Magistrate Graeme Curran found guilty of historical indecent assault

A magistrate has been found guilty of indecently assaulting a teenager in the 1980 -  a decision which the victim says has liberated him.

It took a jury two days to deliver the decision on seven of the nine charges in the very building where Graeme Curran, 68, once worked. 

Curran met the victim through his parents and said their relationship was almost like “father, son”.

He regularly took him on trips in Australia and Europe, and he told the court he would often share a bed with him, while his brother slept in the single.

“In retrospect I think I would be more cautious but then it didn’t occur to me there was anything wrong with it.”

But he denied he had indecently assaulted the boy who was then in his mid-teens.

The allegations were that he assaulted him on a boat trip to Pittwater, at a motel in Bega and at the dentist.

There was also a claim he engaged in a ritual at his Balmain home, where he pulled back the sheets and stroked the boy's naked body from head to toe while telling him to "just relax".

The court heard the now adult male had told the court “I was petrified. I was scared stiff.”

In a statement his victim said the liberation was profound.

“The feeling of relief far outweighs the doom and gloom of time spent bringing the accused to justice.” 

The Chief Magistrate's Office has said Curran will remain unable to preside over local court until the entire legal process has been finished.

“Magistrate Curran will remain suspended from the local court bench until all criminal proceedings have concluded,” a spokesperson from the office said in a statement.

“As he has not exhausted his appeal rights it would be inappropriate to make any further comment".