In short:
Former Catholic priest Robert Hickman has been jailed in Western Australia for sexually abusing two girls in Perth in 1990.
The 81-year-old was previously jailed in New South Wales for similar offences.
In a statement to the court, one of the victims described her abuser as a "very evil man".
A former Catholic priest and serial paedophile who sexually abused two young girls in foster care 36 years ago has been jailed for more than two years.
Robert James Hickman, 81, was previously imprisoned for sexual offences in New South Wales against multiple victims.
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Hickman had pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a child, and indecent dealing with a child in Perth in 1990.
WA District Court Judge Karen Shepherd described his actions as a "breach of trust" given his position, and too serious to justify a suspended term.
He was sentenced to two years and six months in jail, to be served immediately at Casuarina Prison.
The court heard the Perth victims were aged 11 and 13 when Hickman flew over from Sydney on official business in 1990, and attended a dinner with other members of the Catholic Church at their foster home.
The man the girls knew as "Father Bob" then went into their bedroom to give "goodnight prayers" and read out a bible story.
He told one of the girls he was going to give her a "special blessing" before touching her indecently.
The priest then groped the other girl in a similar manner before leaving the room, saying "goodnight girls, God bless, it was lovely to meet you".
The court heard the girls had then cried themselves to sleep.
One girl reported the incident to the foster mother, who initially dismissed her as a liar.
Nine years later, the foster mother reported the incident to the Catholic Church's WA Professional Standards Office, and received a letter of apology from Hickman.
The church offered money as part of a non-disclosure agreement.
'A very evil soul'
In a statement read out in court by prosecutor Rachael McCallum, one of the victims described the impact of the abuse as "immeasurable".
The woman said she had to carry the burden of having been sexually abused, and being told she was a liar, at a time when she was living in a new environment after her parents had died.
She "had to keep everything inside", the statement said, going on to describe Hickman as "a very evil soul".
The other victim provided a statement in which she said the abuse had changed her life "forever", but she had decided to forgive Hickman for her own mental health.
"I choose not to give you any power from this day forward," she said in the statement.
Health issues
Hickman was investigated by the child abuse squad in 2015 and arrested and extradited to WA from NSW 10 years later.
His lawyer Simon Freitag said he had served five years of a ten year prison sentence in NSW, from 2015 to 2020, for sexual offences against multiple victims.
In 2001, he received a suspended sentence, and a community corrections order had been imposed for similar offending in 2024.
Mr Freitag said Hickman's offences occurred from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, but he had "not reoffended in decades... He is not presently a danger to children".
Hickman is recovering from cancer surgery and has several other health issues.
He will eligible for parole after serving 15 months in prison.
