An Illawarra grandfather has been remanded in custody after being found guilty of sexually abusing two young female relatives 20 years apart.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, faced a judge-alone trial in Wollongong District Court recently on seven counts of indecent and sexual assault stemming from allegations he molested his niece in the 1980s and his step-granddaughter in the mid-2000s.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges, however Judge Andrew Heasler found him guilty of all but one of the offences late last week and revoked his bail.
He said the man’s attempts to “blame everyone but himself” for his actions damaged his credibility in the witness box.
“His version of events smacked of invention and fantasy designed to resolve himself of responsibility,” Judge Heasler said in delivering the verdicts.
“His evidence showed no coherence; he was evasive, inventive and inconsistent.”
The man’s step-granddaughter, who was the first to give evidence in the trial, told the court her grandfather had once digitally penetrated her while they were on holidays at West Wyalong when she was nine or 10 years old.
She also recalled another incident in which her grandfather raped her in the family home, causing her to bleed.
The man claimed his step-granddaughter had instigated the West Wyalong incident and that he had experienced sexual impotency during the time frame of the second incident.
However, the man’s doctor said he was still capable of achieving semi-erections at the time.
Meantime, the man’s niece recalled two incidents of molestation at the hands of her uncle when she too was around eight years old in the early 1980s.
Judge Haesler could not conclusively find that the first alleged incident had occurred and dismissed the charge, however found the prosecution had proven it’s case in the second incident.
The man will face court again on August 18 for sentencing.
Judge Haesler said it was “inevitable” a sentence of full-time jail would be imposed.