A former high school teacher, John Ernest Spinks, 85, has been sentenced to a limiting term of three years and 10 months in jail for the historical sexual abuse of three boys. The offences occurred between the 1970s and 1990s while Spinks worked as a teacher in regional NSW schools and later as a rugby club strapper.
Spinks, who suffers from dementia and poor health, was not present in the Dubbo District Court when Judge Troy Anderson handed down the sentence on Monday. Due to his cognitive impairment, Spinks was deemed unfit to stand trial, but after a special hearing in July last year, he was found guilty of five historical charges, including indecent assault and buggery.
The court heard that the first offence took place in the early 1970s when Spinks was an English teacher at a Wagga Wagga school. He sexually abused a year 11 student in the book room, threatening the boy with expulsion if he told anyone. In the 1980s, while serving as deputy principal and head of maths at a school in Gunnedah, Spinks assaulted a year 7 student after disciplining him with a cane.
Later, in the 1990s, Spinks worked as a strapper for a rugby club and used his position to access teenage boys. On two occasions during rugby trips, he touched a 14-year-old boy's genitals. Spinks resigned from teaching in 1989 following complaints of a sexual nature.
Judge Anderson noted that child sex offences have profound and long-term effects on victims. Because of Spinks' dementia and health issues, he will be referred to the Mental Health Review Tribunal. The limiting term is the best estimate of the sentence the court would have imposed if not for the Mental Health Act. Spinks will remain in custody until transferred to the tribunal's care.
