Aaron Jay Perkins: Northern beaches man jailed for child sex assault

A man who sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl on Sydney’s northern beaches is beginning a lengthy stay behind bars after being handed his sentence. The 47-year-old assaulted the girl first in Mona Vale and then on Scotland Island.

Aaron Jay Perkins was sentenced on Monday.

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A man who pleaded guilty to historic child sex offences on Sydney’s northern beaches has been jailed for five years following his arrest by police last year.

Aaron Jay Perkins, 47, of Avalon, was sentenced on Monday for sexually and indecently assaulting a girl in 2010 and 2011.

Appearing in the Downing Centre Court, Perkins was convicted of assaulting the girl who was aged nine and 10 at the time of the offences.

Perkins, pictured outside court earlier this year.

The court found Perkins had sexual intercourse with the girl, when she was aged 10, at Mona Vale between September 1 and November 11 in 2011.

Perkins also indecently sexually assaulted the girl on Scotland Island in late 2011 and exposed himself to the girl in late 2010.

In handing down his judgment, Judge Warwick Hunt described the nature of Perkins’s offending as a “breach of trust” that was “made more grave by the fact it occurred” at the victim’s home.

Perkins was sentenced in the Downing Centre Court on Monday.

“It is well understood the long-lasting effects of offending of this nature on people of a tender age,” Judge Hunt said.

“Children are entitled to feel safe.”

The court on Monday heard final submissions from Perkins’s lawyer John Peluso who told the court his client had a history of being molested as a child.

Mr Peluso noted findings from a psychological report in which Perkins had expressed “profound remorse” for his actions.

“My client said he was incredibly embarrassed and ‘have caused pain in a way I know I’ve suffered from’,” Mr Peluso said.

“It was his emotional state – including post-traumatic stress disorder – that had direct relevance to his offending. It’s my submission his emotional state came from his early childhood sexual trauma.”

In sentencing, Judge Hunt said the lasting harm caused by the offending included “psychological, emotional and social” impacts for the victim.

Judge Hunt found the offending was “not pre-planned or opportunistic”, noted there were “special circumstances” relevant for sentencing, and that an extended jail term would “not advance his prospects of rehabilitation”.

Perkins was sentenced to a total of five years in prison with a non-parole period of three years.

He will be eligible for parole on June 7, 2023.