Serial child sex offender Colin George McKane at Melbourne Supreme Court earlier this month. Photo: Jason South, The Age.
COLIN McKane is every mother’s nightmare — a Warrnambool child with a chip on his shoulder who matured into one of Victoria’s most feared sexual predators.
His mother, who did not want to be fully identified, yesterday contacted The Standard to assure people that her son is likely to spend the rest of his life in jail.
Colin George McKane, 54, has been labelled “a serious danger to the community” and was last week sentenced to an additional nine months in prison for breaching a supervision order by tracking down minors for sex after seeing their photographs in a newspaper.
He has already carried out more than a dozen random and opportunistic indecent attacks on young girls, including on a 16-year-old he kidnapped, knocked-out, raped and left for dead in Warrnambool.
The Director of Public Prosecutions previously sought to keep McKane in detention because of his extensive criminal history but the application was denied.
Instead, a five-year supervision order was granted under the Serious Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act 2009.
The strict conditions included that McKane reside at the Corella Place sex offenders facility at Ararat. He was forbidden from contacting or going anywhere near children without the written consent of the Adult Parole Board.
Mrs McKane, who still lives in Warrnambool, said her son would be in jail for a long time, possibly the rest of his life.
“He may never be allowed out in public again,” she said yesterday.
“I’ve only just started to get over the things he had done and he’s back in court. I worry every day about what he’s done, why he’s done it and I have blamed myself.”
Mrs McKane said she and her family had always lived in Warrnambool.
“Colin was the middle child. He never seemed to fit in. He always thought everyone else got better treatment,” she said. “He had a chip on his shoulder, it didn’t matter how much you sat down and explained things. He thought he was not wanted by anyone.”
Mrs McKane turned 81 yesterday and has suffered a range of health problems.
“I talked to Colin on Saturday. The day he was in the paper he had an operation for a big growth on the side of his neck,” she said.
“They thought the cyst was cancerous, he wasn’t expected to speak again but he’s fine.”
Mrs McKane said her son was not allowed to come back to Warrnambool.
“To tell you the truth I feel a lot better when he’s in prison than when he’s out. It’s been a tough road, you’ve got no idea,” she said.
“I feel for all the people Colin has hurt, feel enormously. I feel sorry for them, there’s not a day I don’t worry.”
Mrs McKane said her son had just become a more persistent offender as time had gone on.
“It’s just got worse and worse," she said.
"He knows what I think of him, I’m disgusted with him, but I am his mother and I love him. I’m getting a lot of flak and I can’t take much more. I just want people to know he will be locked up for a long time.”