Scott Pearce: Silverdale man on child rape, sex assault charges
A 50-year-old road worker was arrested at the weekend on charges of raping two children. He wept in court and pleaded for help as he faced the charges for the first time.
Penrith
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A father of four has broken down in court after being charged with indecently and sexually assaulting two young girls over a two-year period.
Scott Leslie Pearce, 50, was arrested at his acreage in Silverdale on Saturday following extensive inquiries from Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad detectives.
Information was passed on to police in June 2019 that the experienced road worker had allegedly assaulted two children.
Police will allege the girls were aged between 10 and 14 years old at the time of the abuse. There is no suggestion Pearce assaulted any of his own children.
Pearce was taken to Penrith Police Station and charged with two counts of aggravated indecent assault (victim under authority of offender), aggravated sexual intercourse (victim aged between 10 and 14 years) and aggravated sexual assault (victim under the age of 16).
The emotional Pearce appeared at Central Local Court on Tuesday, where he was granted conditional bail after three days behind bars.
Appearing via video link from Silverwater prison, his hand shook as he stroked his white beard while waiting to learn if he would be released.
He could be seen removing his glasses to wipe away tears, and his voice broke on several occasions.
At one point he pleaded with his lawyer, Mark Mulock, to “please help me”.
Mr Mulock told the court his client was the sole breadwinner for his family who lived in the Wollondilly area and had been working on the M4 extension to Penrith for the last six years.
Pearce had never been in contact with the justice system before and the chances of him reoffending were “remote”, Mr Mulock said.
The defence lawyer also described the police case as weak saying there was “no independent evidence” to back them up: “There is no medical evidence, no witnesses”.
Despite stating he believed the police case was strong, Magistrate Alexander Mijovich noted a potentially “very long” wait for a hearing could be problematic as Pearce suffers from a serious heart condition.
Magistrate Mijovich granted the 50-year-old bail to live at Silverdale, not to contact the alleged victims and to not be in the company of a child under 16 unless accompanied by an adult.
The matter will return to Penrith Local Court on July 7.