Child sex offender who attacked 14yo girl claims sentence was ‘manifestly excessive’, judge destroys ‘misguided’ argument

Child sex offender who attacked 14yo girl claims sentence was ‘manifestly excessive’, judge destroys ‘misguided’ argument

A man who sexually penetrated a 14-year-old girl with one of his footy mates claimed in court that his jail term is too long. A judge ripped him to shreds.

The maximum sentence for the crime of sexual penetration of a child in Victoria is 15 years imprisonment.

But Jaiden Fidge, a convicted child sex offender who was jailed for just under five years for that crime after he lured a 14-year-old girl into the dark at a party, says his term is “manifestly excessive”.

The 24-year-old was sent away for four years and nine months in March this year after pleading guilty to the attack on the Year 8 student at a party on Victoria’s Surf Coast in 2024.

The Toowoomba-based man was in Victoria in February 2024 when he and his co-offender, 26-year-old Riley Smith, sexually assaulted the girl after she told them she was only 14.

The Victorian County Court previously heard that Fidge penetrated the girl from behind while “at the same time” Smith “put his penis in the victim’s mouth”.

Once done, the men went back to the party, where they boasted to others.

Jaiden Fidge at his high school formal.

Jaiden Fidge also played for the Ipswich Eagles.
“You, Mr Fidge, boasted to other members of the party that you and Mr Smith had ‘put the victim on a spit’. You made the same comment again at a later point,” Judge Gerard Mullaly told him.

“These were the words that described the victim as an object with little or no value other than the joint depraved sexual gratification of you and the co-accused.”

Fidge was back in court this week to appeal his sentence on the grounds that an “aggravating feature” of the crime — that the two offenders planned or decided to jointly violate the victim — “was neither alleged or otherwise proven”.

Court of Appeal Justice Kristen Walker, in her judgment published on Tuesday, referred to the sentencing judge’s remarks that it was “self-evident”.

“Self-evidently, the fact that you both sexually penetrated the victim at the same time, significantly elevates the seriousness of this offending,” the judgment reads.

“Plainly you had, even if just a little earlier, planned or decided you would both violate her concurrently; that was your aim.

“While as I noted earlier, this crime can be committed in a variety of ways and in a variety of circumstances, it is rare that a child is violated simultaneously by two men.”

Riley Smith (left) and Jaiden Fidge (right) simultaneously attacked the 14-year-old girl after being told her age.
Fidge’s lawyers also appealed on the grounds that the sentencing judge had failed to apply the principle of parity between the co-offenders and that his sentence was manifestly excessive — including the non-parole period of just three years.

Justice Walker said the claim about parity “is hopeless”.

“The judge plainly had regard to the question of parity,” she wrote.

“This argument is entirely misguided in circumstances where the judge applied the principle of parity by imposing on the two co-offenders exactly the same sentence for their joint offending.”

She said the proposition that the jail term Fidge was given is manifestly excessive is “unsustainable”.

“There can be no doubt the applicant’s offending was extremely serious in nature,” Justice Walker wrote.

“He lured a 14-year-old child to an isolated area, away from others. He knew how old she was, but he nonetheless initiated sexual contact and persisted after Smith approached and removed the victim’s lower clothing.

“He then penetrated her vagina with his penis, without wearing a condom. He was also aware that, at the same time, Smith penetrated her mouth with his penis.

“Indeed, after the event, he boasted to others on two occasions that he and Smith had ‘put [the victim] on the spit’.

Jaiden Fidge appealed his sentence, but the Court of Appeal judge tossed it out.
“It may be accepted that the penetration was of short duration and did not involve violence beyond the act of penetration itself. But that does not significantly mitigate its seriousness.”

She said that “none of the grounds the applicant seeks to advance on his application for leave to appeal have any prospects of success”.

News.com.au previously reported that Fidge, an Australian Rules football player with the University Cougars in the Queensland-based Darling Downs competition, was awarded the 2025 medal for the league’s Best and Fairest player.

AFL Queensland initially said it would not revoke the medal, despite the fact that Fidge was playing while awaiting trial for a serious crime allegedly perpetrated against a child.

They changed their mind in July this year.

News.com.au also previously reported that a character reference from a staff member at AFL Queensland was provided for Fidge before his sentencing earlier this year.

The staff member, Jana Anderson, wrote that Fidge “consistently demonstrated strong leadership and professionalism”, noting that he was “recognised as the League Senior Men’s Best and Fairest winner in 2025” and that “umpiring feedback regarding Jaiden has been consistently positive”.