Content Notice: This article contains graphic details from a trial related to the sexual abuse of a young child. Some readers may find the content disturbing. Reader discretion is appreciated.
A trans-identified male in Australia has been sentenced to just over 4 years in prison for the horrific sexual abuse of his own 5-year-old daughter. While the offender was given the pseudonym of “Hilary Maloney” by the court, Reduxx can exclusively reveal the pedophile as Autumn Tulip Harper.
Reduxx has chosen to withhold Harper’s male birth name in order to protect the identity of the victim.
Harper, 25, was first identified as a suspect in the production of vile child sexual abuse content after an American pedophile he had been communicating with was arrested in September of 2023. A forensic examination of the pedophile’s devices found that Harper had sent him pornographic images and videos of a young girl via Discord. After identifying Harper as the owner of the account the content had originated from, police in the United States notified Australian authorities of their findings.
On September 15, 2023, police raided Harper’s home in Clayton South, Victoria, and seized his electronic devices. An examination of his cellphone found he had produced 77 files categorized as child abuse material between May and June of 2023. The female child in the materials was identified as Harper’s own 5-year-old daughter.
According to court records, Harper had been in an online BDSM relationship with the American pedophile, who encouraged him to sexually abuse his daughter in exchange for words of validation.
Harper sent the other man a range of images of his daughter, including of her naked, in the shower, and of him sexually posing with her. The court also details there were several videos of Harper kissing the child’s labia, naked buttocks, and licking her anal region. In one of these videos, Harper is heard asking the girl if she “likes it” to which the child clearly responds “no.”
From an analysis of the video and photo evidence, police determined that Harper had directly sexually abused the girl on at least 19 separate occasions in the course of just one month. The sexual abuse media was exclusively sent to the American, who Harper viewed as his “Master.” The man would then heap praise upon Harper, telling him how “impressed” and aroused he was by him, and calling him a “good girl.”
Despite being arrested for the serious crime in September of 2023, Harper was released on bail and was allowed to remain free throughout the duration of the trial.
Harper had shared custody of his daughter with his ex-partner, who only learned of the abuse after police notified her. In a victim impact statement, she spoke of the profound emotional toll the abuse had taken on her daughter, and stated that the child had begun inexplicably “acting out” around the same time the abuse would have started.
“Looking back, the behavioral issues all started from around the time that you were doing these things to her,” the girl’s mother said in 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.”
During the trial, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Rajan Darjee was called upon to interview Harper and create a profile of his offending. Disturbingly, Darjee framed Harper as though he were a “female” who had been “pressured” by a male into committing the offenses.
“… 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, characterizing Harper as though he were a “mother” experiencing dire circumstances.
Referring to Harper using feminine pronouns, Darjee wrote: “She felt the man she connected with cared for and was nice to her, 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 her vulnerability and manipulate her into the master/slave relationship where he took control of her life. He then involved her in sexual exchanges and then coerced her to sexually abuse her daughter and take videos and photos to share with him. She was not inherently motivated by deviant sexual interests or any other motive, except doing what he told her and keeping him happy, to sexually abuse her daughter.”
Darjee told the court that Harper would not need any “specific interventions to prevent further sexual offending” and dismissed the need for sex offender treatment. He also denied that Harper had a paraphilic disorder, and argued that Harper had no sexual attraction to children.
Darjee further described Harper as “hormonally female” at the time of his offending.
Harper was represented by Isabelle Skaburskis, who identified herself as “Mx. Skaburskis” to the court. Notably, the defense claimed that Harper had “identified as female” since 2019, but photos of Harper from that year show he had a notably masculine appearance at that time.
Reduxx has also been made aware through a source close to the case that Harper had initially been charged under his birth name, suggesting that he only changed his legal identification during the course of the proceedings. Due to his criminal circumstances, he likely would have had to apply for explicit permission to pursue the change from the Secretary of the Justice Department.
Delivering the sentence on August 26, 2024, Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis highlighted Harper’s “gender dysphoria” and experiences with “transphobia” as mitigating factors, and appeared to accept the defense’s argument that he only committed the abuse to be “validated … as a woman and a sexual person.”
Judge Karapanagiotidis reviewed Harper’s “personal circumstances” prior to announcing the sentence, emphasizing that Harper’s mother had been “homophobic and hateful” during his upbringing, and disapproved of his early attempts to wear women’s clothing. She also noted that his ex-partner, the mother of the victim, had not fully validated his gender identity after he expressed it.
“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 was ultimately sentenced to 4 years and 9 months imprisonment, a steep drop from the maximum 25 year sentence that was available. Prior to delivering the decision, Judge Karapanagiotidis noted that the sentence was lenient, noting: “the sentence that I am about to impose on this charge is lower than the standard sentence.”
He will be eligible for parole just 2 years and 6 months into his sentence.