The Royal Court building

The first man to be sentenced as part of the historical abuse inquiry was put on probation for two years by the Royal Court this afternoon.

The sentence imposed on Michael Aubin (46) took account of the fact that he had served the equivalent of a 19-month prison sentence while on remand, and that he was 14 years old when the offences were committed.

The court also ordered that the defendant should carry out any courses that Probation recommended.

Aubin admitted committing two acts of gross indecency and indecently assaulting a boy at Haut de la Garenne in the 1970s, when the child was aged between eight and nine, as well as indecently assaulting another boy there aged nine or ten.

This morning, Crown Advocate Stephen Baker asked for a total of two years’ imprisonment, but said that the prosecution accepted that Aubin had grown up without parental affection and was subjected to sexual abuse himself by adults.

• Full report in Tuesday’s Jersey Evening Post