Noel Russell: Moama shearer sexually abused child for years

A Moama sheep shearer showed an eight-year-old boy his rifle and threatened to shoot his father to coerce the child into years of sexual abuse.

A Moama sheep shearer showed an eight-year-old boy his rifle and threatened to shoot his father to coerce the child into years of sexual abuse in the riverside town.

Noel Russell, 67, was jailed for 12 years in Melbourne County Court on Thursday after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a child during the 1980s.

The already convicted sexual pedophile drummed his fingers on the prison table as he was sentenced for sexual crimes against his victim on Thursday.

After more than a decade behind bars the now 76-year-old man was found guilty of repeatedly sexually abusing a boy.

The shearer gave the children money for lollies during the 1970s and 80s.

When the boy was eight-years-old he, his father and 37-year-old Russell went to a rural property across the NSW border.

The court heard, while his father was working on a shed Russell showed the boy his rifle before threatening to shoot his dad unless he stayed silent.

Russell then sexually abused the eight-year-old.

The Moama predator developed a pattern of abuse, picking up the boy in his ute as he biked home from school and taking him to a secluded location.

His victim told the court the abuse occurred two to three times a week for years, and said he lost count of the number of times he was assaulted.

The abuse continued until he was in high school, when his family left the area.

“I feel I have experienced no joy in my life,” his now adult victim told the court.

“I don’t know what it (joy) feels like.

“Life has been a prison for me.

“I’ve been locked up in my head since I was a young boy.

“This has been a life sentence.

“I have not celebrated a birthday since this crime, because I have nothing to celebrate.”

The man said as a child he was unable to focus in class, saying “I was always thinking about what would happen to me after school”.

The abuse survivor said he started taking drugs at 11, smoking cannabis, and was using acid and speed at 12 to “black everything out”.

He said he battled his addiction and got clean when his son was born 28 years ago.

He said he continued to struggle with alcoholism and nightmares, and had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The Indigenous man said the trauma forced him to disconnect from his family, faith, mob and culture, leading him to ask “who am I?”.

Russel’s now adult victim said his childhood was stolen and relationship with his loved ones was permanently scarred by the shame and secret of his abuse.

He said his mother, a member of the stolen generation and an abuse survivor, had been re-traumatised by her son’s story.

As one of many of Russell’s victims the boy said he felt guilty and wished he came forward sooner.

Russell’s barrister James Fitzgerald said the ageing man had spent his long working life as a “transient” moving between rural and remote settings as a sheep shearer and fence fixer.

Mr Fitzgerald said the former Moama man wished to settle into a retirement home on an isolated rural property, but that was complicated by a looming extradition to New South Wales upon his release.

Judge Fran Dalziel said Russell was psychologically at a high risk of reoffending, but his age, long prison sentence and likely extradition to NSW meant he would not have the opportunity.

“He has no reasonable prospect of a productive life,” Judge Dalziel said.

On Thursday Russell was found guilty of indecent assault, sexual penetration of a child under 10, and sexual penetration of a child between 10 and 16.

Judge Dalziel sentenced him to 12 years in prison, with 677 days already served.

He will be able to apply for parole after eight years and six months.

Russell will remain on the sex offender’s register for life.