Former 'Hey Dad' star Robert Hughes loses appeal against conviction for child sex offences

Former Hey Dad..! star Robert Hughes has had an appeal against his conviction and sentence for sexually assaulting young girls dismissed in a Sydney court. 

Hughes was jailed in 2014 for 10 years and nine months, with a minimum term of six years, after he was found guilty on two counts of sexual assault, seven counts of indecent assault and one count of committing an indecent act.

The charges followed accusations from his former child co-stars that he had abused them on the set of the popular Australian sitcom in the 1980s and 1990s.

Hughes, 67, did not appear at the appeal hearing.

Hughes was appealing on a number of grounds, including that the judge erred when he allowed all the counts against him to be heard in a single trial and that he also should have permanently stayed the proceedings.

But this was rejected by the NSW Court of Criminal appeal.

"No error was established, either by way of the reasoning of his Honour on any matter, or the length of the sentence ultimately imposed," the court said in its judgement.

Outside court, Hughes' solicitor Greg Walsh told reporters his client urgently needed medical attention for a hernia, but that it would take about six months for him to be assessed by a doctor.

"He's been shifted to another jail, he's lost an enormous amount of weight," Mr Walsh said.

"He needs urgent operative care."

Mr Walsh said he would visit Hughes soon and that after reading today's remarks from the court another appeal could be on the cards.

"There are some really fundamental issues in this case," he said.

In sentencing Hughes in 2014, Judge Peter Zahra described the once popular sitcom actor as a sexual predator who systematically exploited young girls and relied on his position to ensure his victims' compliance and silence.

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