Clarence Valley News
Abuse Victim Speaks Out
Abuse Victim Speaks Out
By Tim Howard
A victim of twice convicted paedophile John William Hardy wants more victims to tell their stories to help them deal with their trauma and to ensure he stays in jail for the rest of his life.
Hardy, 71, was convicted in Adelaide earlier this year on charges of molesting five young boys on Kangaroo Island between 2002 and 2019. He was sentenced to 15 years jail, with a 12-year non-parole period.
In 1991 Hardy was jailed after he was found guilty of molesting at least 15 boys in Maclean.
One of those Maclean victims is James de Dassel. He was just seven years old when the abuse started.
Mr de Dassell, now in his 40s, runs a successful business and is a father of two young children.
He wants to make sure Hardy can never harm any more children, but he also wants victims to know the relief they can find through telling their stories.
“It’s important people in the Clarence Valley know that since Hardy was released from jail in the late 90s he has been abusing children again, this time on Kangaroo Island. And now he is in jail again,” Mr de Dassel said.
It emerged in evidence in the South Australian trial that Hardy may have abused at least 25 boys during his period in the Clarence Valley, but Mr de Dassel said it was likely to be many more.
“In my opinion the number of victims could be in the triple figures,” he said. “No-one knows for sure when he started abusing, and I know for a fact many of his victims have not come forward to tell their story.”
He said NSW Police were keen to hear from Hardy’s victims even though decades had elapsed since his NSW conviction.
“I know of three NSW victims who have given statements to police,” he said. “If he ever gets out of jail in South Australia, he will be arrested the same day and extradited to NSW to face more charges.
“He should never be out of jail again.”
Mr de Dassel has had his own mental health issues and has suffered from depression and anxiety.
“I have shared my story many times with close friends and family and have sought therapy form professional counsellors over many years. I think that has been really important for me, he said.”
The damage caused by Hardy goes deeper, as his older brother, Paul, was also abused by Hardy for many years.
After a long struggle to come to terms with his experiences, Paul de Dassel lost his life in a state of psychosis, devastating his tight-knit family.
While he’s determined to make sure Hardy remains behind bars, Mr de Dassel said he wanted victims to know the therapeutic value of telling their stories and getting the horror of their experience out into the open.
“I know there’s a stigma about being an abuse victim for many adult men ,” he said.
“There are a lot of people out there battling drug and alcohol addictions, mental health and depression or worse, taking their lives like my older brother.”
He said the act of speaking out was the first step in taking control of the trauma that stayed inside them.
“It’s always with you, it will never go away, but having someone listen to your story makes it real,” he said.
“It can be anyone. They don’t have to go public to the media. It can be a family member, a close friend, a police officer or a counsellor.”
He said it was important for victims to realise there was no shame in their experience, that the perpetrator was wholly responsible for what occurred.
“You’ve got it inside your head, going round and round and round,” he said.
“It affects your whole life, your work, your friends, relationships, intimacy.
“When you have someone listening to you tell those terrible things it’s like having someone share your burden.”
Mr de Dassel said Hardy came into his family’s life when they moved from Canberra to Maclean in 1982 to take over the BP Service Station and caravan park on the edge of town.
Hardy was a resident in the park and very quickly began to ingratiate himself into the family’s life.
“Dad had to stay in Canberra for a few months to finish off some building projects, so it was up to mum to run the business and look after 7 of her 8 children who were still at school,” he said.
“When John Hardy would come over offering to take a couple of the kids camping or fishing, it seemed like a godsend,” he said.
Hardy seemed the perfect neighbour. He was employed as a council ranger, was a member of Apex and had a truck and a boat.
“It was a perfect set up for him, he could take kids away camping or driving in his truck and it would have seemed ok,” Mr de Dassel said.
“He had his own boat so he could take kids out fishing. That was part of his grooming.”
Mr de Dassel was at a loss to know how parents could identify offenders like Hardy, who replicated his grooming behaviour when he settled in Kangaroo Island soon after he got out of jail in NSW.
