending falls within the mid-range of offending,” he said.<\/p>\n
Judge Ellis said apart from this offending, Schmidt had an “unblemished record”.<\/p>\n
He also referred to the girl’s pregnancy after the Crown said it occurred in an act of aggravation as she was sexually assaulted in her own home.<\/p>\n
The girl described the decision to travel to Newcastle to terminate her unborn child.<\/p>\n
“Ultimately I made the heartbreaking decision to terminate the pregnancy \u2014\u00a0a decision I carry with me every single day,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t get to be a mother on my own terms.”<\/p>\n
Due to time served, Schmidt will be eligible for parole in July 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New South Wales horse trainer has been sentenced to three years and four months in jail for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[64,63,110350,110351,110352,90648,85,110353],"class_list":["post-168495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-dwayne-schmidt","tag-horse-trainer-guilty-of-rape","tag-man-raped-and-impregnated-13yo-girl","tag-port-macquarie-district-court","tag-sports","tag-victim-impact-statement"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}