A Victorian pedophile who told a boy the abuse was "good for him" and bought him ice cream afterwards has been jailed for at least four-and-a-half years.
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Peter Hartland, now 70, repeatedly abused the boy, then aged 12 or 13, between 1973 and 1974 while working as a fitter and turner at Bendigo.
He told the boy the abuse was "good for him" and "this is good". The pedophile also bought the child ice cream before and after raping or molesting him.
Hartland was jailed in Victoria's County Court on Monday for seven years, with a non-parole period of four-and-a-half years.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault and five of buggery in February.
The abuse left the boy feeling "angry, scared and dirty". It stopped after he began running away to hide at a creek near his house when he heard Hartland's car.
"This man took my childhood, innocence, education and personality and affected very aspect of my life for his own sexual pleasure," the survivor told the court in a statement.
As a boy, he never learned to read or write properly and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He also turned to alcohol and drugs to cope with the pain and struggled to form relationships.
Sentencing Judge Frank Gucciardo said Hartland used a "vile disguise of affection" to groom the boy for abuse.
The pedophile's crimes represented an "egregious and fundamental" abuse of a child as well as his parents' trust, the judge added.
"His body remembers the trauma, as does his mind," Judge Gucciardo said.
"Both the community and the court abhor this kind of sexual exploitation of children."
The victim first reported the matter to police in 2017, with a phone call between him and Hartland - in which the offender admitted his crimes - recorded about two years later.
Hartland will be placed on the sex offender registry for life.
Australian Associated Press
