Hey Dad! Star Found GUILTY of Nine Child Sex Offences!

Hey Dad! TV Star Robert Hughes has been found guilty of seven counts of indecent assault of a person under the age of 16 and two counts sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16 years.

“I’M INNOCENT!”  INSISTS HUGHES

The 65-year-old sat shaking his head and crying in the dock as the jury declared its verdict. He appeared to be saying ‘‘no, no, no’’ over and over.

He then closed his eyes in anguish. Just as the jury left, he sprang to his feet, leaned out of the dock and shouted, ‘‘I am innocent!’’

His wife and celebrity agent Robyn Gardiner sat calmly among the media in public gallery as the verdict was delivered.

His 29-day trial heard details of the 11 child sex offences on five separate girls during the 1980s and in 1990.

The victims were aged between six and 15 at the time of the offending.

The charge of indecent assault relating to a young girl who worked on set of Hey Dad! were among the charges the jury could agree on.

Hughes was accused of molesting the young girl and exposing himself to her at he Channel Seven studios.

The trial heard that in the case of two girls, Hughes came into the rooms where they were sleeping and sexually assaulted them as they lay terrified in bed. One recalled Hughes telling her ‘‘good girl … here’s your teddy’’, before leaving the room. The other girl said the actor licked her face before departing.

Another alleged victim recalled a trip to Manly in which Mr Hughes allegedly forced her to swim through his legs while he exposed himself, and then trapped her by closing his legs, preventing her from resurfacing.

The fourth victim was aged 15 when she was indecently assaulted by Hughes, who also attempted to maintain a relationship with her, sending her long-stemmed roses on her 16th birthday and telling her:

‘‘I want you to find a place for us to go so we and have sex because I’m too old to be doing it in the bush’’.

Then came the woman who worked with Mr Hughes on Hey Dad! , who said that he exposed his penis to her behind the set of the sitcom and then groped her in his dressing room. The jury remains undecided on this charge.

The trial heard from multiple witnesses that Hughes’ regularly and repeatedly exposed himself to young women.

A number of members of the TV show’s wardrobe staff spoke of the actor’s habit of napping naked in his dressing room, having instructed staff to come in and wake him up.

According to one alleged victim, that complaint was “swept under the carpet” at the time — the paperwork was also lost over the decades that followed, which set back the investigation.

Detectives travelled several times across the world to gather statements and meet witnesses.

In September 2010, they went to four cities in the US, including Los Angeles and New York where they took statements from stars people who had acted worked on the show early in their careers.

The original complainant was also interviewed by the strike force detectives in Texas.

In October 2010, the alleged victim who said her complaint was “swept under the carpet” travelled to Sydney from Brisbane to be reinterviewed by police.

The investigation’s funding was questioned at several points by senior police. In mid-2011, the police brief of evidence, which contains more than 100 witness statements, was handed to the Director of Public Prosecutions for their consideration.

From there, taskforce officers waited for the determination.

In June 2012, detectives travelled to Melbourne to interview a journalist who had spoken to some of the complainants.

In July, 2012 the DPP ruled police had enough evidence to proceed with 11 charges and an arrest warrant was issued for Hughes.

The Gutter Trash has been told that police sought more charges against Hughes, however the DPP determined there was not enough evidence to prove them in court.

“There were a number of charges where there wasn’t sufficient evidence,’’ a senior investigator said.

NSW officers then contacted the Australian Federal Police and the London Metropolitan Police in a bid to locate Hughes, finding him in London.

“He spends a lot of time between the UK and Singapore — he travels between them quite regularly,’’ an officer said. “It wasn’t overly difficult to locate him.”

Hughes was arrested and granted bail in London in August 2012, following a two-year international investigation.