A 21-year-old who sexually assaulted two young girls at a Ballarat playground after asking if they had seen his lost dog has pleaded guilty.
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Fraser Shillington said it was 'like something in his brain switched and it wasn't me' when he saw the 10-year-old and 12-year-old and went over to sexually touch them.
Shillington was driving around the Soldiers Hill area about 5.30pm on March 17 when he saw the girls playing at a playground on the corner of Little Clyde Street and MacArthur Street.
He parked his car and walked past the girls at the Soldiers Hill park, then stopped, turned around and went back to the girls who were playing in the tunnel.
Shillington asked the girls if they had seen his lost dog, then sexually assaulted the two girls over their clothes.
He went back to his car and drove away and the girls left the park to tell their parents.
We have two young girls here whose parents are probably too scared to let them out of their sight after this.
- Magistrate Tim Walsh
CCTV footage from a nearby property showed Shillington walking along Little Clyde Street wearing a grey hoodie, jumper and face mask.
Police lawyer Paul Thomas said Shillington was arrested on March 30 and interviewed by police.
Shillington said he often went for drives to de-stress because he found it calming.
He said he had 'never thought like that before' and it was like looking like a third person when he touched the girls.
"I felt disgusted at what I had just done and was hoping it would never come back to bite me," Shillington told police.
Shillington has no prior criminal history and was not known to police before the incident.
He appeared at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court via audio link on Thursday for a plea hearing.
Defence barrister Richard Foley said Shillington had grown up in Ballarat and went to school at St Patrick's College.
He had worked at a fruit shop but had been unemployed since last year due to the pandemic and relied on his parents, who he lived with, for support.
Mr Foley said Shillington had lost a lot of friends in the Ballarat area due to the media publicity of his offending and he did not expect to be able to find work, with plans to move to Melbourne.
He said a doctor's report provided to the court indicated Shillington was possibly autistic.
The court heard Shillington had been seeing a psychologist and was undergoing rehabilitation, having completed four months on the Court Integrated Services Program.
Mr Foley submitted Shillington should be sentenced to a community corrections order to allow him to continue his rehabilitation, 'get on with his life' and get a job.
Mr Thomas said general and specific deterrence and denunciation were relevant sentencing considerations.
Magistrate Tim Walsh said he would have Shillington assessed for a community corrections order.
"We have two young girls here whose parents are probably too scared to let them out of their sight after this," he said.
Shillington will be placed on the sex offenders register for eight years.
His bail was extended and he will return to court next week for sentencing.
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