An appeal by a former George Town man about a conviction on historical paedophilia charges was dismissed by the Court of Criminal Appeal.
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Bruce Paton Anderson, 61, was sentenced to a five-year jail term after being found guilty by a jury last year of four counts of indecent assault between 2003 and 2006 committed against an 11- year-old girl and one of aggravated sexual assault in 2007 against a seven-year-old girl.
Chief Justice Alan Blow and Justices Michael Brett and Acting Justice David Porter dismissed the five grounds of appeal which comprised three in relation to directions to the jury, a fourth about a summing up biased towards the Crown and a fifth asserting the verdicts were unsafe and unsatisfactory.
In other news:
Anderson's appeal against Justice Helen Wood's summing up of the case to the jury was based on as view that it was "excessively long, repetitive, only described the defence case in the briefest of terms and quoted and repeated evidence that supported the Crown case to an excessive and unfair degree".
However, in the appeal judgement Justice Brett said he was satisfied that the summing up by Justice Wood was appropriate and effective.
In the judgement Justice Porter noted that before the trial the Crown submitted a notice of tendency which was not objected to by the defence.
"The tendency alleged was a sexual interest in girls approximately seven to 10 years of age and a preparedness to act on that sexual interest in circumstances where there was a risk of detection by people nearby," he said.
In sentencing comments last year, Justice Wood said the way Anderson committed the crimes, demonstrated arrogance and a brazen attitude.
"There has been no hint of any remorse," she said.
In sentencing comments, Justice Wood also revealed that Anderson also had a conviction for indecent assault and rape of a five-year-old child which occurred in October 2009.
"He was convicted in April 2012 and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. As a result of the police investigation concerning those crimes, he was charged with three counts of possessing child exploitation material and 20 counts of possessing bestiality products.
He was convicted in the magistrates' courts and fined $2000."
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Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
