The 23-year-old man convicted of attempted rape involving the sexual assault of a three-year-old boy who was playing in his front yard in Karama last year will be released from prison after being handed a suspended sentence with conditions.

Joseph Marrday, 23, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual intercourse without consent in connection to the shocking assault that occurred in March 2021.

The NT Police media team attempted to suppress the incident from being made public at the time, but the NT Independent reported the incident that had been described by sources with knowledge of it as “every parent’s worse nightmare” and so heinous that veteran sex crimes investigators were shaken.

Marrday had approached the child from the street as he played alone in his family’s fenced-in yard. He called the child to the fence and then sexually assaulted him through the fence.

He was scared off by a passer-by who had called out to the man when she saw what he was doing. He was arrested by police a short time later and has been in jail since, the court heard.

Marrday appeared in the Supreme Court in Darwin on Tuesday where he was given a three year suspended sentence by Justice Judith Kelly, who had also ordered him to return to the remote community of Warruwi and not return to Darwin without the written approval of a probation officer.

“The victim was very young and vulnerable and he was playing in his own yard where he is entitled to be safe,” Justice Kelly said.

“I have to pass a sentence that lets everyone know how much the court and community disapproves of what you have done.”

A victim impact statement prepared by the toddler’s mother stated he had become “clingy” since the sexual assault and “gets upset if he has to be apart from his mother”, Justice Kelly said.

“She felt like the biggest failure of a mother for not protecting her baby [and] couldn’t sleep without crying herself to sleep,” Justice Kelly told the court.

She said that Marrday’s psychiatric evaluations had determined he was “severely impaired” intellectually, but had good family supports in place.

“You’ve never been in any serious trouble with the law before,” Justice Kelly said during sentencing remarks.

“You have strong family support and your family are shocked and upset by what you’ve done.

“You want to do the right things and your family support you to do the right things. All of these things make me think that you should not spend any more time in prison.”

Marrday’s sentence will be suspended from Friday under conditions including that he take part in sexual offender counselling, not contact anyone under the age of 16 without permission or supervision of an approved adult, not consume or possess alcohol and report to a probation or parole officer.

He is also not permitted to return to Darwin without prior written approval of his parole officer.