{"id":681235,"date":"2026-05-19T17:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/681235\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T17:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T17:37:15","slug":"massage-therapist-cameron-petrie-pleads-guilty-to-raping-sunshine-coast-mother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/681235\/","title":{"rendered":"Massage therapist Cameron Petrie pleads guilty to raping Sunshine Coast mother"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunshine Coast mother of four Caroline Clarke says being raped and sexually assaulted during a massage has irreversibly changed her life.<\/p>\n

WARNING: This story contains information that may be distressing to some readers<\/p>\n

Ms Clarke told the ABC that since the rape she struggled with intimacy, hyper-vigilance, anxiety, motherhood, and trust.<\/p>\n

“The sensation of what he did to me does not disappear no matter how many times you scrub yourself in the shower,” she said.<\/p>\n

Sexual assault support services:<\/p>\n

“Even just describing it, it’s degrading, it’s humiliating to even utter the words of what he did.”<\/p>\n

Cameron Michael Petrie from Sunshine Beach was sentenced in Maroochydore District Court on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Ms Clarke was supported by police, friends, and her immediate family in court.<\/p>\n

The statement of facts was tendered and agreed upon by defence and the complainant.<\/p>\n

\"Outside<\/p>\n

Petrie was sentenced at Maroochydore’s District Court. (ABC Sunshine Coast: Jessica Ross)<\/p>\n

On November 13, 2024, Ms Clarke was digitally raped and sexually assaulted by a Sunshine Beach massage therapist.<\/p>\n

It was her fourth session with him after being referred by a friend.<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Alex Stark told the court Petrie digitally raped and sexually assaulted his client while she was naked on the massage table, with her genitals covered by a sarong.<\/p>\n

The court heard Petrie eventually stopped and told Ms Clarke, “I’m sorry my bad I’ve crossed your boundaries”.<\/p>\n

She then confronted him afterwards and asked, “Is this what you do to all of the women?”<\/p>\n

Petrie then told Ms Clarke, “No” but that he, “Had a crush on her”.<\/p>\n

The court heard that in a pre-recorded police confessional phone call from 2024, Petrie admitted to the rape and apologised for his actions.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Caroline Clarke says she is speaking up to encourage other victims to do the same. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

On December 7, 2024, police executed a search warrant of his home, and he was arrested and later charged with rape and aggravated sexual assault.<\/p>\n

He had been working as a massage therapist for 15 years.<\/p>\n

As Ms Clarke read her victim impact statement in court; Petrie sat in the dock, head bowed, occasionally looking back at his family.<\/p>\n

“I had gone seeking relief from pain, trusting completely in the space that I was in,” Ms Clarke said.<\/p>\n

“In that split second, I froze. Shock and pain flooded my body.<\/p>\n

“I was screaming so loudly on the inside but couldn’t understand why no sound physically left my mouth.<\/p>\n

“What was taken from me that day was my dignity, my humanity, my intimate privacy, my ability to trust, and my sense of safety.”<\/p>\n

The court heard Petrie entered a guilty plea last week, almost 18 months after he was charged.<\/p>\n

Gavin Webber, Petrie’s barrister, said his client was “apologetic and remorseful”.<\/p>\n

“The seriousness of this offending is not lost on Mr Petrie,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Natalie Carey supported her friend Caroline Clarke in court.\u00a0 (ABC News: Madeline Grace)<\/p>\n

A letter of apology was tendered in court.<\/p>\n

Mr Webber attributed his client’s offending to his “dysfunctional childhood”, substance abuse, ADHD symptoms and said he was reportedly sexually assaulted as a child.<\/p>\n

‘Silence is not consent’<\/p>\n

Ms Clarke told the ABC the defence had previously offered a guilty plea if she downgraded the charge from rape to sexual assault.<\/p>\n

“He was never going to rob me of my voice right through to the very end of this case,” she said.<\/p>\n

In Queensland, victims of sexual crimes usually remain anonymous, but Ms Clarke opted to be identified to encourage women to find their voice and report sexual assault and rape.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Caroline Clarke was disappointed by Petrie’s sentencing.\u00a0 (ABC News: Madeline Grace)<\/p>\n

“I want other women to know that when you freeze in a moment where you’re petrified \u2026. silence is not consent,” Ms Clarke said.<\/p>\n

“When your body freezes, it’s a survival mechanism, it’s biology.”<\/p>\n

Judge Michael Williamson sentenced Petrie to two and a half years imprisonment, suspended after eight months.<\/p>\n

He told the court usually the head sentence would be suspended after a third had been served but it had been reduced by two months because Petrie had been in therapy, stopped substance abuse, shown remorse, had a low risk of reoffending, lost his massage business and suffered humiliation.<\/p>\n

Judge Williamson also said the offending was “out of character” based on character references submitted by family, friends and an employer referring to him as a “hard working individual”.<\/p>\n

“You are indeed remorseful for your offending,” he told Petrie in court.<\/p>\n

Outside of court, Ms Clarke said she was disappointed by the sentence.<\/p>\n

“The guilty plea came at the very last minute,” she said.<\/p>\n

“If there was genuine remorse, that would have come when we got that [prerecorded confession with police] call\u2026not 18 months later.<\/p>\n

“No one should ask us to lower a charge to make it easier on their side.”<\/p>\n

A conviction was recorded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunshine Coast mother of four Caroline Clarke says being raped and sexually assaulted during a massage has irreversibly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[73496,43,328505,39007,190053,44,1158,13396,6671,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-681235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-district-court","tag-headlines","tag-maroochydore-court","tag-massage","tag-massage-therapist","tag-news","tag-police","tag-rape","tag-sexual-assault","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681235","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=681235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}