A north Belfast pensioner was today (Monday) jailed for 11 years for historic child abuse offences.
In October this year, George Hendry (84), of Serpentine Parade, was found guilty by a jury at Belfast Crown Court of four counts of indecent assault and two of buggery of a boy under the age of 16.
The charges spanned a 14-week period between November 14, 1980 and February 20, 1981
The offences were committed while Hendry worked as deputy manager at Palmerston Assessment Centre (PAC) in east Belfast.
The PAC was part of the Eastern Health and Social Services Board (EHSB) network of children’s homes.
These centres acted as initial points of contact or assessment for children needing social care, providing a place for evaluation before further placements.
The trial heard Hendry sometimes worked the night shift at PAC where he was the sole member of staff on duty during which much of the horrendous abuse took place over 40 years ago.
The victim, aged 15 at the time, reported that the sexual assaults took place in his bedroom when Hendry forced himself upon the young boy either in bed or while having a bath.
Hendry threatened the boy not to speak about what was happening to him or he would be “sent to Rathgael”, a training school for young people in Bangor, Co Down.
The jury heard that when the victim cried out in pain during the abuse, Hendry would tell him to “shut up”.
Judge Catherine Chasemore said the aggravating factors were the age of the injured party, the defendant was in a position of trust and the repeated nature of the offending.
She said the case involved high culpability and high harm by Hendry on his victim.
Judge Chasemore said that sexual abuse had affected the injured party’s mental health and he now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
A pre-sentence report compiled by the Probation Board assessed Hendry as a high likelihood of reoffending in the future but was not a danger to the public.
It said Hendry still denied the offences ever took place and showed no remorse for the indecent and sexual assaults on his teenage male victim.
The court heard that the defendant had previous convictions for similar offending dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s but never received a custodial sentence.
Passing the 11 year sentence, Judge Chasemore told Hendry that his offending was so serious only a custodial sentence was appropriate.
Hendry was placed on the sex offenders register for an indefinite period but was not made the subject of Sexual Offences Prevention Order.
