Former Maryborough taxi driver Ian Sewell has been convicted and fined $800 for breaching a Community Corrections Order (CCO), which he was placed on last year after pleading guilty to multiple sexual assault charges.
A taxi driver for almost 30 years locally, Mr Sewell pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault and four counts of sexual assault against four separate victims in February last year.
In addition to being convicted and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life, the 70-year-old was placed on an 18-month CCO, with the conditions he complete 175 hours of community work and undergo treatment and rehabilitation programs as required.
Mr Sewell’s progress with the order was assessed at the Maryborough Magistrates’ Court earlier this year where he was charged with breaching the order and warned that if he did not complete the required community work or programs, he would be imprisoned.
Mr Sewell’s offending spanned 15 of his 30 years as a taxi driver, with victims of incidents in 2005, 2017, 2018 and 2020 coming forward to police.
Those victims ranged in age from 18 to in their 50s.
Returning to the Maryborough Magistrates’ Court yesterday, it was revealed Mr Sewell had since undergone the required treatment and rehabilitation listed in the order.
The court heard Mr Sewell had been unable to complete the community work element of the order due to personal reasons and health, with the court asked to remove community work from the CCO.
Magistrate Sharon McRae, who had warned Mr Sewell of the possibility of a jail sentence, said despite completing parts of the order, told Mr Sewell she was unimpressed with his engagement.
“This is an unusual case, while I’m happy to remove the community work, I’m very unhappy with [Mr Sewell’s] performance on the corrections order,” she said.
“To be quite frank, he only turned up (to complete the CCO) because I said I’d put him in jail if he didn’t.
“I am concerned about what you may have gotten out of the course, there is very inconsistent attendance — sometimes you participated well and sometimes you did not participate well.”
Magistrate McRae convicted Mr Sewell over his breach of the CCO, fining him $800 and reminded him of the importance of consent.
“I’ve already said this to you but I’m going to say this very clearly — the only time you can touch a woman is if you have the clear and frank consent of that person,” she said.
“You can’t read into anything, unless they say you can touch them, then you cannot do that — I’m being very clear.”
Mr Sewell is scheduled to appear before the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court later this month for additional matters.
