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Fresh abuse claim rocks paedophile's release bid
A newly discovered police complaint from 2004 or 2005 emerges weeks before a court decides whether to free serial offender Dennis McKenna after 15 years in prison.
In brief
A newly discovered police complaint from 2004 or 2005 emerges weeks before a court decides whether to free serial offender Dennis McKenna after 15 years in prison. A fresh abuse allegation against serial paedophile Dennis McKenna has emerged weeks before a court decides whether to release him after serving more than…
Serial abuser faces release decision
Dennis McKenna, a serial paedophile who abused dozens of teenage boys in the nineteen seventies and eighties while warden at St Andrew's Hostel in Katanning, two hundred ninety kilometres south-east of Perth, is weeks away…
How McKenna controlled his victims
McKenna used a combination of favouritism, intimidation and threats to abuse teenage boys under a veil of secrecy at the hostel.
New complaint surfaces weeks before ruling
A freshly unearthed allegation has emerged just weeks before Justice Marcus Solomon decides McKenna's fate.
Complaint was never disclosed to court
McKenna was not charged in relation to the two thousand four or two thousand five complaint, meaning it was not disclosed or taken into account in the proceedings.
“We know that this man went to the police and made a police complaint. There is an incident number.”
Expert testimony ignored the gap
Forensic psychiatrist Peter Wynn Owen testified that McKenna posed low reoffending risk, citing his advanced age and lack of offending between his nineteen ninety-one and two thousand eleven jail sentences.
McKenna denies all post-1981 offending
Dr Wynn Owen said McKenna continued to categorically deny any offending after nineteen eighty-one, attributing blame to victims and suggesting they instigated aspects of the offending.He held distorted views that minimised or justified his behaviour.
“If an individual is denying offending, it suggests they are not going to be able to engage with treatment.”
Court weighs indefinite detention or restrictions
Justice Solomon is deciding whether to declare McKenna a high-risk serious offender.Prosecutors seek either a continuing detention order, meaning lifelong imprisonment, or tough restrictions on where he can go and who he can socialise with.
Decision due before sentence expires
Justice Solomon's decision is due to be handed down in November, weeks before McKenna's sentence expires later this year. Attorney-General Tony Buti confirmed the State Solicitor's Office is considering the newly unearthed complaint.
The short version
A fresh abuse allegation against serial paedophile Dennis McKenna has emerged weeks before a court decides whether to release him after serving more than fifteen years, potentially affecting the decision.
