A teenager has delivered a powerful victim impact statement, describing the ongoing trauma she lives with as a result of the offending of Brett Daniel Allford.
The former cricket and football umpire, 42, previously pleaded guilty to charges including using a carriage service to solicit child abuse material and possessing or controlling child abuse material between January and October 2022.
South Australia’s District Court heard she felt “trapped, scared, exhausted”, had issues with relationships, and felt she had been manipulated by the defendant.
“Sometimes I see his face when I’m with other people,” she told the court via video link.
“Some days I wake up and I see myself in the mirror and I feel disgusted with myself — I feel used and dirty.
“I am ashamed to be called a victim — I hate the word victim, the stereotype is that a victim is a weak person and that is the last thing I want to see myself as … I am not a weak person.”
She said she struggled with depression and anxiety.
“I am angry that I’m in my second year of high school and these are the problems I’m dealing with,” she said.
“It’s not fair this was two years ago, and I’m still dealing with the impacts and I most likely will be for a long time.”
Prosecutors described the offending as “extremely serious” and said there were up to ten victims aged between 11 and 16.
Allford, of Edwardstown, had worked for both the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) and the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).
District Court Judge Paul Muscat told the court Allford was at “extreme risk of re-offending”.
“The defendant, through his behaviour has demonstrated that he is a paedophile and his prospects of rehabilitation are low, and I consider that he would be a risk to the community of offending like this again on his release from prison in due course, however long that might be,” Judge Muscat said.
The judge said Allford had preyed on vulnerable children in a premeditated manner, manipulating them with gifts and money, and was a repeat offender.
“The defendant was a registered child sex offender and plainly failed to comply with his obligations,” the judge said.
“Within a year of his [previous] prison sentence ending, he has involved himself in identical online predatory sexual offending so, there really isn’t a lot that can be put on behalf of the defendant.”
The defence lawyer for Allford asked the judge to consider his guilty pleas and that the previous imprisonment period for similar offending was not long enough for him to take part in a rehabilitation program.
“He could have voluntarily sought counselling and treatment … he chose not to,” the judge said.
“I don’t place any weight on that submission — he clearly had strong sexual urges and attraction to children, he knew that, and he did nothing about it.”
Allford wept and wiped away tears during the hearing.
He will be sentenced next month.
