A former Forrest Tennis Club coach faces the prospect of dying in jail after abusing his position to molest two girls who were his students in the 1980s.
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John Walter Cattle, 83, stood trial in the ACT Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to one charge of indecent assault and three counts of committing an act of indecency.
Jurors on Friday afternoon found him guilty of the indecent assault charge and one of the indecent acts, but acquitted him of the remaining two counts.
Cattle indecently assaulted a girl in a clubhouse she described as "dark and dingy", in a period between 1983 and 1984.
Crown prosecutor Keegan Lee told the court during the trial that Cattle had lured the girl into the clubhouse kitchen on several occasions.
Mr Lee said Cattle had kissed the girl using his tongue, exposed himself to her and made her "play" with his penis.
He said Cattle had also told the girl to look at a pornographic magazine in a club bathroom, and though this was not the subject of any charge, Mr Lee said it showed Cattle's tendency to act in a sexual way with young girls.
The act of indecency charge on which Cattle was found guilty related to a 1987 incident in which he forcibly kissed a different girl after he had "steered" her into a boys' changing room at the tennis club.
Mr Lee said this girl had been frightened and froze because she did not understand what was happening.
"She said it was like being licked by a dog," the prosecutor told the court during the trial.
Cattle was also accused of rubbing this girl's breasts and genitals in the same incident, but he was found not guilty on the two act of indecency charges that related to those allegations.
The two victims were aged between 10 and 12 at the time of the incidents.
Cattle showed no emotion as the jury representative delivered the verdicts on Friday after about two days of deliberations.
The 83-year-old will remain on bail until a sentencing date that is yet to be fixed, but which is likely to be in June.
Cattle's lawyers indicated they hoped to have him assessed by a geriatrician before Chief Justice Helen Murrell decides his fate.
If jailed, Cattle will be one of the oldest inmates at Canberra's prison, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, which has long struggled with overcrowding issues.
