2 days ago
Paedophile teacher Peter Jeffrey Farmer jailed for historic sexual assault
A paedophile primary school teacher who fled Victoria after he was caught has been jailed.
Peter Jeffrey Farmer, 66, pleaded guilty earlier this year to 10 sexual assault and gross indecency charges, 30 years after his crimes.
The charges related to offending between 1986 and 1988.
Judge Geoffrey Chettle on Tuesday sentenced Farmer to six-and-a-half years in prison, with a four-and-a-half-year non-parole period.
Farmer was a teacher at a primary school in the Gippsland town of Newborough near Moe, when a resident alerted the school that she had seen him acting oddly with children on the school oval.
He resigned and despite being told not to enter school grounds, he left notes and presents for his victims at the school, before fleeing Victoria.
His victims were about eight years old at the time.
Survivors of his assaults delivered victim impact statements to the court in April, detailing lives marred with memories of his offending.
"You were a paedophile," Judge Geoffrey Chettle said during sentencing in the Victorian County Court sitting in Bairnsdale on Tuesday.
The court heard an investigation ensued after a victim came forward to the Latrobe Valley Sexual Offences and Child Investigations Team in 2019.
Farmer was arrested at his Queensland home in September 2022.
"Your offending was extensive, repetitive, and each offence involved a serious breach of trust," Judge Chettle said on Friday.
"Trust of the community, trust of the parents for their children, trust that you would care for them and not molest them."
Farmer's victims watched on as Judge Chettle handed down his sentence.
"Your victims were young, fragile and innocent. They were girls," Judge Chettle said.
"You have offended against your victim in the presence of other female students."
Paraphrasing a report by an expert witness, Judge Chettle told the court Farmer's age reduced his risk of offending.
"Your age has seen your paedophilic interest decline," he said.
Farmer was set to be sentenced in April, via videolink, but the prison in which he was held could not get the link to work.
It was adjourned until Friday, when he was brought from prison to the County Court in Bairnsdale to be sentenced in person.
