AUSTRALIA
ABC News
A former volunteer firefighter and church youth group leader who preyed on two young sisters for his own sexual gratification has been sentenced to at least 22 months’ jail.
Michael James Townsend, 25, hardly reacted when he was handcuffed and taken into custody at Sydney’s District Court for 14 offences involving the abuse of two sisters, aged 13 and 15.
The former Rural Fire Service volunteer leader claimed he did not think he was doing anything wrong when he sexually abused the girls because it did not involve penile vaginal penetration.
“I have difficultly accepting that explanation,” Judge Peter Maiden said.
“To say he has been sheltered because he has been in a Christian environment in my mind does not and cannot properly explain what is said to be naivety on his part.”
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