A SERIAL child sexual abuser has been jailed for 20 years for preying on young children he met through friends and family over a period of more than six years.
The 50-year-old Hunter man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of his victims, was sentenced on more than 20 charges in Newcastle District Court on Friday.
He was facing a possible life sentence for having sexual intercourse with a child younger than 10 years old.
Judge Peter Whitford sentenced the man to a 20-year jail term, with 13 years non-parole.
The man has been behind bars since he was arrested by the Hunter-based Child Abuse Squad more than two years ago and, with time served, he will be eligible for release in late 2034.
The man indecently or sexually assaulted seven boys and girls, aged between six and 14, between 2015 and 2021.
The court heard on Friday that several of the victims' families had dialled in to watch the man find out his fate, and four had earlier prepared powerful impact statements.
"They revealed damage and enduring suffering," Judge Whitford said.
He told the court that each of the offences were serious.
"They also involve breaches of trust to varying degrees," he said.
"The victims were the children of friends of the offender, or in one case, related to him."
The court heard there appeared to be no planning involved, but rather the offender took "persistent advantage" of opportunities when around children.
Judge Whitford said no sentence the court could impose would ever answer for the damage done to the innocent victims, at the time of the offending and for decades to come.
"Sexual interference with children to any degree is abhorrent," he said.
The man had pleaded guilty to 13 offences - including two counts of sexual intercourse with a child younger than 10 - and another dozen charges were taken into account at sentencing.
A statement of agreed facts spanning 17 pages revealed "extensive reference" to behaviour the man was not criminally charged with, the court heard.
The court heard the offender had no criminal history until he began indecently or sexually assaulting children in his 40s.
His defence team handed up a psychiatric report and references from his mother and two family friends.
Judge Whitman said the man penned a letter of apology and reported that he was "ashamed and disgraced, as he should be, by his conduct".
The extent of the man's secretive, years-long offending unravelled after a police complaint was made and word spread between families who had spent time with him over the years.
Detectives swooped on the man in November 2021.
Court documents reveal how he told one boy that "what happens in the man cave stays in the man cave" after assaulting him in the offender's bedroom during school holidays in 2018.
One of the girls reported the man had told her that when he sexually touched her, it was a secret.
The man's victims were children he met through a car club, his partners, neighbours, camping trips and friends, and in one case, his relative.
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