“It’s a hard one. The kids that he was grooming and abusing were only 6, 7, 8 years of age; at that age we trust all adult figures as though they’re our own parents, and maybe what is happening has the approval of our own parents. At that age we see someone that is trusted by our parents as someone that we can find trustworthy.”
“I can’t tell you how many times I was abused, but it happened many many times over many years.”
Mr de Dassel said people needed to be aware paedophiles were more prevalent in the community than people suspected.
“Paedophiles are rampant in the community, it’s something rife in communities across the planet,” he said.
Mr de Dassel would be happy to see an online register of paedophiles so parents could check up on people who were spending time with their children.
“I don’t know how you spot them,” he said. “That’s their craft, to be able to operate in the community without drawing attention to themselves.”
But he warned the danger was more often close at hand.
“It’s not a stranger grabbing a kid and taking them away in a car,” he said. “Mostly it’s a family member or a friend of the family.”
But he said there was some positive signs as community attitudes change.
“Attitudes are changing, people are becoming more understanding of victims and encouraging abuse victims to tell their stories,” he said.
“More people are speaking out so they can get the therapy they need to help them get the quality of life they deserve.”
Note
Local coverage of the trial in 1991 of convicted paedophile John William Hardy, jailed after molesting at least 15 boys in the Lower Clarence during the 1980s. Hardy is in jail again after he was convicted of sexual assaults of five boys on Kangaroo Island, South Australia between 2002 and 2019.
To Read the story online Click here
To read Online, please click here
Police called to council meeting
By Tim Howard
A protester whose actions required police to intervene in the latest Clarence Valley Council meeting has vowed to ramp up community civil disobedience.
A prominent council critic, Craigh McNeill, began interjecting during debate at the council meeting last Thursday in Grafton, causing Mayor Ray Smith to adjourn the meeting while police were called to restore order.
The protest occurred when the first item of business on the agenda was called, a Mayoral Minute dealing with the performance review of the general manager, Laura Black, which recommended she receive a 2.5% pay rise.
The protesters began calling out, objecting to the recommendation in the Mayoral Minute and making claims about Ms Black’s performance since she became general manager in 2022.
Mr McNeill and two other protesters left the chambers escorted by police.
Mr McNeill is the administrator for a Facebook page called The Clarence Forum, on which he has posted many criticisms of the council and its staff.
After the protest, a video was posted on it of Mr McNeill and the two others talking to a police officer outside the council chambers.
The police said no charges had been laid and the protesters were allowed to leave after giving assurances they would not return to the meeting.
But Mr McNeill has promised the protests would continue and has written to Cr Smith warning that there would be a protest at the next council meeting calling for a “no confidence motion” in the general manager.
“As part of our preparations, I am completing a Notice of Intention to Hold a Public Assembly to ensure safety and minimise impacts on the surround area,” he wrote.
“Could you please advice on the number of supporters you would need to see in order to consider moving forward with a ‘no confidence motion’?”
In the post containing the video of his interaction with police, Mr McNeill
A Grafton police officer speaks with one of the protesters, Craigh McNeill, outside the Clarence Valley Council chambers in Grafton last Thursday, after polce were called to the chambers to deal with a disturbance during the meeting. The image has been taken from a video posted on social media by Mr McNeill.
“Today, I stood up at a Clarence Valley Council meeting to address serious concerns about misleading information being provided by Ms Black to councillors, the state government, and the public,” the post read.
“Instead of being heard, I was silenced. The police were called, and I was told that I had created ‘fear and alarm’.
“Is this what democracy looks like in our community?
“When we speak out against potential wrongdoing, are we to be met with intimidation and accusations of causing fear?
“It seems that questioning authority is now a threat to public order.”
Cr Smith said he was pleased Mr McNeill had decided to go through the proper channels of advising him and the police that he was organising a public assembly at the next council meeting.
