A Bunbury paedophile who spent 10 years sexually assaulting seven young female victims will spend at least the next five-and-a-half years behind bars.
Clive William Black, 73, was sentenced in Bunbury District Court on Monday after pleading guilty to 15 counts of child sex charges.
The offences, which included indecent dealings with children aged between seven and 13, happened between 1983 and 1993 in Bunbury and Dunsborough.
Black made no comment in court, other than to confirm his name and guilty pleas.
His victims attended the hearing, with two listening via audio link from interstate.
The court heard Black had been a family friend of many of the victims, and had betrayed the trust of the children’s parents by abusing their daughters.
Numerous assaults happened in his Bunbury home, while others happened on camping trips or at the beach. In most cases, Black had warned his victims not to tell anybody.
“This is our little secret,” he said to one young girl.
At the time of the offending, Black was married and had three of his own children.
Victim impact statements tendered to the court detailed the mental health effects Black’s abuse had on each of the victims.
Many of them said his offences had hindered their ability to engage in relationships, and most said they still held anger towards him.
During police interviews, Black denied many of the offences, and said he may have touched some girls inappropriately by “accident”.
He said he had no recollection of some of his offences.
On Monday, Chief District Court Judge Kevin Sleight, sentenced Black to a total of seven years and six months imprisonment. He referred to Black as someone with an “abnormal sexual interest in young children”, who had been “generally evasive” with police while the matters were under investigation.
Judge Sleight discounted Black’s prison term by 25 per cent because of his early guilty pleas, which meant his victims had not had to testify.
He said it was inevitable victims would feel disappointed in the sentence, and said no penalty would repair the damage to relationships they had suffered.
Black’s sentence was backdated to December 12, 2016, which is when he declined to apply for bail, and instead remained in custody. He was made eligible for parole after five-and-a-half years.
