Ricky Tree, 48, was sentenced to a total of six years imprisonment earlier this month.
POLICE say they’re happy with a six year jail term for a Ballarat man who sexually assaulted two children, aged 5 and 10.
Ricky Tree, 48, was sentenced to a total of six years imprisonment at the County Court in Melbourne earlier this month.
He was handed a non-parole period of four years.
In sentencing, Judge Richard Maidment denounced the behaviour, which occurred in Ballarat during 2007 and 2008.
“The offending conduct is undoubtedly serious ... the children were vulnerable, you were entrusted to their care and you breached your position of trust,” he said.
“Whether or not you contrived the situations, you undoubtedly took advantage of the situations which arose to commit these very serious offences.”
Tree pleaded guilty to three counts of committing an indecent act of a child under 16 and two counts of sexual penetration of a child under 16.
Head of Ballarat’s Sexual Offence and Child Abuse Investigation Team, Tim Argall, said detectives at his unit were “pleased with the outcome in this case”.
“When Victoria Police changed the way sexual offences were investigated and created specialist units staffed by dedicated detectives, we were confident that this would improve the outcomes for victims and the community,” Detective Senior Sergeant Argall said.
“The Ballarat SOCIT has been operating for over 18 months and we are now starting to see the results of this new way of doing business.”
Detective Senior Sergeant Argall said police work closely with support agencies to archive the best possible outcome for victims.
“The community should be confident that if they report a sexual offence to police, we will work as hard as we can to bring the case to a successful resolution,” he said.