36 YEARS LATER: PRIEST JAILED FOR ABUSING PERTH FOSTER GIRLS

Content warning: child sexual abuse.

A former Catholic priest who sexually abused two girls in Perth foster care has been jailed, 36 years after the offending.

Robert James Hickman, 81, pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a child and indecent dealing with a child over the abuse in 1990.

WA District Court Judge Karen Shepherd sentenced him to two years and six months’ imprisonment, with eligibility to apply for parole after 15 months.

The girls were 11 and 13 when Hickman travelled from Sydney to Perth on Church business and attended dinner at their foster home with other Catholic Church members.

According to ABC’s court report, the girls knew him as “Father Bob”. He entered their bedroom to offer goodnight prayers and read a Bible story, using the claim of a “special blessing” during the abuse.

Judge Shepherd described his conduct as a breach of trust and found it too serious for a suspended sentence. Hickman was ordered to begin serving his sentence immediately at Casuarina Prison.

One of the girls disclosed the abuse to her foster mother but was initially dismissed as a liar.

Nine years later, the foster mother reported the incident to the Catholic Church’s WA Professional Standards Office. The court heard that Hickman provided a letter of apology and the Church offered money as part of a non disclosure agreement.

The published reporting does not confirm whether the offer was accepted, the amount involved or the proposed conditions.

EARLY REPORTING

Earlier reporting by The West Australian detailed the prosecution’s development. Detectives travelled to NSW and arrested Hickman at a Granville property before he appeared in Perth Magistrates Court in February 2025, initially facing two counts of unlawful indecent dealings with a child under 13.

Further inquiries resulted in additional charges concerning a 13 year old girl during the same visit to WA. A July 2025 report listed aggravated indecent assault and aggravated sexual assault charges, with a Fremantle Magistrates Court appearance the same month.

SENTENCING REPORT

ABC’s sentencing report records guilty pleas to sexual penetration of a child and indecent dealing with a child.

At sentencing, prosecutor Rachael McCallum read victim impact statements describing the enduring consequences of the abuse.

One survivor spoke about carrying the burden of being sexually abused while also being told she was lying. The other said the abuse had changed her life, but she had chosen forgiveness for her own wellbeing.

“I choose not to give you any power from this day forward,” she said.

The court also heard about Hickman’s previous sexual offending.

His lawyer, Simon Freitag, said he had served five years of a 10 year NSW prison sentence between 2015 and 2020. ABC also reported a suspended sentence imposed in 2001 and a community corrections order in 2024 for similar offending.

The defence raised Hickman’s recovery from cancer surgery and other health problems, arguing that he had not reoffended for decades and no longer posed a danger to children.

Judge Shepherd nevertheless imposed immediate imprisonment for the Perth offences.