Calderwood man found guilty of grooming and raping minor

It took the jury three and a half hours to find Stephen Colin McGarrigle, 64, guilty of nine charges following his Wollongong District Court trial that came to a close last week. He denied all of the offences.

In opening submissions, the Crown told the jury McGarrigle had on one occasion showed the minor pornography on his mobile phone while he touched her leg.

"Do you want to watch porn with me?," he asked the girl, to which she replied, "No". He continued to touch her leg.

The Crown said McGarrigle's offending escalated when he later rubbed the minor's genitals and raped her on three occasions when she was aged between seven and eight.

McGarrigle was arrested in September 2022 and denied what was put to him by police in an electronically recorded interview.

His mobile phone was seized and police found an explicit video of the minor on the device.

McGarrigle was found guilty of grooming a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activity, possessing child abuse material, three counts of sexual intercourse with a child under 10 and four counts of intentionally sexually touching a child under 10.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in July.