A NEW ENGLAND businessman who preyed on seven different victims has been jailed for a maximum of 26 years.
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The now 55-year-old businessman from Inverell won't be eligible for release until at least 2036, after he was sentenced in a Sydney court this week for sexually and indecently assaulting the young girls aged between four and 13.
The man legally cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, but was found guilty by a jury last year of 28 charges of historical child sex abuse in the New England region.
In handing down her sentence in Parramatta District Court this week, Judge Siobhan Herbert detailed the offending by the predator on his seven young victims.
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She imposed a 10-year jail term for aggravated sexual intercourse of a child aged between 10 and 14; a nine-year term was handed for the same offence; as well as eight years for one count of sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10.
Judge Herbert then imposed an aggregate sentence of 36 years' imprisonment. She set a non-parole period of 18 years and six months, backdated to his arrest in September 2017.
In December, in a closed court trial in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court, a jury of 12 found the man guilty of 28 separate charges.
The businessman was first arrested in September 2017 in Inverell. When the Leader revealed the charges against the man, more victims came forward to investigators.
He faced a maximum of life imprisonment for the offending, charged with sexually or indecently assaulting the seven girls.
The four-week trial started on November 11 and culminated in the guilty verdicts on all charges in early-December.
The man was found guilty of 10 counts of indecent assault of a child under 10; seven counts of indecent assault of a child under 16; two counts of sexual intercourse with a person under 10; and five counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child over 10 and under 14.
He was also found guilty of one count each of committing an act of indecency with a child under 10; inciting a victim under 10 to commit an indecent act; attempted sexual intercourse with a person under 10; and aggravated indecent assault under 16.
The man was first charged by investigators from the Child Abuse Squads in Tamworth and Inverell.
He first came under investigation in 2012. The investigation then resumed in 2015 before charges were first laid in June 2017.
He had maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all charges, but the jury found him guilty on each offence.
Much of the detail surrounding the charges cannot be reported for legal reasons.
The Child Abuse Squad is made up of specially trained officers who investigate crimes against children including abuse, sexual assaults and neglect.
Breanna Chillingworth
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
Northern Daily Leader Senior Crime and Court Reporter
