The prosecutor, in this case, was so moved by the events that he or she broke down during testimony, but despite one hundred and forty-one charges, the babysitter has only been sentenced to eighteen years in Western Australia. Jareth Thomas Harries-Markham, who is 24 years old, will only spend 16 years in prison even though he raped an eight-month-old baby and sexually abused at least 15 other girls. He told the judge that he “loved” all of his underage victims.
Harries-Markham worked as a live-in nanny, which gave him unrestricted access to small children that he subsequently abuse again and again. Despite telling a court psychiatrist that he had “no memory” of the sexual crimes he committed and didn’t understand why he was called to abuse children, the court sentenced him to less than twenty years in prison.
The pedophile’s lawyer, Amir Murad, claimed that his client “loved these children” and only desired to be as close to them as possible.
“He did become attached to them,” Murad said in court. “It was never his intention to cause them distress in the way he did or in any other way, and he simply cannot reconcile what he has done with how he feels about the children.”
Although the criminal has “no memory” of his misdeeds, Prosecutor Brett Tooker broke down and needed to pause during his statement in order to collect himself after hearing details of the offenses. The veteran prosecutor clearly showed that the child predator had committed some horrendous crimes, based on how he was barely able to contain himself while dealing with the courtroom drama.
Not only did the criminal abuse little girls between July 2020 and August 2021, but he also recorded videos and photographs of his crimes. The ages of his victims spanned from eight months to nine years.
Harries-Markham was only a babysitter for some of the children he abused, yet he also got access to additional youngsters through playdates at the homes where he worked. He would abuse the youngsters who came to his house while he worked and during playdates with the other youngsters.
The families of several of the victims were in court to hear how the legal system would punish the child molester.
The victim impact statements were heard by Justice Stephen Hall, who still sentenced the sex predator to just eighteen years in prison. Hall said that the parents of the victims felt betrayed by the babysitter, who was supposed to be trustworthy childcare professional. Only an “overwhelming feeling of guilt” was left in the parents’ hearts after their children had come into contact with the predator.
Two websites were used by the sex criminal to sell his childcare services. He was hired as a live-in babysitter for the victim’s families on one of the sites. “Helping bring up kids to be the best that they can be,” he advertised himself on another website.
“Harries-Markham pleaded guilty to 141 charges, including ten counts of sexually penetrating a child under 13, 35 counts of indecent dealing with a child, and 94 counts of indecently recording a child,” report a news outlet.
