Christopher Gary Cooksley sent to jail for six years for child sex abuse

Christopher Gary Cooksley, 72, faced sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday after previously pleading guilty to one count each of maintaining a sexual relationship with a child and indecent assault.

The court heard the NSW man had committed the acts while residing in Canberra in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson sentenced Cooksley to six years' jail, including a 25 per cent reduction for a guilty plea.

Justice Loukas-Karlsson told Cooksley "committing sexual offences against a child is recognised by our society as an offence that must be deterred".

"The offences you committed against a child in the early 1980s are very serious matters in criminal law," she said.

"The sentence must be imprisonment."

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The judge told the court Cooksley had not sexually offended since 1984 and had remained celibate since 1985.

The victim was 11 when the two met while Cooksley was working at a Holt service station in 1978.

The judge said the offender forged a friendship with the victim and the boy visited multiple times a week to help fix old cars.

Through spending years developing a close relationship, Cooksley eventually performed an obscene act on the boy and urged him to stay quiet in 1980 when the boy was 13.

The court was told sexual activity became a regular occurrence between the offender and the victim, happening two to three times a week at Cooksley's house over about nine months.

When police charged Cooksley, he confessed to the relationship he had with the victim and served six months in 2009 at a NSW prison for assaulting the victim while at the South Coast.

When Cooksley was cross-examined about the details of the case in November, it was revealed he fostered more than 300 boys.

He denied being sexual involved with any of the fostered boys.

Cooksley received a non-parole period of three years and will be eligible for release in 2025.

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