Self-confessed paedophile and child rapist Maurice Van Ryn could be back on the streets in seven years.
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In a judgement that has been categorically slammed by the community, Van Ryn was on Wednesday sentenced to 13 years, with a non-parole period of seven to be served.
He had pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse, indecent assault and intercourse without consent relating to nine girls and boys all under the age of 16.
However, in handing down his sentence late on Wednesday, Judge Clive Jeffreys said he was taking into account Van Ryn's "clear expression of contrition for child sex offences" and that he had ADHD.
A man could not take his eyes off the floor. A girl covered her mouth and blankly shook her head. A woman left the room, with a red, tear-stained face.
The enduring pain on the faces of Maurice Van Ryn's victims and their families was stark as Judge Clive Jeffreys read out the graphic details of the sexual attacks on children.
Van Ryn, who did not look towards the public gallery as he sat hunched over in the NSW District Court dock, was on Wednesday sentenced to a maximum of 13 years' jail, with a non-parole period of seven years.
Van Ryn pleaded guilty to 14 charges over attacks on nine boys and girls, aged eight to 15, between 2003 and 2014 in southern NSW.
Two of the charges he admitted were sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old boy in 2010.
The court heard Van Ryn performed oral sex on one boy about 20 times over the course of months, and had anal sex with him.
In another attack, he groped a girl in a spa, while her parents sat nearby, unaware of what was happening under the water.
Van Ryn gave other children gifts and sweets before the attacks, and assaulted one of his victims after taking him to a rugby game, which they watched together in a corporate box.
In one incident, as he "tickled" a boy's genitals, Van Ryn asked the child: "Do you want to be my special friend?"
While encouraging a 13-year-old boy to perform a sex act during another attack, he said: "It's OK, just try it."
At earlier hearings, Van Ryn told the court he had a paraphiliac disorder, which meant he had been attracted to children for most of his life.
In Victoria in 1981, he was charged with wilful and obscene exposure when he flashed a paperboy on an evening in June.
He said he was now taking medication to suppress his testosterone levels, which had made his "preoccupation with children" go away.
Judge Jeffreys took Van Ryn's early guilty plea, contrition and his seeking treatment into account upon sentencing.
There was an audible gasp in court when the judge referred to Van Ryn's previous good character, and his expressions of remorse to his relatives and a psychiatrist.
The families were also visibly indignant when the judge referred to a discount on sentence for an early guilty plea, and his rejection of evidence about grooming one victim.
Earlier this year, one of his victims stood in front of Van Ryn and detailed her ongoing trauma.
"He has stolen from me my choice to share my body with someone for the first time," the woman said, in a strong and even voice."I'm so angry ... it wasn't his to take."
