Ex primary school principal Kevin John Harding granted parole after 18 months’ jail for sexually abusing boy

Former Tasmanian school principal Kevin John Harding, who sexually abused a primary school boy, has been granted parole after just 18 months’ jail. He now plans on returning to a “healthy and normal” sex life with his wife.

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A PRIMARY school principal who sexually attacked a young boy in the school toilet block during the 1970s has been granted parole after just 18 months in prison.

Kevin John Harding, now 81, was jailed on February 27 last year for the 1973 attack, which caused his young victim “incredible pain”.

But now the diagnosed paedophile is out of jail, he claims he intends to return to a “healthy and normal” sex life with his wife of 55 years, despite his diagnosis.

Harding was jailed for three years with a non-parole period of half that time for the crime of “sexual intercourse with a young person under 17” – a crime that has since been renamed “penetrative sexual abuse of a child”.

According to the Supreme Court sentencing judge, Michael Brett, Harding was aged 34 or 35 when he attacked the boy at school.

He said the victim “displayed enormous courage” in finally coming forward after some 40 years.

“His ongoing contact with you as the school principal, and your ongoing abuse of him, meant that there was no escape or relief for him from the impact of this crime,” Justice Brett said while sentencing.

“Going to school each day must have been a terrifying and horrible experience for him.”

Harding has two previous convictions for sexual offending and “predatory conduct” against children, with crimes committed between 1967 and 2000.

The Parole of Board of Tasmania, in its newly-published decision, said Harding’s crimes had an “ongoing negative influence” in his young victim’s life.

In approving his parole as of August 26 this year, the board said there wasn’t evidence that Harding had reoffended since 2000, and that he’d achieved minimum security classification while at Risdon Prison.

The board also said that even though the man had not participated in a sex offender program while in jail, that didn’t mean he couldn’t successfully apply for a parole order.

“The applicant is aware of and recognises his need for vigilance and support to ensure he remains abstinent from acting upon his inappropriate and unlawful sexual proclivities,” it said.

“He has sought and utilised psychological support for this for an extended period which has enabled him to come to a position whereby he can live a healthy and normal sexual life in the confines of his marriage despite his paedophilic disorder diagnosis.

“The applicant’s wife and others are aware of his offending but are prepared to offer support to him on his return to the community.”

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