Australian actor Maggie Kirkpatrick, who starred as “The Freak” in the hit television show Prisoner, has been found guilty of child sex offences committed 31 years ago.
Kirkpatrick, 74, had denied the two charges of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency with a person under 16.
The court was told on Wednesday that the victim, who cannot be named, was abused at Kirkpatrick’s Prahran home in 1984.
Kirkpatrick was well known for her role as a prison warden in the popular 1980s television series Prisoner.
Today, Magistrate Peter Mealy found her accuser was “a witness of truth”.
Kirkpatrick will now be assessed for a Community Corrections Order instead of a prison term.
The court had earlier been told the victim had not reported the abuse until 2013 because she thought everyone would think she was crazy.
It was told the teenager had organised a meeting with the actor in 1984 through a person she met while admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Kew, in Melbourne’s inner east.
Kirkpatrick collected the girl from the hospital and then the pair went back to the actor’s home and shared a meal.
The pair then ended up in Kirkpatrick’s bedroom, where the alleged abuse took place, before the girl was taken back to the hospital.