A man living only metres from the property where convicted child molester Dennis Ferguson was holed up during the past month has been charged for sexually assaulting a 15 year-old girl.
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After being hounded out of a property at Miles, in Queensland's south-west, Ferguson was relocated to the outer Brisbane suburb of Carbrook, sparking further protest from local parents.
While Ferguson was under 24-hour police surveillance however, a 39-year-old man allegedly molested the 15 year-old girl at his Carbrook home.
The man allegedly inappropriately touched the girl when she attended his residence on the evening of July 17.
The incident occurred as embattled Police Minister Judy Spence pleaded with parents to recognise that Ferguson was not the only threat to their children.
"The message we want to get out to parents is that this one man might seem to them to be the most obvious ugly face of pedophilia, but he is not the only individual in out society that has committed crimes against children," Ms Spence said at the time.
"And the message is for parents to watch their children every day and not just be frightened by this one individual."
A personal safety survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that the perpetrator in three quarters of sexual assaults was known to the victim. Of these, two in five perpetrators were family members or friends.
A police spokeswoman refused to confirm how the girl was connected with her attacker, although it is believed she lived in the same street.
The 39 year-old man was charged with indecent treatment of a child and deprivation of liberty. He appeared in Beenleigh Magistrates Court today and is due to re-appear on August 8.
Meanwhile, authorities today announced convicted pedophile Ferguson had been moved ahead of a court appeal tomorrow to have him thrown back in jai.
