Geraldton child sex offender sentenced to three years behind bars for historic charges

A former Geraldton resident who was jailed over the sexual abuse of seven children two decades ago is back behind bars after admitting to the further abuse of three child victims, including his stepsister. The 69-year-old — who cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims — pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecently dealing with a child under the age of 14. The offending occurred in Geraldton between 1972 and 1982, with his niece and nephew also victims of his abuse. He had been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in 1991 on one count of deprivation of liberty, six counts of aggravated sexual assault, 36 counts of aggravated indecent assault and five counts of indecent assault. The offending occurred from 1981 to 1990 and was against nine children. The man appeared in court again on Friday for the separate offences, with his stepsister aged just five or six when her 20-year-old stepbrother twice forced her to perform a sex act on him at his Geraldton home. His nephew specifically recalled five incidents of abuse during the ages of seven through 12, but told police he remembered being abused by his uncle upwards of 50 times throughout his childhood. Perth District Court was on Friday told the boy was about seven or eight years old when his uncle abused him while the pair were making a model plane on the veranda. Another incident took place on a mattress in the back of the man’s van. He also abused his niece and nephew under a blanket while their parents were coming in and out of the same room, unaware of what was going on. When his nephew was about 13 years old, he told the man he would tell his parents if he did not stop the abuse. All of the children provided victim impact statements to the court, with Judge Lisa Tovey saying these indicated the pair continued to suffer “distress” as a result of the offending. The man’s lawyer accepted imprisonment was the only acceptable sentence, but asked Judge Tovey to consider suspending the jail term due to the man’s age and problems with alcohol abuse at the time of the offending. He told the court the man had undergone intensive counselling while in custody and was at “very low risk of reoffending”. Judge Tovey accepted the man was “remorseful” for the offending and the “trauma” he caused his victims, but said only a term of immediate imprisonment would reflect the serious nature of the charges. She sentenced the man to three years jail, of which he must serve 18 months before he is considered for parole.