Woman admits persistent sexual abuse of Canberra child

Why This Matters

• A guilty plea more than a year after arrest brings a measure of certainty for the victim and family after a lengthy court process that included an earlier not guilty plea and multiple charges.
• The case involves the sexual abuse of a child under 16, a category of offending that carries significant public interest and community concern in the ACT.
• The court process is not yet complete: sentencing is scheduled for 2027, and an agreed statement of facts is still to be tendered.

Background

This is a local ACT criminal matter before the ACT Supreme Court. The case has been through several stages since Nakkan's arrest in June 2025, including an initial grant of bail and a subsequent not guilty plea to eight charges in July 2025. Under ACT law, persistent sexual abuse of a child can be prosecuted as a single course-of-conduct offence rather than separate individual incidents, which is reflected in the new indictment containing one charge.

Key Perspectives

The court: The ACT Supreme Court will sentence Nakkan in 2027, with an agreed statement of facts expected within a week to set out the factual basis for the plea. The prosecution: The withdrawal of the eight earlier charges in favour of a single count of persistent sexual abuse indicates the charges were consolidated into one course-of-conduct offence, a common approach in such cases. The victim and family: Police documents previously reported details the boy's mother described as "concerning behaviours", and the guilty plea may spare the child from giving evidence at trial.

What to Watch

• The agreed statement of facts expected to be tendered within a week, which will set out the detailed basis for sentencing.
• The sentencing hearing in the ACT Supreme Court in 2027.
• Whether bail conditions remain in place until sentencing.