A JURY yesterday found a former Ballarat radio identity guilty of sexually abusing four primary school aged boys.
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The County Court in Ballarat heard William Alexander Scetrine, 62, molested the boys between August 2005 and May 2006.
Scetrine showed the boys pornography on his computer, touched them inappropriately and paid two of the boys to engage in sexual activity with each other, the court heard during the trial.
Scetrine sat in the dock with his eyes closed and his hands clasped in front of him as the jury read out its verdict yesterday.
He was found guilty of 18 counts of committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16 and six counts of taking part in an act of sexual penetration with a child under 16.
The jury found him not guilty of three counts of committing an indecent act with or in the presence of a child under 16.
Outside court, the mother of one of the boys described the verdict as "justice for all of us".
"He's raped these kids of their innocence," she said.
"It's just ripping us apart, (it's) ripped our hearts out.
"The woman said she had trusted Scetrine "to the max" and had not seen any signs of what he was doing to her son.
"He's taken advantage of these kids," she said.
The woman said her emotions had been "up and down" during the trial, but it was now time to move on.
"Now we can put the kids at ease and start rebuilding our lives," the woman said.
"I'm just so glad that the kids are going to get justice."
Scetrine yesterday told the court his occupation was that of a disabled pensioner.
In 2002, Scetrine was convicted of knowingly possessing hundreds of pornographic images of boys under the age of 16 and received a fine and a suspended sentence.
Scetrine was yesterday remanded in custody for a plea hearing this morning.
