Confessed child rapist Maurice Van Ryn has been sentenced to nine years' jail after admitting to the repeated sexual abuse of a teenage boy.
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NSW District Court Judge Sean Grant described how the 64-year-old former dairy chief executive created a "paedophile-friendly environment" involving "computer games and alcohol", designed to take advantage of the boy, who he admitted to abusing on the South Coast between 2010 and 2011.
Judge Grant said Van Ryn, who is currently serving a sentence for child sex offences committed against nine children, saw his victim as a "sexual object for conquest and satisfaction", describing his behaviour as "abhorrent".
I'm sure there are other victims out there and I encourage them to come forward and have their day in court.
In the Bega District Court on Friday, he sentenced Van Ryn to nine years' jail commencing on April 10, 2020, and extended his current non-parole-period by 12 months, meaning he could be eligible for release on April, 9, 2029, at the age of 74.
Van Ryn, who appeared via audio visual link from the maximum security Hunter Correctional Centre, inside Cessnock Correctional Complex, looked dishevelled and appeared to attempt to hide his face from the camera as details of his offending were read to the court.
Judge Grant applied a 25 per cent discount for Van Ryn's early guilty plea in March to four counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child aged between 14 and 16, which included three counts of performing oral sex on his victim and one count of anal intercourse.
He described Van Ryn as a "very intelligent man", and told the court the offences were "very serious" and not isolated incidents.
"Such a sentence is just and appropriate and could not be considered crushing or destroy any expectation of a useful life after his release," Judge Grant said.
He said aggravating factors included Van Ryn's abuse of his position of trust with his victim.
"The offender relied upon his position in the community to ingratiate himself with the victim allowing the abuse to occur," Judge Grant said.
The court heard Van Ryn had offered his victim $50 cash for oral sex, which the victim refused, and would also give the boy money for odd jobs, and for "no apparent reason".
The court heard Van Ryn met up with his victim, who had moved interstate, one more time after the offences when he was aged over 16.
Judge Grant said Van Ryn's behaviour was "predatory" and deliberately "comfortable and generous" while built on "power and inequality", emphasising the "degrading nature of the relationship".
Judge Grant quoted statements from Justice Peter McClellan, president of the Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sex Abuse, during the opening of hearings in 2013.
"What many may consider to be low levels of abuse of boys and girls can have catastrophic consequences for them, leading to a life which is seriously compromised from what might otherwise have been," Judge Grant told the court.
"Both boys and girls are left with a distrust of adults and difficulties with intimacy."
Judge Grant said the victim suffers from flashbacks, episodes of self-harm, anxiety, relationship and trust issues with suicidal ideation due to Van Ryn's repeated abuse.
"The victim indicates his prison is his thoughts and he faces those thoughts daily for the rest of his life," Judge Grant said.
Van Ryn briefly sighed when Judge Grant told the court he had no evidence of his current conditions in jail, after his defence team had proposed the court take into account the risk of custodial retribution due to knowledge of his child sex offences and his financial position.
During his 2015 sentencing hearing, Van Ryn said his time on remand in solitary confinement in Nowra's South Coast Correctional Centre had been "absolute hell", due to being subjected to 24 hour verbal abuse he said "just about sent me over the edge" and "done my head in".
An article in a metropolitan daily newspaper was described by Van Ryn's defence team as "one of many inaccurate articles", with Judge Grant saying the article "ignores the fact that the offender has paid compensation to his victims".
"I do appreciate that there has been significant public attention on the offender and inaccurate reporting of him," Judge Grant said.
Outside court a father of Van Ryn's previous victims said while he had been "hoping for a longer sentence" from the courts, he understands the "logic and the reasoning" behind the sentencing.
"My real feeling is for the victim and that he has had his day in court," the father said.
"I'm sure there are other victims out there and I encourage them to come forward and have their day in court."
He said Van Ryn's previous victims have faced challenges in forming relationships in life due to "ghosts from the past which haunt them".
Victims advocate Howard Brown said outside court there is "no guarantee he [Van Ryn] will be released at his earliest available release date".
He said Judge Grant dealt with the sentencing "very well".
"I think it's a very sound judgement," he said.
"I would have liked to see the non-parole period extended by at least two to 2 1/2 years as well as the period of supervision."
Van Ryn will be 74-years-old when he is eligible for release.