Disgraced Hey Dad! actor Robert Hughes will spend up to ten years behind bars for indecently and sexually assaulting young girls.
The 65-year-old was sentenced this afternoon in front of a packed gallery, almost two months after he was found guilty of ten separate offences on children as young as 7 years old, dating back to the 1980s.
Dressed in a suit and red tie, Hughes sat calmly in the dock inside Sydney’s Downing Centre Court as Judge Peter Zahra read through each of the charges against him before sentencing the actor to a maximum of ten years and nine months in jail.
During his sentencing, Judge Zahra described the abuse Hughes inflicted on four girls, during the time in which he was a prominent Australian TV star, as “brazen”; and “predatory”.
He went on to say that Hughes was in a position of trust and took advantage of that trust and exploited the naivety and youth of his victims.
“Children are entitled to… be protected from the significant harm” that comes from sexual assault, particularly “from offenders in a position of trust”, Judge Zahra told the court room.
“It was predatory behaviour.”
Hughes has maintained his innocence throughout the trial, pleading not guilty to 11 charges.
