Pedophile jailed for Vic assault in 1979

A pedophile labourer who enticed a boy to engage in sexual acts by offering a handful of coins from his construction helmet has been jailed for the historical crime.

Barry William Johnston, 68, of South Australia, was jailed for one year and one month in Victoria's County Court after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting the six-year-old boy in Seymour in 1979.

Johnston, who was a family friend of the boy and who molested him in exchange for coins from his yellow construction helmet, committed a gross breach of trust, Judge James Montgomery said in passing sentence on Tuesday.