A District Court judge has told a married couple facing scores of child sex abuse charges that their sentence will likely be "very lengthy".
Paul Robert Bamforth, 50, and his wife Julia Anne Bamforth, 49, from the NSW Central Coast, have pleaded guilty to dozens of child sex abuse-related offences.
It is alleged that the couple abused a young boy with a cognitive impairment in their Narara home over a five-and-a-half-year period.
The victim was not related to the Bamforths.
Julia Bamforth has been charged with having sexual intercourse with the boy repeatedly during that time and court documents show that much of the abuse was filmed.
Nearly 90 videos of the abuse were seized by police during searches of the Narara home.
In Gosford District Court, presiding Judge David Wilson on Thursday said the sentence for both people would likely be significant.
"It's going to be a very lengthy sentence," he said.
Both were present in court wearing prison greens on Thursday, with Julia Bamforth holding her head in her hands as her husband took the stand to give evidence.
Paul Bamforth insisted that he never touched the victim sexually while he was under the age of 16.
He told the court that he masturbated and had oral sex with the victim when he was 16 and 17 years old.
However, the Crown Prosecutor, barrister Adam O'Connor, argued that his evidence was at odds with the agreed facts, which Paul Bamforth had signed.
Mr O'Connor told the court there were videos that showed Paul Bamforth engaging in sexual acts with the victim when he was underage.
The court heard that Paul Bamforth had also created a compilation video of the abuse, which showed it occurring over several years while the victim was underage.
Substance abuse a factor
Paul Bamforth said he consumed the drug ice, as well as painkillers, frequently throughout the years of the abuse.
"I was really high, that was the problem," he told the court.
"[I was] drugged out and stupid and done the wrong thing."
Court documents show the pair gave the boy illicit drugs such as ice and marijuana in exchange for sex.
A video shown in court on Friday showed the couple lying on a bed with the victim and sharing an ice pipe to smoke.
Paul Bamforth insisted that the abuse did not give him sexual gratification and that he did it "to keep [his] wife happy".
Breaking down on the stand, Paul Bamforth told the court that he would "never do it again".
The pair submitted that they intended to live together again after prison.
Legal submissions
Both the crown and defence started their legal submissions at Gosford District Court on Friday.
Paul Bamforth's lawyer, barrister Marcus Juhasz, argued that his client would not have committed the sexual abuse offences without being in the presence "of another deviant", namely his wife.
He argued that his client should receive a lesser sentence for the sexual abuse offences due to him being "less culpable" than his wife.
However, Julia Bamforth's lawyer, barrister John O'Sullivan, argued both offenders were equally "culpable".
He argued that Paul Bamforth's role in filming and compiling videos of the abuse showed he was just as culpable for the crime as his wife.
The Crown also submitted that both were equally culpable.
The court heard that while Julia Bamforth performed most of the sexual acts on the victim, including sexual intercourse, her husband filmed most of the videos of the abuse.
Mr O'Connor told the court that Paul Bamforth had also directed his wife and the victim to do specific acts in at least 10 videos and also sexually touched the victim on at least four occasions.
The matter has been adjourned for the legal parties to organise a psychological expert for cross-examination as the sentencing hearing continues.
