Court finds serial paedophile who volunteered at Knights games must be supervised

THE state government has again requested extra supervision for a serial paedophile who abused a boy at a Newcastle State Emergency Service function years after being released from a 12-year sentence for assaulting 10 boys.

Jeffrey Wayne Davie, who grew up in Newcastle, has spent the majority of his adult life behind bars for a series of offences, including sexually assaulting boys aged between four and 16, accessing child pornography, failing to comply with a supervision order after being released from jail and assault.

The 57-year-old was released from jail in February last year under strict supervision, but the order was due to lapse this month, prompting an application by the State of NSW in the NSW Supreme Court for an extended supervision order.

The court heard Davie, who objected to the extended supervision, underwent two psychiatric assessments, and both doctors placed him in the "well above average risk category" to reoffend.

Davie said during one assessment that he believed children had the capacity to consent and that he did not present a risk to the community.

He told the psychiatrist that he could cope with being back in the community unsupervised as he would stop "think[ing] sexual" about children.

Davie is a serial paedophile who volunteered to clean the toilets at Newcastle Knights' home games despite being banned from having contact with children.

His horrific criminal record dates back to his teens when he handcuffed a boy to a fence and sexually assaulted him, the NSW Supreme Court heard at a hearing last month.

He went on to sexually assault 10 boys between 1985 and 1992 before he was arrested when he submitted a photo film to be developed at a shop that depicted him carrying out some of the attacks.

Davie met the children when he volunteered for the Scouts, Australian Air Force Cadets and church groups.

He was jailed for 12 years for those offences before being released and moving to Beresfield. He then became a volunteer toilet cleaner at Newcastle Knights' home games.

Davie was at an SES function in May 2005 when he lured a boy into a toilet and performed a series of sex acts on him.

He has always maintained his innocence despite the boy reporting the matter immediately and Davie's saliva being detected on the child's underwear.

He received a further 10 years' jail in Newcastle District Court, before he was released and convicted again in 2017 for possessing child pornography. At the time, he was taking medication to reduce his sex drive.

The court heard that Davie admitted to befriending parents to gain access to his victims, that he now refused to take medication to reduce his sex drive due to side effects and had declined referrals to a "high intensity sex offender program".

Due to his long time in jail, Davie's "circle of friends, associates and peers was limited and comprised largely of other sex offenders".

Justice Paul McGuire found that without continued supervision, Davie "poses an unacceptable risk" of committing further serious sex offences.

Davie was placed on an extended supervision order for two years, which includes an electronic monitoring device, reporting and no contact with children

"The defendant's suggestion that he simply needs to stop "think[ing] sexual" about children does not give the court any comfort about his ability to self-regulate," Justice McGuire said.