A “transgender” paedophile who preyed on a friend’s five-year-old daughter has been released from prison in South Australia without monitoring or conditions despite a warning that he posed a “dynamic risk”.
Josh Dean French, 29, an Adelaide man who claims to be a woman and calls himself “Jayda Dean”, shared sexually explicit videos involving young girl with an online paedophile ring, and was caught with dozens of other child abuse images videos of the most extreme kind.
He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated producing and two counts of possessing child exploitation material, and in September 2022 was sentenced to four years and 10 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
French was freed last week after serving his full sentence, which means he had no conditions imposed on him, The Advertiser reported, but he will be placed on the Australian National Child Offender Register.
The Parole Board of South Australia confirmed he was not released on parole, and the Department for Correctional Services (DCS) said it could not comment on individual prisoners.
A psychologist previously assessed French as having “several dynamic risk factors relating to sexual offending”, and stated in a report that French had denied being sexually attracted to children and claimed his offences were committed by his “alternate male personality”.
Judge Julie McIntyre noted in sentencing that the psychologist found that French’s offences were “likely related to the influence of an early sexual experience with an older male, driven by a sexual interest in children and facilitated by your cognitive distortions”.
The mother of French’s victim spoke out about the abuse three years afterwards while still using his preferred “transgender” pronouns, and revealed that she thought he was a “family friend or an aunt to my children”.
“But behind my back, they were doing unspeakable acts and they were part of a paedophile ring,” she said.
“We were friends for three years prior to their arrest. We would hang out and being a mum, we would do things with my daughter. They would even have girly sleepovers with us.
“For someone that did not have kids, they were very willing to always do activities that involved the kids.”
Header image: Left, right, Josh Dean French (Instagram).
