Ex-partner of Albany paedophile Michael Robert Carroll slams ‘light’ sentence for sex crimes against two girls

The former partner of a paedophile who was sexually assaulting children in their home says she is shocked by the sentence he received after he was convicted of a string of child sex crimes and made eligible for parole by Christmas next year. Albany paedophile Michael Robert Carroll was sentenced to four years and three months behind bars in Albany District Court this morning, but he could walk free in late 2022. His sentence was backdated to August 21 last year when he was arrested in Leonora after sparking a Statewide manhunt by skipping out on his trial in Albany. The 47-year-old pleaded guilty to that breach of bail this morning, with Judge Christopher Stevenson noting the manhunt had cost “the court and the community and the taxpayer”. He will be eligible for parole in November next year after serving 27 months of his sentence. “I'm shocked by how light the sentence is,” his former partner said. “I was expecting him to get 10 years. “He has ruined people’s lives but if you defraud the tax office you get a longer sentence.” On Monday this week, when his trial was scheduled to start, Carroll pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually penetrating a child under 13, three counts of indecently dealing with a child under 13 and one count of indecently dealing with a child over 13 and under 16. The maximum prison sentence for sexual penetration of a child under 13 is 20 years, while the maximum sentence for indecently dealing with a child under 13 is 10 years. Six other charges Carroll was facing were discontinued, including one count of sexual penetration of a child under 13, one count of indecent dealing with a child under 13 and two counts of deprivation of liberty. State prosecutor Katherine Gregory detailed three separate incidents in which he sexually preyed on two young girls between June 2011 and October 2013 at his home in McKail. Ms Gregory told the court Carroll was aged between 38 and 39 at the time of the offences. On two separate occasions, he used his fingers and mouth to sexually assault a girl who was aged 11 or 12. Immediately after each incident, he told the girl not to speak about what happened. He used his fingers to sexually assault a different girl at his home when she was aged 14 or 15. In 2017, a parent of a victim became aware of what Carroll had done and reported the assaults to police. He was first charged with several of the offences in 2019. Defence lawyer Paul Catalano told the court his client had been “opportunistic” and now felt “shame and remorse”. However Judge Stevenson was not convinced about the claims of remorse, saying the “penny dropped very late”. “There is very little scope for any finding that there is actually genuine remorse or any genuine insight...in relation to the seriousness of the offending,” he said. Judge Stevenson said the victims were put through a prolonged “period of stress” after Carroll fled his trial and took so long to enter guilty pleas. He told the Albany man he would be made a reportable offender on WA’s sex offender register. Violence restraining orders were put in place to protect the victims. “The impact of your conduct on them at the time would have been significant for them with respect to their own behaviours and personal development as young people,” Judge Stevenson said. “It will also have an impact on them psychologically and emotionally going forward.” Carroll’s former partner said the paedophile’s actions had taken an “enormous” toll on the victims. “The people he has hurt has been far-reaching, with the emotional toll extending to his own children and family who have to live with the shame knowing their father, son, brother or uncle is a sexual predator of children,” she said. The woman, who used to work as a journalist in Albany, said she had been through therapy after finding out about his crimes, and had been on medication in preparation for this month’s trial. “In my profession as a journalist, I covered court stories in Albany for four years, many including paedophiles,” she said. “I never suspected I had one living under my own roof and I feel like he thought he had the perfect cover. “It goes to show how insidious these predators are.”