Elderly NSW groper goes to jail

A NSW pensioner exploited a vulnerable girl's love of horses to get her alone and repeatedly molest her, a court has heard.

Robert Stuart, 72, was like a "grandfather figure" for his 11-year-old victim, whose own grandfather was dying, Sydney District Court Judge Peter Whitford said on Monday.

The elderly man quickly cultivated and then exploited his relationship with the young girl in a series of offences his victim now says has shaken her trust in humanity.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said she struggled with anxiety and panic attacks.

"My trust in humanity and the fairness of 'the system' has been tested regularly and my family has broken down with the stress and misplaced guilt my parents have endured," she said.

Her relatives hugged and wiped away tears on Monday afternoon as Stuart was sentenced to a four-year jail term.

The judge described how Stuart, who ran a horse-drawn buggy business in regional NSW, lured his victim with an offer of work and riding lessons.

It was in this buggy, as tourists sat oblivious in the back of the carriage, and later at his paddocks that Stuart began indecently assaulting the girl by groping her over the top of her pants.

"The potential harm that can reasonably be expected to flow from taking cynical advantage of the vulnerability of a young person taking their first tentative steps in the working world cannot be underestimated," Judge Whitford said.

Stuart's offending was uncovered after he reached up under the girl's shirt, kissed her on the top of her head and told her he loved her, and the child reported what he had said to her mother.

"What the offender did in this case involved serious, repeated and escalating criminal conduct against a young girl in his care," Judge Whitford said on Monday.

"That the offending was stopped when it was, seems to have been purely a consequence of the mother's vigilance and concern.

"The offender manipulated and breached the trust of his victim and her mother. He exploited the vulnerability, naivete and innocence of his victim."

He said Stuart - who maintained at trial that there was no sexual element to his actions, and that he touched the girl in an effort to steady her in the carriage or to improve her riding - had shown neither remorse nor contrition.

And he added that Stuart, who was convicted for indecent assault on a girl under 16 in the UK in the 1960s, had also been the subject of allegations made by another young girl that did not result in criminal charges but nevertheless "demonstrated what appears to be a pattern of behaviour".

Stuart must serve a minimum of two years and eight months imprisonment.

With time already spent in custody, he will become eligible for parole in 2018.