Pedophile Stephen Mateer sentenced for horrific child abuse alongside twin brother Richard Mateer

Now old and frail, a sexual predator who preyed on young boys in Lake Macquarie dating back more than 30 years, alongside his twin brother, has been sentenced. Read the result.

Newcastle Court house. Supplied Amy Ziniak

A sexual predator who groomed and preyed on vulnerable young boys is set to spend his last years of life behind bars.

Stephen Mateer, now 71, would team up with his twin brother Richard and commit horrific and shocking abuse dating back more than 30 years.

Their victims have waited a long time to see justice served against the serial pedophiles, with Stephen the first to learn his fate on Tuesday and brother Richard having to wait until May after the courts ordered a neurological assessment.

Looking old, frail and hard of hearing, appearing via video link from Long Bay jail in Newcastle District Court, Stephen Mateer was sentenced to 17 years and six months jail until 2039 after being found guilty for a number of horrendous acts in the Lake Macquarie area between 1989 and 1993.

In May last year, Stephen had a special hearing after being found unfit to stand trial and was found by Judge Peter McGrath to have committed 42 offences, spanning 12 incidents against two teenage boys.

Two teenage boys were indecently and sexually assaulted by Stephen Mateer more than 30 years ago who has now been jailed until 2039. iStock.

Those included indecent assault of a person under 16, indecent assault of a person under 16 under authority, indecent assault of a person under 16 in company, committing an act of indecency of a person under 16, sexual intercourse with a person between 10-16, sexual intercourse with a person under 16 under authority and inciting a male under 18 to commit a homosexual act.

The court heard Stephen used his pizza shop to groom the boys, giving them free food and drinks before abusing them with his brother and on their own.

He would also offer them driving lessons and take them to secluded spots where he would abuse the boys, all the while telling them not to tell anyone otherwise they would get in trouble.

The court heard Stephen was also found to have incited two boys to perform sex acts on each other as he watched on and became involved.

Some of the offences included Stephen abusing one of the boys at a local nightclub where he got him a job.

Mr McGrath also found his brother Richard guilty of seven counts of sexual assault – assault with an act of indecency in company, and one count of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 16.

The twins, both of whom have already served significant jail terms for abusing other boys dating back to the 1980s, were arrested again in 2021 by Strike Force Arapaima set up to investigate the suspected murders of 14-year-old Amanda Robinson and 18-year-old Robyn Hickie in 1979.

While they weren’t found to have anything to do with those disappearances, and were never charged, detectives hunted down evidence against the pair after new allegations came to light.

After being jailed in 2013, the pair were released on parole in 2021 only to be arrested again on these latest charges.