Within weeks, McGovern had progressed from lingering hugs to serious sexual abuse, including unprotected sex.<\/p>\n
When the child was released from the facility, the abuse continued, including during twice-weekly mental health therapy sessions at the local CAMHS office and at the victim’s school.<\/p>\n
When the victim’s father became suspicious, McGovern resigned from his position and left the country for eight months.<\/p>\n
On his return, he reconnected with the victim and continued to abuse her until shortly after her 16th birthday.<\/p>\n
System ‘failed’ victim<\/p>\n
In an impact statement provided to the court, the victim said the “prolonged period of grooming and sexual abuse fundamentally altered the course of my life”.<\/p>\n
“The system specifically designed to support people like me failed me,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The person who was trusted to care for me by my family, community and, most of all me, wronged me viciously.”<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/84795246dcea450493f976602a321736.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Adam Simon McGovern outside court in 2023. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
District Court Judge Seamus Rafferty SC described the offending, and the “significant grooming” that preceded it, as “extremely serious”.<\/p>\n
“There is a real need to protect the community from you, specifically pubescent women,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Nothing short of imprisonment would properly reflect the seriousness of what you did and the profound and ongoing harm that has been caused to [the victim].<\/p>\n
“You hurt her. She is still hurt. And you are responsible for that. No-one else, you. You are to be punished for that.”<\/p>\n
The court sentenced McGovern to 11 years in prison, backdated to his arrest on January 18, 2026, and made a lifetime violence restraining order in favour of the victim.<\/p>\n
Filming a ‘violation’ of safety<\/p>\n
On Friday, the court heard McGovern recorded 15 videos in a two-month period in 2022, featuring dozens of young women and children.<\/p>\n
![\"Exterior](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/c102f75a2929cfef4802d3f31e3b596a.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Adam Simon McGovern was sentenced in the Perth District Court. (ABC News: Jack Stevenson)<\/p>\n
One video was filmed up the dress of a little girl, who the state estimated to be no more than six years old.<\/p>\n
McGovern filmed up the skirts of unknowing schoolgirls, following them all the way to school on several occasions.<\/p>\n
McGovern’s lawyer, Anthony Elliott, argued that prior to his client’s offending, he appeared to be “an outstanding member of the community”.<\/p>\n
“Apart from these two blemishes \u2026 these significant blemishes,” Mr Elliott told the court.<\/p>\n
He also said that his client’s motivation was not sexual, but rather artistic.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Mimi Yeung told the court McGovern’s offending was cowardly, premeditated and predatory.<\/p>\n
![\"Mimi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b5f5b8750de11bf09ac6d1154bbae7d5.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Mimi Yeung told the court the state did not accept there any remorse from Adam McGovern. (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n
“Clearly, in this case \u2026 there was sexual interest in children,” Ms Yeung said.<\/p>\n
“The nature of this offending meant that these unsuspecting victims has no way of protecting themselves.<\/p>\n
“The state doesn’t accept that there is remorse.”<\/p>\n
Judge Wendy Gillan rejected Mr Elliott’s submissions when sentencing McGovern to a further 18 months on top of his 11-year jail term.<\/p>\n
“Your actions were surreptitious and covert \u2026 I do not accept, nor does the jury, that your motivations were of artistic purpose,” she told McGovern.<\/p>\n
Judge Gillan said McGovern’s serious offending not only left his victims “violated” but also had a wider impact on the public.<\/p>\n
“The knowledge that these types of videos were taken by you \u2026 does undermine a sense of safety that women have when going about their ordinary business,” she said.<\/p>\n
“I can only hope when you’ve served your sentence you can continue to contribute to the community rather than taking away from its safety.”<\/p>\n
McGovern will be eligible for parole in late 2035.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former mental health nurse jailed for the persistent sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl has had a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,297852,48,106133,297853,44,42289,6671,12628,297854,241975,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-613512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-camhs","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-grooming","13":"tag-mental-health-nurse","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-perth-district-court","16":"tag-sexual-assault","17":"tag-teenager","18":"tag-teenager-mental-health","19":"tag-upskirting","20":"tag-wa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613512","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=613512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}