The judge considered his alleged experiences with "transphobia" and "gender dysphoria."
25-year-old Autumn Tulip Harper, who was allowed the pseudonym "Hilary Maloney" by the Australian court, was arrested after a police raid which uncovered horrific child pornography. While Reduxx was able to exclusively reveal Harper's legal name, the outlet chose to withhold his male birth name for the sake of the daughter's identity.
Authorities were able to trace Harper after the arrest of an American pedophile in September 2023 who had images of child abuse and pornography on his devices. Investigators in the United States discovered he was sent these images through an account on Discord, which was linked back to Harper. Australian authorities were notified and after the raid, they were able to determine that the victim in the images and videos was Harper's own 5-year-old daughter.
Court records state that Harper was asked by the American pedophile, with whom he was in a BDSM relationship, to sexually abuse his daughter in exchange for praise from his "master." He had produced 77 files categorized as child abuse material between May and June of 2023. The shocking files contained images of his daughter naked, in the shower, and posed sexually next to him. The videos contained footage of Harper kissing his daughter's labia, buttocks, and licking her anal area. In one of these videos, Harper is heard asking the girl if she “likes it” to which the child clearly responds “no.”
An analysis of the files determined Harper had abused his daughter on at least 19 separate occasions over the course of one month. Harper was arrested shortly after his pedophile counterpart, but was released on bail and given his freedom through the duration of the trial.
The mother of the child, Harper's ex-partner, learned of the abuse from the police but revealed during her victim impact statement that her daughter began inexplicably "acting out" around the time the abuse would have taken place.
“Looking back, the behavioral issues all started from around the time that you were doing these things to her,” the mother said to the court. “I’ve been through a lot in my life but this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. To have a child with someone and have your trust in them, even after breaking up and co-parenting, and then find out they’ve done these things … I am just constantly in fear, thinking if her own father could do this to her, what stops a stranger from doing the same? This has completely ruined my trust in others.”
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Rajan Darjee was tasked with creating a profile of Harper during the trial. Darjee described Harper using female pronouns and as a helpless "hormonally female" mother who was coerced by a man into sexually abusing his daughter.
“… This pattern of sexual abuse is one which a more dominant male pressurises, manipulates and/or coerces a female who has access to a child, usually her own, to sexually abuse that child and/or to make that child available to him to sexually abuse,” Darjee wrote in his report to the court, using female pronouns for the girl's abusive father. Those have been adjusted herein by Human Events.
“[He] felt the man [he] connected with cared for and was nice to [him], and due to her low self-esteem, lack of assertiveness, loneliness, submissiveness and desperation to be noticed and cared for, it was easy for him to pick up on [his] vulnerability and manipulate [him] into the master/slave relationship where he took control of [his] life. He then involved [him] in sexual exchanges and then coerced [him] to sexually abuse [his] daughter and take videos and photos to share with him. [He] was not inherently motivated by deviant sexual interests or any other motive, except doing what he told [him] and keeping him happy, to sexually abuse [his] daughter.”
While Harper's defense said he began identifying as female in 2019, photos uncovered by Reduxx from that year show him with a "notably masculine appearance." The photos are featured in the article image.
Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis ultimately accepted the arguments of Darjee and the defense that Harper only committed the abuse to be “validated … as a woman and a sexual person.” The judge took into consideration possible experiences with "transphobia" and "gender dysphoria" when she handed down the 4-year and 9-month prison sentence, citing the perpetrator's "homophobic and hateful" upbringing and his ex-partner's unwillingness to accept his new gender identity as possible factors for his committing vile acts on his daughter.
“Compounding matters, you had only started to transition in around 2021 and your gender identity was not fully accepted by those around you, including [ex-partner]. Your Counsel submits that at the relevant time you were ‘completely lacking connection in [your] life’ and were experiencing ‘pervasive feelings of rejection and lack of self-worth,'” the Judge stated.
Harper will be eligible for parole 2 years and 6 months into his sentence. Karapanagiotidis noted “the sentence that I am about to impose on this charge is lower than the standard sentence," which carries a maximum of 25 years behind bars.
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