One of WA’s worst serial paedophiles, Dennis McKenna, will be free within weeks, despite today being declared a High Risk Serious Offender (HRSO) by the WA Supreme Court.
That decision could have made him subject to a continuing detention order, meaning he could have been locked up indefinitely.
But prosecutors did not seek the order, much to the dismay of McKenna’s victims and their advocates.
Instead he will be released back into the community, subject to more than 40 conditions.
In his decision, Justice Marcus Solomon said if the court declared him an HRSO, “then on the basis of the evidence, the appropriate restriction order is a supervision order with strict conditions”.
McKenna is currently behind bars for the second time for sexually abusing boys while he was in charge of a school boarding hostel in Katanning in the 1970s and 80s.
Justice Solomon said McKenna’s presence in the community carried the potential to re-traumatise victims, but that did not mean he could be locked up indefinitely.
“The re-traumatisation of victims is not of itself the commission of an offence,” he said.
“Therefore, the prospect of that happening — as appalling as it is — is not a matter that empowers the court to continue the detention of an offender under the HRSO Act.
“However, it is a factor that can be taken into account during the crafting of the conditions.”
Prosecutors had applied to have McKenna declared a High Risk Serious Offender, so that he would face restrictions in the community upon his release.
Without the order, McKenna would have completed his sentence and been released back into the community unsupervised.
Justice Solomon said he was satisfied that McKenna posed an unacceptable risk of reoffending in the absence of any restrictions.
“The risk is unacceptable because of the possibility that the respondent will commit serious sexual offences against male children if no supervision conditions are in place,”
he said.
“The evidence demonstrates that, notwithstanding his age and the professional assessment of the low likelihood of his offending, the respondent has both sufficient capacity and propensity to commit such an offence, and without supervision, that remains an intolerable possibility.”
Risk assessment
McKenna will be subject to 41 conditions as part of the order, which will severely restrict his ability to move freely around.
The conditions include being banned from having contact with any of his 29 victims, children, attending parks with playgrounds, and having to report any relationships to corrective services officers.
He will also be banned from the town of Katanning.
Dozens of boys were sexually abused at the hostel in Katanning. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)
In his decision, Justice Solomon said the court’s job was to make an assessment of risk to the community, not punishment due to the offender.
“It should therefore be appreciated that this application has a necessarily narrow focus … judges cannot permit glare of public interest, intensity of media chatter or their own indignation to distract them into commentary on politically or socially contentious matters,” he said.
“When judges do so, they … diminish confidence … and undermine the administration of justice.”
‘Mental torment’
Kaye Anderson’s two sons were abused by McKenna, and both died by suicide.
She was disappointed the state prosecutor did not consider requesting for McKenna to be locked up indefinitely.
She said life was “mental torment, day in, day out”.
Kaye Anderson was disappointed with the news of McKenna’s impending release, and wants him locked up indefinitely. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)
“I mean it just doesn’t go away — and I don’t think the justice system has realised how bad his offending was and he should never, ever be released,” Ms Anderson said.
But she has vowed not to give up at the prospect of one day having McKenna behind bars again.
“Don’t worry, I’m not giving up. I’ve still got life in me,” she said.
Katanning whistleblower and victims’ advocate Maggie Dawkins said there was “very credible evidence” McKenna had offended when he was last released into the community in the 2000s.
Maggie Dawkins spoke outside court. (ABC News: Jake Sturmer)
She urged any victims to come forward to police.
History of sexual abuse
McKenna abused students in the 1970s and 80s while he was the warden at St Andrew’s Hostel, a boarding lodge in the town of Katanning, 290 kilometres south-east of Perth.
McKenna’s brazen abuse of hostel students was revealed over the course of four separate court cases between 1991 and 2015.
He was jailed in 1991 but released after a year and 10 months on parole.
Police laid further charges in the late 2000s, and he has been in jail since 2011, serving a 15-and-a-half year term.
Source: www.abc.net.au
