Horse breeder who sexually assaulted five young women on farm facing jail

A horse breeder who sexually assaulted five women on his southern NSW farm is facing a long prison sentence.

A 68-year-old horse breeder found guilty of a string of sexual assaults on young women working on his NSW farm continues to deny responsibility for his crimes, a court has heard.

Gregory Richard Douglas is facing a lengthy prison sentence after a NSW District Court jury last month found him guilty of 13 offences committed on his property at Peelwood between 2014 and 2019.

During a sentence hearing on Wednesday, one of his five young victims - who cannot be named for legal reasons - sobbed and wiped away tears as she watched proceedings via video link.

All the offences relate to massages Douglas coerced the women - a Japanese woman, an Australian woman and three German women - into receiving.

Following a month-long trial, a jury took three days to find him guilty of 13 charges including multiple counts of sexual intercourse without consent, sexually touching another person without consent and indecent assault.

He was acquitted of a further two charges.

Sexual intercourse without consent carries a maximum possible jail term of 12 years.

The massages occurred within a short time of the women coming to work on his farm, about an hour-and-a-half south of Bathurst on NSW’s southern tablelands.

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, one of his victims told of feeling “useless and ashamed”, scared to speak up and how she had experienced anxiety and panic attacks ever since.

“I am no longer able to catch taxis alone or Ubers with a male driver without being on the verge of a panic attack,” the woman said.

The horse breeder is facing a long prison sentence. Picture: Facebook

“When in a room with a person with a passing resemblance to the perpetrator, I feel physically sick and need to distance myself from them even when there are other people around.

“I find myself second guessing people’s intentions when being nice or offering assistance.”

Douglas’ barrister Andrew Norrie on Wednesday argued the women had access to Wi-Fi and were not completely cut off from the outside world on the property.

However crown prosecutor Adrian Robertson told the court the women were on an isolated farm and Douglas had a level of power over them due to them being in an employee-employer relationship.

The court heard Douglas continued to deny any wrongdoing, however in an interview with a psychologist he referred to, at the time, not understanding the legal issues of consent.

“Even though there is a denial, it is a matter that would go towards the unlikelihood of reoffending,” Mr Norrie said.

Judge Ian Bourke said he found that argument “a little bit hard to accept”.

“That a man … in his early 60s … in those circumstances, his apparent pursuit of sexual contact with girls young enough to be his daughters or granddaughters, that he had some misunderstanding about issues of consent.

“When I look at the whole history given by the various people of pursuing them for naked or semi-naked massages, it tends to jump out as predatory behaviour.

“I have trouble accepting that he was in some doubt about the lack of consent.”

Douglas will be sentenced in August.