Australian TV star gets jail for child sex abuse
Print Edition
ACTOR Robert Hughes, star of popular 80s Australian sitcom “Hey Dad!,” was jailed yesterday for at least six years for sexually and indecently assaulting young girls, behavior the judge described as predatory.
Hughes, 65, had pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to incidents which occurred between 1985 and 1990 with four girls and his lawyer said he would appeal his conviction and sentence.
The Sydney District Court was packed for the sentencing on 10 charges, including two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
Judge Peter Zahra said the charges — which also included indecent assault and one act of indecency — “represented a systematic pattern of sexual abuse of vulnerable young girls.”
He said Hughes’ conduct was “persistent” and “calculated.”
“He abused his position of trust and exploited the naivety and youth of the children involved,” Zahra said in a statement.
The court had heard that Hughes had crept into the bedroom of one teen while at a dinner at her parents’ house and sexually assaulted her; in another instance he forced a girl, then aged between 6 and 8, to touch him while she was staying at his Sydney home.
One girl regularly spent time at Hughes’ home on sleepovers with his daughter, with the actor engaging in a range of sexual misconduct towards her, the judge said.
“The offending was part of a pattern of predatory behavior towards the victim when the victim was in the offender’s care,” Zahra said in his judgement.
Hughes’ lawyer Greg Walsh said the maximum sentence of 10 years and nine months, with a non-parole period of six years, was devastating.
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