On April 21 last year, the defendant was looking after the victim before taking her to school.
The two were playing a game of “show and tell” and the girl had shown the defendant a book.
When it was his turn to show, he pulled down his pants and exposed himself to her in hopes she would do the same.
The child warned him her mother would be very angry when she found out.
When confronted, the man admitted to the offending and he had hoped the girl would expose herself, too.
He later confessed he might have proceeded further if the victim had not objected.
A pre-sentence report said the defendant was at moderate risk of reoffending, and a moderate-to-high risk of causing harm to others.
Judge Harvey’s written reasons for the sentence he imposed detailed the man’s background and distorted sexual impulses.
When the man was between 10 and 11, he attempted to seduce a girl with Down syndrome into sexual behaviour.
At about the same time, the defendant confessed he had been sexually abusing his half-sister for two months.
While attending a specialist sex-offender programme, the man “had a few relapses with younger children” and “did lots of exposing [himself] to others”, the judge’s decision read.
No charges were laid in relation to those incidents.
The defendant told a psychologist the victim had made it difficult for him to control his warped sexual desires.
“She was aged 5.
“I am concerned that you were unable to control your urges when a little girl was simply acting her age,” the judge said.
The psychologist diagnosed him with having a paedophilic disorder.
The pre-sentence report did not support the man serving his sentence in a home with two young girls.
Despite this, the father of the girls spoke in support of the defendant living there.
He said the defendant had “an insanely traumatic background story” and had little support from others.
He had helped the man through a sexual rehabilitation programme and wanted him to be in a caring, safe environment to continue his progress.
“It is clear that the ... family know all about your past and they are aware of the facts surrounding this current offending.
“Despite that, they are confident that you can safely live at the house and not pose any danger to their daughters,” Judge Harvey said.
“It would not be appropriate for me to send you to prison ... given your background, given the abuse that you have suffered and given the rehabilitative work that is being undertaken.”
The judge added him to the child sex offender register.
