A man convicted of trying to rape a toddler while he was playing in the front yard of his suburban Darwin home will soon be released from prison to serve a suspended sentence.
The 22-year-old man, Joseph Marrday, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual intercourse without consent following the assault in the suburb of Karama in March last year.
The man appeared in the Darwin Supreme Court on Tuesday where he was handed a three-year suspended sentence.
Justice Judith Kelly told the court the man approached the three-year-old boy who was playing in his fenced front yard at about 7pm on March 11, and attempted to assault him through the gate.
The court heard a woman who was out for a run at the time saw "what looked to her to be a sexual act" and called out to the man who ran away.
He was arrested by police a short time later and has remained in custody since.
Justice Kelly described the offending as "very serious".
"The victim was very young and vulnerable and he was playing in his own yard where he was entitled to be safe," she said.
In a victim impact statement tendered in court, the victim's mother said the attack had significantly impacted her son.
"She says that the little boy has become clingy and won't leave her alone," Justice Kelly told the court.
"He gets upset if he has to be apart from his mother at all."
Justice Kelly told the court that psychiatric evaluations of the offender had revealed that his intellectual function was "severely impaired", but that he had a "pro-social attitude" and "pro-social family support".
"You want to do the right things and your family support you to do the right things," Justice Kelly said.
"All of these things make me think that you should not spend any more time in prison."
The man was sentenced to three years' prison, suspended from Friday under a number of conditions including that he not contact anyone under the age of 16 without the permission or supervision of an approved adult.
