Kenneth May: No prison sentence for Silk Thai restaurant owner who showed picture of his penis to girl

A Mandurah restaurant owner and serial pervert who showed a picture of his penis to an 11-year-old girl at his Mandurah business was found to have a “concerning” lack of boundaries. Kenneth May, who has owned Silk Thai on Mandurah Terrace for more than a decade, repeatedly showed the explicit images to young females between January 2023 and August 2024. At the time of the first offence, May was discussing puberty with an 11-year-old victim at the restaurant. He took the opportunity to show the girl a picture of himself standing in front of a mirror naked. On the other occasion, May was sitting at his desk at his restaurant, and a 13-year-old victim was in the bar area when he showed the girl a picture of a penis and laughed. He was charged in 2024 with possession of child exploitation material, indecently dealing with a child aged between 13 and 16, two counts of indecent dealing with a child aged under 13, and two counts of supplying alcohol to a juvenile on a licensed premises. The charges were downgraded to two counts of doing an indecent act in public after May pleaded guilty just weeks before he was set to go to trial. During sentencing on Thursday, Judge Craig Astill said the pictures would have made the victims uncomfortable. “There was an element of persistence, notwithstanding her discomfort, and perhaps as an 11-year-old girl, she didn’t know how to really vocalise that discomfort or how uncomfortable she was feeling about what you were doing,” Judge Astill said. “She has then tried, as an 11-year-old would, to disassociate herself from it, but you have persisted by trying to show it to her. “The fact that she was an 11-year-old that you were showing this picture that showed your penis, your stomach, your legs, it clearly would have made her uncomfortable.” May immigrated to Australia from New Zealand, where he’d spent time in prison in 2007, for similar offending. Judge Astill pointed out that having been in prison before should be a significant incentive for May to take part in rehabilitation. “I want to make clear this needs to be at the top of your list of priorities to deal with whatever issues are underlying this behaviour because I do share the State’s concern that if you don’t, then there is a risk of causing harm to other members of the community, whoever they might be,” he said. “In relation to what some of this evidence might suggest, it does suggest to me that you have a very inappropriate attitude when you are dealing with children and what might be the appropriate boundaries of behaviour, because it would be few people who would consider it to be an appropriate thing to be showing a 13-year-old child a penis, whatever the circumstances might be. “But I accept it wasn’t something that was sexually motivated, or what’s referred to obviously often as grooming behaviour, but it was certainly inappropriate.” May was sentenced to a 12-month community-based order with program and supervision requirements. After being banned from the restaurant in 2024, last month, May was allowed to return to continue working there alongside his Thai wife.