56-year-old Tamworth man on historical sexual assault charges granted bail in NSW Supreme Court

The 56-year-old cannot be identified by order of the court and was supported as he walked into Tamworth Local Court on Wednesday on two sets of charges, stemming from separate, unrelated alleged incidents.

The man, who has been in custody since his November 23 arrest in Tamworth, was granted bail in the NSW Supreme Court to live in a location which his solicitor said was an 11-hour drive away.

As part of the conditions, the man had to post $5,000 in surety, must report twice-a-week to police, not contact the witnesses in the case or apply for a new passport.

In court in Tamworth, solicitor for the DPP Geoffrey Kidd said there was an administration error that had delayed the case moving to the district court because one set of charges had not been referred to the DPP.

“One has been proceeding,” he said, adding he was “waiting on advice from a Crown prosecutor with advice as to the charges”.

“There may be some charges that fall away and replaced with other … [there] may be some additional charges to be laid.”

Mr Kidd said it was the “Crown’s intention to run each of them together” in any trial.

The 56-year-old is yet to enter pleas to three charges of aggravated sexual assault of a person under the age of 16 and one count of aggravated indecent assault of a person under 16, with detectives alleging he sexually abused a young girl between 2011 and 2013. 

He also faces charges of sexual assault category three knowing no consent given, carnal knowledge and commit act of indecency on female under 16 years.

The offences were allegedly committed in the North West against three complainants – all children at the time of the alleged offending, but two are unrelated to the third incident.

The man’s solicitor Garry Johnston did not oppose the adjournment and initially applied for his client to appear via video link on the next occasion “given [he] has to drive 11 hours” to get here.

Magistrate Julie Soars thought it “unwise” not to have the man attend in person because “these are serious matters”, before querying if his bail conditions prevented him from attending Tamworth.

“His bail conditions don’t prevent him from coming here,” Mr Johnston said, telling the court his client was not “sure where any of these people are currently residing”.

Ms Soars said the case needed to proceed on the next date it returns to court in May.

Mr Kidd said while “there is an urgency” to get “all matters moving along”, “regrettably the delays” in the district court was delaying the movement of cases to the committal stage.

“There is a monstrous backlog in the district court and that is impacting here as well,” he told the court.

“We simply don’t have people to go through this backlog.”

In March, Ms Soars refused the man bail in Tamworth court, telling the court he had failed to show cause why his detention was not justified.

The court was told at the time the man had worked in the same job for 30 years but the position would cease if he didn’t return to work by the end of March.

In refusing bail, Ms Soars said one of the sets of charges was a “strong case” and pointed to police facts allegeding admissions had been made.

The man was granted bail a fortnight later in the Supreme Court in Sydney by Justice Desmond Fagan. 

Much of the detail surrounding the alleged offences cannot be reported for legal reasons.

The 56-year-old was arrested in Tamworth on November 23 by police from Strike Force Duncansby – an operation by Oxley detectives set up to investigate the historical allegations.