Roger James Montgomerie: Wheelchair-bound man extradited for child sexual abuse gave victims ‘a life sentence’

A wheelchair-bound man who was extradited from the UK to face trial in Perth over historical child sexual abuse has been sentenced to more than four years in jail — but his victims say he gave them a life sentence. Roger James Montgomerie, 63, went on trial in the District Court of WA earlier this month and was convicted by a jury of three offences committed against three children back in the 1980s at a house and in a car in Perth’s northern suburbs. Montgomerie had been charged with eight offences but was acquitted of two counts, while Judge Wendy Gillan decided after legal argument that there was no case to answer in respect of three other counts. She said, however, during sentencing on Wednesday that she was satisfied the three crimes Montgomerie had been convicted of were not isolated incidents, after the traumatised male and female witnesses testified that the abuse had occurred over several years. After one of the offences, Montgomerie explained his lengthy absence with the six-year-old victim on having dropped his car keys. She wrote about the abuse in her teenage diary and years later, when she was an adult, showed it to someone else. A police investigation then ensued and Montgomerie - who had moved to England - was eventually extradited to WA in 2021. Judge Gillan said the impact of his crimes on his victims had been “profound and lifelong”, with two of them turning to alcohol and drugs. She sentenced Montgomerie to four years and two months behind bars, meaning he would be in jail until July next year if he served his full term. But with time already served since his arrest and extradition, he is already eligible for parole, so could be freed at any time. Outside court, his victims said it was good to see Montgomerie brought to justice but one of them added: “He’s got away with a lot”. “It will never go away for us,” she said.