A former train driver from Luddenham has been sentenced to at least 11 years behind bars over historic child sexual abuse.
Boyd Bray, 77, was sentenced at Penrith District Court on Friday, after he was found guilty of 14 charges related to sexual offending by a jury.
In 2018, he was charged with a string of offences including sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 16 years, aggravated indecent assault of a person under 16, and homosexual intercourse with a male under 18.
Bray watched the proceedings via video link from a suite at Long Bay Correctional Centre where he has been remanded in custody.
A graphic set of facts read out to the court detailed the abuse that Bray inflicted on his two victims between 1989 and 1993.
The court heard his victims, a boy and girl, were aged 11 and nine when the abuse began in various locations including Luddenham, Kensington and Jenolan.
On multiple occasions, the boy was subjected to group sex with other men and taken to a male bath house.
On another occasion, Bray sexually abused the girl while her brothers watched.
An impact statement read out to the court described the significant and long-lasting consequences of sexual abuse.
“When I think about my childhood I try to close my eyes and think of happy times but all I can picture is being abused,” the victim said.
The court heard Bray had been abused during his school years and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder after witnessing a number of self-harm fatalities while working as a train driver.
It was also said in court that he was “unlikely to reoffend” because of his “more advanced age and declining physical health”.
In sentencing, Judge Michael Allen said the penalty imposed must be a proportionate one that recognises the harm done to the victims.
He told the court that Bray abused a position of trust and seemed to exploit the youth of his victims.
“Children deserve to be protected,” he said.
Bray was sentenced to an aggregate term of 16 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 11 years, backdated to November 2022 when his bail was revoked.
He will be eligible for release in November 2033.
Formerly with the ABC, Makayla is a graduate of Western Sydney University. She covers a variety of news topics for the Weekender, including courts.
