'Disgraceful': ex-Navy man repeatedly sexually touched teen at work

CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to sexual abuse.

A former Navy serviceman who repeatedly sexually touched a teenager at their workplace has been spared a jail sentence.

Damien Paul Gardiner, 51, said he had just been “mucking around” and thought there was a friendship between him and the teen, who was under the age of 18.

“There wasn’t. She was just so scared that she tolerated what was happening,” Magistrate Roger Clisdell told the Queanbeyan Local Court on Monday (23 September).

“The behaviour of Mr Gardiner was disgraceful and he has pretty much agreed with that.”

Over numerous months, the pair worked in a store outside of Canberra when Gardiner slapped her on the buttocks on “several occasions” when walking past her while she was performing tasks, police say in court documents.

When police spoke to him in June 2024, he told them, “Yeah, I was just mucking around, and that was a bit old school and inappropriate. I did not intend to hurt her”.

He had also slapped her on the buttocks two or three times when they were not at their workplace.

Gardiner, who was fired from the store after the incidents were reported, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexually touching another person without consent.

His defence lawyer, Allara Freedman of Baker, Deane & Nutt Lawyers, said her client had no criminal history and was known as a “dedicated family man”.

He said the “mate-sy, joke-sy” work environment of the store reminded him of the Navy, in which he’d served for 21 years, Ms Freedman explained.

She said it was his perception that he had developed a friendship with his victim, similar to other workplace relationships.

She also said the offending wasn’t motivated by a sexual desire and her client now felt “immense shame and regret” for his actions.

The prosecutor argued Gardiner was in a position of authority over the teen as he was an adult, and he pointed out that the offending took place over an extended period of time.

Magistrate Clisdell said the offending fell below the mid-range in terms of seriousness.

“That doesn’t mean the young girl wasn’t traumatised, wasn’t scared, wasn’t upset,” he said.

He noted Gardiner hadn’t been in trouble with the law before.

“He’s now ruined that good reputation in the worst possible fashion, as he’s now going to be a convicted sex offender,” Magistrate Clisdell said.

Gardiner was convicted and sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order, which is a type of good behaviour order, and handed 100 hours of community service.