Pony club predator Neil Duncan wins three week reprieve in bail fight

The DPP has applied for detention applications for two convicted paedophiles pending their sentencing following community outrage that they were granted bail.

Two convicted paedophiles who the Attorney-General wants locked up have won reprieves of at least three weeks because the Supreme Court is too busy and their barristers are tied up with other cases.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has applied for detention applications for Neil Duncan, 67, and Robert Van Gestal, 78, pending their sentencing following community outrage that they were granted bail.

Pony club paedophile Duncan is due to be sentenced on August 5 after being convicted by a jury of eight counts of sexually touching girls aged between 10 and 16 in 2018 and 2020.

Convicted paedophile Neil Duncan will learn whether his bail has been revoked for a string of child sex offences on July 11.

Van Gestal, a life member of a northern beaches soccer club, is due to be sentenced on October 21 for nine charges dating back to the 1970s, including five counts of committing an act of indecency and assaulting a female under the age of 16.

The Crown prosecutor told the Supreme Court on Monday that she had been instructed to seek the earliest dates available to the courts but Registrar George Galanis said June was already full.

Duncan, who has hired busy high-profile barrister Richard Pontello SC, will face court on July 11 and he has been told to turn up in person.

Van Gestal has to turn up in person to hear his fate on July 14.

Paedophile Robert Van Gestel, 78, has been told to front the Supreme Court on July 14 as prosecutors seek to have his bail revoked pending his sentence. Picture: AAP Image/ Julian Andrews

Attorney-General Mark Speakman asked the ODPP to review the bail decisions after The Daily Telegraph revealed Duncan had not only been granted bail pending his sentence but his bail had been renewed despite him breaching conditions by going unaccompanied to a kids’ ­gymkhana.

Mr Speakman has pledged to take new laws before cabinet early in July to stop judges releasing paedophiles and other serious sex offenders on bail pending their sentences if it is inevitable they are going to be sentenced to a jail sentence.

Duncan, who has been bailed to live at his family’s sprawling horse stud near Tamworth, has pulled out the big guns by hiring Mr Pontello, who is a go-to counsel for sports players in strife.

He has appeared for Jarryd Hayne, former St George Illawarra Dragons rookie Tristan Sailor, Penrith Panthers player Tyrone May and former cricket star Michael Slater.