District Court Judge Gordon Barrett this month found ex-Salvation Army officer Christian Siebert guilty of two counts of the persistent sexual exploitation of two girls — then aged four and six — between 1976 and 1978.

Both victims first made statements to Victoria Police in 2004, and went on to give evidence at the royal commission two years ago.

The District Court heard a Salvation Army couple were posted to an SA country town and moved there with their two daughters and son in 1976.

Siebert, who would later become a pastor, was aged 20 at the time and was an active member of the church congregation where he spent a lot of time with the siblings, who lived next to the church.

The older sister gave evidence that she came to trust Siebert, now 61, as he was always around the church.

“He hugged her and gave her piggy back rides,” Judge Barrett said in his decision.

“She said that when the accused started touching her inappropriately she did not see the wrongness of what was happening.

“The behaviour was generally more comforting.”

But she told the court the sexual offending escalated.

“She said the accused would commit sexual acts on her in the church proper,” Judge Barrett said.

Her younger sister alleged Siebert would touch her inappropriately but at such a young age, she didn’t know it was wrong.

“Her account of the accused’s sexual offending is more extensive than that of (her sister),” the judge said.

The court was told the offences against her included rape.

“He told her that if she told anyone what he’d been doing, he’d kill her, her family and her pets,” Judge Barrett said. “She said she was devastated — she had no idea why she was in trouble.”

Siebert denied any sexual impropriety, saying he never even played with them and only knew of them as the Salvation Army captain’s daughters.

He also accused the women of colluding. But Judge Barrett rejected the collusion claim, saying he accepted the sisters never told each other about their abuse and their experiences were different.

“It is not collusion if, as a result of discussion between two people, they feel confident enough to report abuse that each have genuinely suffered,” he said.

Judge Barrett said the victims — a 47-year-old from Queensland and a Victorian, 45 — were not close and they only found out about the abuse against the other in 2004.

Siebert will be sentenced at a later date.