Serial Albany paedophile Kenneth Norman has prison sentence reduced on appeal

Serial paedophile Kenneth Ernest Norman has had his sentence reduced by one year on appeal in the Supreme Court. In October 2018, the Albany man was sentenced to eight years and eight months in prison after being found guilty of 12 counts of unlawfully and indecently dealing with eight underage girls. His offences, which took place over a period of about 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s, were described as “planned and premeditated” by District Court Judge Mark Herron. During Norman’s original sentencing hearing in 2018, Judge Herron found the former businessman had only stopped sexually assaulting young girls because of a lack of opportunity. At the time, the judge described that finding as an aggravating factor. Norman’s defence counsel had contended that he voluntarily stopped offending because of steps he had taken to rehabilitate himself. In a verdict delivered on Thursday, the 81-year-old had an appeal against his sentence upheld because of an “error” by Judge Herron. The three judges of the Court of Appeal — Robert Mazza, Michael Buss and Andrew Beech — found it was not possible for the judge to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the only reason Norman stopped offending in 1987 was a lack of opportunity. The judges said the error required them to re-sentence Norman on all counts. They noted that Norman’s offending had “enduring adverse impacts” on his victims and he showed no remorse. “In our view, a total effective sentence of 7 years 8 months' imprisonment is appropriate for the overall criminality involved in all of the appellant's offending,” they said. Norman was made eligible for parole and could be out of prison at the age of 85. He had also appealed his conviction on five grounds, but was unsuccessful on all counts.