The mother was in the gallery at the Mackay District Court on May 29, 2026, to watch Blake Joseph Simpson, 32, plead guilty to abducting her child, in an event that put her into “panic mode”.
The mother was in the gallery at the Mackay District Court on May 29, 2026, to watch Blake Joseph Simpson, 32, plead guilty to abducting her child, in an event that put her into “panic mode”.
“My daughter went to her friend’s house and I messaged her probably about an hour later asking where she was because she was just going to drop clothes off,” she said.
The mother was shopping at Bunnings on July 19 last year when she received a call from her daughter’s best friend’s mother telling her the teen was at the servo with the now-convicted Simpson.
The mum called her daughter’s phone, which was turned off, and her daughter’s tracking app, Life360, was also turned off.
Blake Simpson has been released on parole. Picture: Michael Williams
“I instantly knew something was off and went into panic mode,” she said.
She called police and filed a report.
“Then I jumped into my car, raced to the Mackay airport, jumped out, ran to the security at the Mackay airport, asked if they had seen her or him,” she said.
The mum was granted permission by security to walk through the airport to find her daughter, however, she could not find her.
The woman then drove to the police station.
Police searched Simpson’s name, and within moments they raced out of the police station “lights and sirens on” heading to the airport.
A man has walked free on parole after pleading guilty to abducting a teenage girl. Picture: File.
The mother, sitting with an officer, overheard his radio saying they had the suspect in eyesight, however, her daughter was not with Simpson.
“Apparently they weren’t sitting together at the airport, he had told her to go sit somewhere else,” the woman said.
Police then found the teen.
“It was a very scary experience,” the woman said.
“I’m glad that we got her before they actually got to Brisbane; Brisbane is a big place.”
The mother heard over a police radio they had spotted Simpson but could not see her daughter at a North Queensland airport.
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane said there was no defined motivation but that there was clearly some sort of “infatuation” with the child, referring to a tattoo of the girl’s name on Simpson’s leg.
The mother said Simpson’s tattoo was “sickening”.
Mr Crane said, in his submission, there was an intention to keep the teen for “a lengthy period of time”.
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The prosecutor did not submit that there was an explicit sexual component to the offending.
The mother, however, said Simpson had been “grooming” the teenager through Facebook and Snapchat.
“He even went to her school and (tried) to change her emergency contact details,” she said.
Judge Tony Moynihan said the teen and Simpson had maintained contact over social media over a period of time where she would refer to him as “dad”.
Simpson told the victim that he loved her and considered her his daughter.
Defence barrister Scott Moon said Simpson had provided a letter of apology to the mother.
The mother said the apology was “absolute bullsh*t”.
Mr Moon said that Simpson had a misguided motivation to assist the teen after she was bullied at school.
“The child had known the defendant for (years), she considered the defendant to be a dad to her and wanted to work for him,” he said.
“The defendant should have told the mother and there should have been a discussion.”
The mother said that was his “excuse to come and try and take her”.
Mr Moynihan said that Simpson knew the girl through mutual friends.
Mr Moynihan said that on July 18, Simpson flew to Mackay from Brisbane to see the teenager.
“He told the defendant to bring a birth certificate so he could open a bank account for her,” he said.
“He told her that he would buy clothes for her.”
Mr Moynihan said the teen told her best friend she was going to live with Simpson and hoped her mother would not find out.
The judge said the teen still had nightmares and was psychologically affected.
Mr Moynihan said a mitigating factor in the sentence was that the teen had, at the time, agreed to go to Brisbane with Simpson.
“These laws are in part to protect children from themselves,” Mr Moynihan said.
The judge said Simpson was on bail for contravening a court order when he abducted the teenager.
The mother said Simpson had “brainwashed (her daughter) something shocking”.
“(The teen) kept saying to child protection that she gives consent to Blake to come and pick her up and stuff,” she said.
“And the police said to me, no 13-year-old knows that sort of context.”
Simpson was sentenced to two years’ jail with immediate parole, having served 182 days in pre-sentence custody.
As a condition of his parole, Simpson was placed under the supervision of the chief executive for the period of his imprisonment.
The mother said it was “sickening” to know he was walking the streets.
