STEPHEN Mateer, one of the notorious paedophile identical twins who preyed on two young boys in Lake Macquarie more than 30 years ago, could spend the rest of his life behind bars for sexual abuse a judge labelled "brutal, calculated and selfish".
The Mateer twins, 71, who are now both believed to be suffering from a cognitive impairment, were found to have committed a string of sexual and indecent assaults against two young boys between 1989 and 1993 after a concurrent special hearing and judge-alone trial in Newcastle District Court last year.
Stephen Mateer faced the special hearing after he was found unfit to face trial on 45 charges due to dementia.
And ultimately, on the limited evidence available, Judge Peter McGrath made "qualified findings of guilt" in relation to all but three of the charges against Stephen Mateer, although eight were not in the "aggravated" circumstances in which the charges were put to the court.
Those 42 offences spanned 12 separate incidents against the two boys while Stephen Mateer was aged between 27 and 31 and were committed at a Belmont pizza shop, in the back of a van or during driving lessons, among other places.
"The context of all of the offences is that this adult befriended, groomed and regularly corrupted two young boys over a number of years into the commission of sexual offences for his own selfish sexual gratification," Judge McGrath said. "Using both boys up before casting them aside, inflicting physical pain and lifelong mental torment on both."
He said the victims were permanently damaged as a result of Stephen Mateer's "brutal, calculated and selfish defiling" of them while they were innocent and vulnerable young boys.
Judge McGrath set a "limiting term" - the penalty after a special hearing - of 17 years and six months, running from when Stephen Mateer was arrested and refused bail in 2021 until May, 2039, when Mateer will be 87.
He is yet to be sentenced and his matter was adjourned until May so his lawyers could obtain a report about the diagnosis and extent of his cognitive impairment.
Stephen and Richard Mateer were arrested after detectives from Strike Force Arapaima - investigating the long-unsolved disappearances of Lake Macquarie girls Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson - were tipped off to a string of alleged sexual assaults against two boys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.
