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An Australian couple awaiting sentencing for sexually abusing a mentally disabled child might not go to prison together after all.
Knewz.com has learned that the husband in the case wants to withdraw his guilty plea, which was entered with his wife.
Paul and Julia Bamforth admitted luring the child into their home for years by offering free illegal drugs.
The boy reportedly told authorities that he was provided “free pot, free ice, free MDMA,” also known as ecstasy.
Once the boy was in the Narara, New South Wales home, he was sexually abused while a video camera recorded it, prosecutors say.
The reported abuse started when the child was 12 and may have continued for more than five years. The boy finally told two friends about what was happening.
Court documents say that led to the couple punching and kicking the boy, then throwing him in a car trunk clothed only in his underwear. The boy escaped while the couple was driving.
Police finally searched the Bamforths’ home in late February 2021. Detectives reportedly found almost 90 abuse videos on flash drives and laptops, with hard drives in a shoebox inside a cupboard.
Officers also reportedly found methamphetamine, stun guns and a “zombiesword.”
An attorney for Paul, 50, told a judge Wednesday, September 13 that he wants to change his plea because the husband no longer agrees with settled findings of fact.
The attorney admitted he didn’t know completely why Paul wanted to make the change. The lawyer added that he will no longer represent the husband due to a “conflict of interest.”
But those changes apparently will not delay the sentencing for Julia, 49. According to According to News.com.au, a judge ordered both Bamforths to return to court on Wednesday, November 1.
Australia’s ABC Networks reported in February about Julia entering a guilty plea to 67 child sex abuse counts.
Paul faced a similar number of counts, but even in February expressed an interest in changing guilty pleas.
Police believe the couple was together for more than 20 of the abuse cases. Notes kept on the Bamforths’ phones reportedly prove they knew the boy had a “cognitive impairment.”
In one text, Julia reportedly called the boy an “ugly little retard.” She also may have expressed a desire to have her own child for sexual abuse, and even suggested kidnapping children.
Paul told a court hearing in March that he was “really high” during the abuse sessions, abusing both smoked ice and painkillers.
At a court hearing in May, prosecutors claimed the couple “showed no remorse” for their actions.
A psychologist reported Paul is “sexually deviant” because he is dependent on Julia.
The Bamforths have indicated that whenever their prison term ends, they plan to live together again.