actor Robert Hughes gets sentenced to 10 years and nine months in jail for child s** offences
Former Hey Dad!

star, Robert Hughes, has been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years and nine months in jail, with a non-parole period of six years, after being convicted of 10 child s** offences committed between 1983 and 1991.

The 65-year-old actor was sentenced on Friday in Sydney after Judge Peter Zahra stated that Hughes had shown no remorse for his actions, which had taken place over a period of 20 years.

Even after questioning by police in 1986, Hughes continued his offending behaviour.

The judge added that the former actor lacked any insight into his offending and was unlikely to access treatment programs.

Hughes’ conduct involved taking advantage of his daughter Jessica’s relationships with female friends and other children in social settings, whether at his own home or at the victims’ homes.

Judge Zahra said that Hughes had exploited the naivety and youth of the children involved and that he must have grown more confident as the years went by without any of his victims coming forward.

The judge also referred to the substantial effect of Hughes’ conduct on his victims who now suffered from constant fear, eating disorders, and an inability to lead normal lives.

Sarah Monahan, one of Hughes’ victims, reacted to the news by stating that she was happy and hoped that Hughes now realised he was a bad man.

Robert Hughes’ lawyer, Greg Walsh, said that the former actor was in danger in prison from other inmates who had threatened him.

Prison authorities have refused Mr Walsh’s request that Hughes be separated completely from other criminals.

During the hearing, Hughes’ partner, Robyn Gardiner, said that he had been abused by fellow prisoners in jail and feared for his safety.

Ms Gardiner said that Hughes was ‘very frightened by the threats he had received’ and was at ‘significant risk’.

After leaving court in handcuffs and being transported by van back to jail, Hughes was strip-searched and escorted to his cell, probably to the sound of inmates yelling out and taunting him about TV coverage of his case.

He will now spend 17 hours a day in a six by four metre cell in a protection pod of NSW’s largest prison, the 1000 inmate Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Sydney’s west.

Being one of the ‘lowest of the low’ in jail, Hughes will likely be housed among other paedophiles to minimise the risk of assault or murder by an inmate armed with a jail-made knife or ‘shiv’.

For $60 a week in his prison account, Hughes may get the chance to work with other s** offenders making sheets, curtains, or funeral shrouds.

Hughes’ celebrity agent wife, Robyn Gardiner, was not present in court.

Mr Walsh said that Ms Gardiner was back in the UK and he had called her to tell her the news.

She and daughter Jessica were both ‘devastated’.

Mr Walsh said that Ms Gardiner loved Hughes and that the reason she had not attended his sentencing was that she needed a break.

He added that Ms Gardiner had been under an immense amount of pressure and that not being there ‘doesn’t mean an iota she doesn’t love Robert’.

Hughes’ lawyer described the sentence as ‘crushing’ and said that it was devastating for someone like Mr Hughes, who was 65 years old.

Two of Hughes’ victims left the court house with family members but declined to comment on the sentence.

Before the sentencing hearing began, Robert Hughes entered the dock wearing a dark grey suit, white shirt, and maroon tie.

He looked pale and his hair was slicked down.

He stood up, buttoned his coat, and remained impassive as the judge read out the sentence.

In sentencing submissions two weeks ago, a victim’s statement read out by the woman’s father said, ‘I was s**ually abused by Robert Hughes in his home, while in his care, multiple times before I was eight years old’.

Hughes was found guilty on April 5 of 10 child s** offences and convicted on ten of 11 child s** charges.

The trial took almost six weeks to come to a verdict, with Hughes pleading not guilty to all 11 charges against him regarding indecent and s**ual assault.

The court heard testimonies from former childhood friends of Hughes’ daughter, Jessica Hughes, who gave evidence in support of her father at the trial.

Two women said Hughes had entered their rooms n^ked during sleepovers with his daughter, and exposed himself or s**ually assaulted them as they lay in bed.

Another woman recalled a trip to Manly in which Hughes exposed himself to her while forcing her to swim between his legs and trapping her there.

Former colleagues who worked on set with the former Hey Dad!

star also gave evidence at the trial, testifying that Hughes would repeatedly expose himself.

Hughes denied all the allegations.

The court proceedings took place in Sydney after Hughes was arrested and extradited from London after a two-year police investigation into the accusations.

Sarah Monahan, one of Hughes’ victims, previously stated that she ‘got away light’ compared to her on-screen dad Robert Hughes’ other victims but was relieved and vindicated by his guilty verdict.

The principal cast members of TV sitcom Hey Dad!

appeared on A Current Affair in early April following Hughes being convicted of child s** offences.

Monahan, who was six years old when she joined the show in 1987, first went public with her story of abuse four years ago in a Woman’s Day article in March 2010.

She went on to repeat allegations on A Current Affair that she was abused while on the set of Hey Dad!

by Hughes.

The actress said Hughes’ guilty verdict of 10 offences relating to the s**ual and indecent assault of young girls in the ’80s and ’90s ‘vindicated’ her.