But he disagreed completely with the substance of Mr McNeill’s criticism of the general manager.
“I would refute completely any claims of misconduct by the general manager,” he said.
“And I won’t be supporting his request for a vote of no confidence in the general manager.
“Only last Thursday I moved a mayoral minute which endorsed the performance of the general manager and recommended a pay increase for her.”
Cr Smith said the decision had been reached during confidential session, but confirmed the vote had been tight, 5-4 in favour of his Mayoral Minute.
He also confirmed that two of the four councillors on the performance review panel had voted against the pay rise for the general manager.
The panel consisted of Cr Smith, deputy mayor Cr Greg Clancy, Cr Cristie Yager and Cr Debrah Novak.
Cr Smith said the during the process of the performance review panel meeting, there had been a consensus on the performance of the general manager.
There had been discussion of the process of the performance review panel and to give it some “tweaks” to reduce generic content and add more specific, localised performance indicators.
On social media Cr Debrah Novak said the protesters achieved nothing and councillors “had another cup of tea” while police spoke to the them.
“The three people who sought their five seconds of FB fame achieved zero,” she wrote.
“The police were called not because they were protesting, not because they were yelling at us, but because they refused to leave the chamber so that the meeting could continue with the important business of the day.”
Once the councillors returned to the meeting, the Mayoral Minute was moved into confidential session, on a motion from Cr Greg Clancy.
But some uncertainty remains about the decision as both the recording of the meeting and the minutes of it have not been released.
Cr Smith said he understood there had been some technical issues with the recording, but the minutes would be available by Tuesday.
For more local news, click here.
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Winner’s work to grace Plunge booklets
By Tim Howard
Just in time for the launch of the 2025 Plunge Arts & Culture Festival, the winners of the 2025 InFocus photography competition have been released.
The timing is important as the major prize winning photograph appears on the cover of the 2025 Plunge program.
This year’s major winner in the Plunge category is local radio announcer Misty Fisher with her work entitled Jacaranda Sky.
The major prize winner of the 2025 InFocus photography competition is Misty Fisher’s work, Jacaranda Sky.
Judges described Jacaranda Sky as a contemporary composition of Jacaranda blossoms in vibrant colour.
In the community category Abigail Smith, pitched her work, the Woodford Island Crew to the judges.
The photo of Woodford Island Crew is a joyful image that celebrates canine contributions to our community.
Kathy Brown’s Little Dandahra Creek is a well executed concept that is a literal representation of ‘plunge’.
In the Landscape category Kathy Brown’s Little Dandahra Creek caught the eye of the judges.
They said Little Dandahra Creek is a well executed concept that is a literal representation of ‘plunge’.
The Environment category winner was Mitchell Forrester with The Milky Way, Cane Fire and McFarlane Bridge.
Mitchell Forrester’s The Milky Way, Cane Fire and McFarlane Bridge is a technically difficult and successfully executed scenic photograph.
Judges said The Milky Way, Cane Fire and McFarlane Bridge was a technically difficult and successfully executed scenic photograph.
In the People category Paisley Faith Padayachee’s In the Spotlight was the winner, described as quirky self-capture that is unique and interesting.
Five winners will each receive a $500 prize, and their images will be featured in the 2025 program.
Paisley Faith Padayachee’s In the Spotlight selfie took out the People section with its quirk subject matter.
Large-scale banners featuring the winning photographs will be on display in the courtyard of the Grafton Regional Gallery from Thursday, March 27 through the month of April.
Since the judging the photographs have been displayed at the gallery and other venues across the Valley.
The festival is the Clarence Valley’s premier month-long celebration of culture offering a smorgasbord of more than 120 events throughout April.
Abigail Smith’s photo Woodford Island Crew is a joyful image that celebrates canine contributions to our community
The free, 84-page program gives locals and visitors everything they need to know to ‘plunge’ head-first into arts and culture.
Printed copies are available at council offices, libraries, galleries and a range of arts and cultural businesses.
For more local news, click here.
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