{"id":522830,"date":"2026-03-06T16:22:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/522830\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T16:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:22:17","slug":"oam-recipient-geoff-guest-sentenced-to-12-years-jail-for-child-sexual-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/522830\/","title":{"rendered":"OAM recipient Geoff Guest sentenced to 12 years’ jail for child sexual abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 99-year-old founder of a former North Queensland youth camp has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars for the “persistent” sexual abuse of a boy half a century ago.<\/p>\n

Geoffrey John Guest committed the sexual assaults over a period of about 20 months in the mid-1970s, the District Court in Cairns heard.<\/p>\n

WARNING: This story contains details of child sexual abuse<\/p>\n

Sexual assault\u00a0support lines:<\/p>\n

The victim, who cannot be identified, told the court Guest was a “monster and predator” whose crimes had greatly affected his health and ability to maintain stable housing and work.<\/p>\n

“It is something I can never get out of my head,” the man said in a statement, read to the court on Friday by Crown Prosecutor Nicole Friedewald before the sentence was handed down.<\/p>\n

Now in his 60s, the victim said the abuse made it hard for him to maintain healthy relationships with partners, friends and relatives, “because people ask why I am so angry all the time”.<\/p>\n

“The trauma made me feel so angry and I feel a lot of shame because of what he has done to me.”<\/p>\n

Guest pleaded not guilty to four counts of indecent treatment of a child under 16, one count of unlawful carnal knowledge, and one count of repeated sexual conduct against a child with a circumstance of aggravation.<\/p>\n

The latter charge carried a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.<\/p>\n

\"an<\/p>\n

Supporters surrounded Geoffrey Guest as he attended court for his first trial in July 2025. (ABC Far North: Holly Richardson)<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a jury returned majority guilty verdicts<\/a>, where 11 of 12 jurors agreed, on all charges after about nine hours of deliberations at the end of a week-long trial.<\/p>\n

In sentencing on Friday Judge Tracy Fantin ordered Guest serve at least four years before being eligible for parole, in March 2030.<\/p>\n

‘Long journey’ for justice<\/p>\n

The court heard the pair was alone and isolated on the remote North Queensland property where the abuse took place.<\/p>\n

As a teenager, he was told by Guest the sexual acts were “what men did”.<\/p>\n

“My understanding of how healthy male and female relationships work has been problematic for me,” the victim’s statement read..<\/p>\n

“I didn’t know what was normal.”<\/p>\n

The man first disclosed the abuse in 2009 after watching an episode of television current affairs program 60 Minutes focused on Guest’s work with young people.<\/p>\n

He told the court he turned to alcohol to cope and continued to have nightmares and “intrusive memories”.<\/p>\n

“I still see [Guest] all the time in my head; he is always there.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Supporters of Geoff Guest embrace outside the Cairns courthouse after the 99-year-old’s sentencing. (ABC News: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

While the man made a statement to police in 2012, police did not act for a decade until a different detective took over the investigation.<\/p>\n

“During the last two decades, I have had to tell and expose my trauma to so many people police, counsellors [and] the court,” the victimsaid in his statement.<\/p>\n

“Thirteen years ago, my statement was left at Mareeba police [station] while I anxiously waited for my case to be heard.<\/p>\n

“It has been an extremely long journey.”<\/p>\n

Guest showed no remorse<\/p>\n

Judge Fantin said the sexual abuse was “persistent”, only stopping during “extremely short” periods when others were present at the property.<\/p>\n

“There was a significant power imbalance between you,” Judge Fantin said.<\/p>\n

Judge Fantin said Guest used physical violence, including hitting the victim with a leather strap, which made the boy submit to the sexual abuse “out of fear”.<\/p>\n

“It is an understatement to say this offending has had a profoundly adverse impact on his entire life,” she said.\"people<\/p>\n

Guest (centre) pictured with a supporter in late February outside court. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)<\/p>\n

Judge Fantin said there was “a need to take into account the prospect [Guest] may not live to be released”.<\/p>\n

However, his was “a case of sexual offending against a child of the most serious kind”.<\/p>\n

Guest was in “remarkable” heath, despite his advanced age, Judge Fantin said.<\/p>\n

At trial, Guest denied the offending and accused the complainant and other prosecution witnesses of lying.<\/p>\n

Honours may be stripped<\/p>\n

Ms Friedewald said Guest’s acts were not charged as rapes because that was not an option available under the law of the time.<\/p>\n

Guest’s barrister Kelly Goodwin said his client was removed from his Aboriginal mother as a child and served with the Merchant Navy in World War II.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Crown Prosecutor Nicole Friedewald leaves Cairns courthouse on Thursday after Guest was found guilty of child sexual abuse. (ABC News: Brendan Mounter)<\/p>\n

Guest was awarded an OAM in 1995 for service to the community, particularly disadvantaged youth, a Centenary Medal in 2001, and an International Rotary Medal.<\/p>\n

He founded the Petford Training Farm in 1978 and, after its closure in 1999, continued his work through a charity called the Petford Wellness Association until about six months ago.<\/p>\n

Tablelands Sexual Assault Service said the sentence was an “incredibly significant outcome” for the victim-survivor.<\/p>\n

“We \u2026 strongly encourage anyone who is impacted by this to please come forward to access support.”<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, said Mr Gorman “has already requested the process for cancellation of the Order of Australia Medal begin”.<\/p>\n

“This news is deeply distressing and the government’s thoughts are with the victim survivor of these disgusting crimes,” she said.<\/p>\n

“The Assistant Minister has also requested advice from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on cancellation of the Centenary Medal that was awarded during the Howard Government.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 99-year-old founder of a former North Queensland youth camp has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,31801,259840,252180,252183,259843,44,259842,260566],"class_list":["post-522830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-far-north-queensland","tag-geoff-guest","tag-geoffrey-john-guest","tag-judge-tracy-fantin","tag-kelly-goodwin","tag-news","tag-nicole-friedewald","tag-tracy-fantin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522830","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=522830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}