Lollipop man and father-of-one is jailed for more than 12 years over sexual abuse of an infant and other young girls after befriending their mothers at the local primary school
- A lollipop man who filmed himself sexually assaulting young girls has been jailed
- Michael Cyril Hyde, 60, was convicted of eight counts of child sexual abuse
- Police found tens of thousands of child porn videos when they raided his home
- Father-of-one pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to more than 12 years in jail
A lollipop man who filmed himself sexually assaulting young girls, including an infant, has been jailed for 12 years and six months.
Michael Cyril Hyde, 60, was convicted in the District Court of Western Australia of eight counts of child sexual abuse committed between 2011 and 2016, including assaulting a child under 16 and filming children being abused.
Mr Hyde’s recordings of the abuse were found along with tens of thousands of child pornography videos and images he had downloaded from the internet when police raided his home.
Michael Cyril Hyde (pictured) was convicted in the District Court of Western Australia of eight counts of child sexual abuse committed between 2011 and 2016, including assaulting a child under 16 and filming children being abused
Two of the victims were sisters aged between six and 10, while the unrelated infant was aged 22 months.
He also filmed himself touching the genitals of another girl when she was aged 11 or 12, but claimed he was checking for ‘lesions’ caused by an ‘autoimmune deficiency’.
He said he had poor eyesight and needed to zoom in on the area to see it properly.
Prosecutors said Mr Hyde befriended the mother of the baby and her sister while working as a lollipop man at a primary school before he started babysitting the two children.
Two of the victims were sisters aged between six and 10, while the unrelated infant was aged 22 months. Prosecutors said Mr Hyde (pictured) befriended the mother of the baby and her sister while working as a lollipop man at a primary school before he started babysitting the two children
None of the children testified during the trial, so the case hinged on several hours of videos, which were shown to the jury in a closed court.
The court heard Mr Hyde made obscene comments in the videos including asking one girl ‘how much she would cost and how long he could have her for’.
The traffic warden also claimed a video of him touching a baby’s genital area was actually him brushing chip crumbs and sand from the area and checking if she had a nappy on, and denied the conduct was sexual.
None of the children testified during the trial, so the case hinged on several hours of videos, which were shown to the jury in a closed court (stock image)
‘You were unable to appreciate what was plain to everyone during your trial,’ Judge Felicity Davis said on Friday, adding the proceedings had been confronting.
She said there was a ‘high degree of perversion’ and persistence involved with Hyde’s indecent dealing offences.
‘All the children were very young and they could not have been more vulnerable,’ she said.
Mr Hyde committed some of the assaults with others nearby, including the mother of a victim.
A detective described the child exploitation material found in Mr Hyde’s home as some of the most graphic he had seen ‘in a long, long time’
A detective described the child exploitation material as some of the most graphic he had seen ‘in a long, long time’.
More than 2500 of the images were in the two most severe categories and some showed the victims in visible distress.
Hyde pleaded not guilty and maintained his actions were not sexual, reported the ABC.
Hyde has already been in custody for more than three years and will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years and six months behind bars.