London - A former cleaner at a childrens' home in Jersey
where large-scale abuse is alleged to have taken place was Monday
given a two-year suspended sentence for abusing boys under the age of
10.
Michael Aubin, 46, who lived at the home in the 1970s, is the
first person to be sentenced in connection with the long-running
scandal at the Haut de la Garenne home on the island of Jersey in the
English Channel.
The former cleaner, who claims he was abused himself at the home,
was sentenced to two years' probation at Jersey's Royal Court for two
counts of gross indecency and two of indecent assault on children
under 10.
Aubin pleaded guilty to the charges at a hearing in May. He is the
first person to be convicted following a wide-ranging police
investigation into historic child abuse on the island.
The court heard that Aubin, who was 14 when he abused his two
victims, had been 'sodomised' himself at the home to which he had
been admitted at the age of three due to 'lack of parental care.'
In his teenage years, he returned to the home on holidays when the
offending took place, the prosecution said. It described Aubin as a
homosexual who had been abused as a child and suffered serious
behavioural problems later.
Police amassed a list of 40 suspects in their marathon
investigations after more than 100 people came forward claiming they
were sexually and physically abused there from the 1960s onwards.
At least two other people have been charged in connection with the
investigation.
But the political authorities on the island have insisted there is
nothing to the allegations and accused the police of being
over-zealous.
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