Barry James Walden, 61, of Shepparton, pleaded guilty in Shepparton County Court to sexual penetration of a child aged under 16 years, and committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child aged under 16 years.
Prosecutor Deanna Caruso told the court Walden was aged between 31 and 35 years when he assaulted his victim, a young boy who was then aged under 10, between 1993 and 1997.
The court was told Walden performed sexual acts with the boy on two different occasions — once in a house and another time in a car.
Ms Caruso said the victim did not tell anyone what happened at the time, but told police about the sexual assaults in July 2020.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, the victim said the assaults had “ruined me” and he used to drink up to eight litres of alcohol a day and use drugs “to forget”.
He now has an acquired brain injury from the alcohol use, the victim said in his statement.
“When this happened I was a child and very confused,” he said.
“I have nightmares about what happened to me.”
Walden’s defence counsel David Rofe argued for his client to receive a wholly suspended sentence.
He said while he conceded the offending had a harmful impact on the victim, he said the victim’s now acquired brain injury could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt as being a direct result of the assaults.
Walden was also sentenced for different sexual offending in 2005 and spent three years in prison.
That crime occurred after this offending.
Mr Rofe argued for totality of sentence for the two matters, saying Walden had done a sex offenders’ course as a result of the at-court appearance and had become a “law-abiding citizen” since then, including having had a job since his release in 2008.
There was some conjecture about the contents of a medical report tabled at court, with the judge asking for the doctor to give evidence in court later this month to provide clarification on some of their findings.
