A 37-year-old man who admitted to police he was "turned on" by stroking a child victim on numerous occasions, has avoided time behind bars.
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The family of the victim sobbed in court as the man who preyed on the child for years was allowed to walk free.
In Dubbo Local Court the 37-year-old man pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault of a child and one count of intentionally sexually touching a child between the age of 10 and 16.
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Magistrate Brian van Zuylen said the man was entitled to a 25 per cent discount because he never denied the charges and entered an early guilty plea.
The man was handed two community corrections orders to be supervised by community corrections and an AVO for life.
Magistrate van Zuylen attached two conditions to the orders, one preventing the man from being alone in the company of any person under the age of 16 for three years, and the other banning the man from using drugs.
According to court documents the man, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, first assaulted the child when they were aged five or six some time between 2009 and 2011.
In 2012 the man told the victim's parent when he looked after the child he would give the victim "horsey rides" on his lap until he got an erection.
"I'd put her down and go into the bedroom to masturbate," he told the victim's parent.
Court documents state the child's parent was angry and upset about what the man confessed, "however over time began to trust the offender again".
Some time between January and November in 2018 the offender asked the child if they wanted a massage.
The man began giving her an upper back massage with the child's shirt pulled up around their neck exposing their back. The offender then moved his hands down the child's back before pulling down their pyjama pants so underwear could be seen.
The man rubbed and squeezed the child's bottom before later taking a photo on his mobile phone, court documents revealed.
He then went into another room and masturbated looking at the photo, before deleting it.
On another occasion in 2018 the man unzipped the victim's onesie and stroked his hands up and down their stomach. Later in 2019, again the man went up to the child and pushed his hand up inside their shirt and began rubbing the victim's stomach.
The Child Sex Crimes squad were notified the offender had been acting sexually appropriate with the victim in December 2019. The man was arrested in April 2020 when he participated in an interview where he admitted to police what he had done, admitting when he rubbed the victim's bum he felt "turned on" and would masturbate afterwards.
Defence lawyer Ivy Johnson told the court the man was remorseful and he accepted the emotional damage and distress he caused the child.
Crown prosecutor John Gibson said the man's crimes had a "significant psychological impact" on the victim.
Mr Gibson cited the repeated acts of child exploitation committed by the man, and said it was an offence that "absolutely deserves a custodial sentence".
Magistrate van Zuylen took into account the man's early plea, lack of criminal record and physical circumstances.
The court heard the man was legally blind, suffered from diabetes and suffered from schizoaffective disorder.
"The distress for [the victim] will be ongoing and won't ever be taken away," Magistrate van Zuylen said.
Looking at statistics for similar cases, Magistrate van Zuylen said between 50 and 60 per cent of people go to jail for similar crimes, however the rest were given community corrections orders.