ACCUSATIONS levelled at a Hunter man charged with sexually abusing a young girl over a three-year period are "as serious as it gets", a magistrate has said.
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Keith Ronald Curran, 75, was granted bail in Cessnock Local Court on Thursday afternoon after he was charged with 21 counts of abuse.
Magistrate Ian Rodgers said it was not his job to judge guilt when considering conditional release, but instead to assess whether Mr Curran should be remanded in custody while the matter goes through the courts.
He said it could be two years before an outcome if Mr Curran defended himself against the charges, and his age and health conditions - leukaemia and a stroke two years ago among them - meant he would be "a very vulnerable person in a custodial setting".
Magistrate Rodgers described the accusations facing Mr Curran as being "as serious as it gets ... ongoing allegations of sexual assault on a child, at one stage filiming that, and the frequency of events being over a number of years".
Among the bail conditions, Mr Curran has been ordered to live with his mother in the Blue Mountains and report to police every day.
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Detectives from the State Crime Command's Sex Crimes Squad formed Strike Force Larow in May 2023 after allegations a girl had been sexually and indecently assaulted by a man known to her on several occasions.
Police arrested Mr Curran at a property near Cessnock on Wednesday morning.
He was charged with 12 counts of having sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 14 years old, four counts of indecently assaulting a person aged under 16 years old, and two counts of having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 10 years old.
Mr Curran is also facing one count each of committing an act of indecency with a person under 10 years old, committing an act of indecency with a person under 16 years old, and using a child under 14 years old to make child abuse material.
The court heard on Thursday that the most recent alleged offence against the complainant was in 2013.
Mr Curran will face Newcastle Local Court on October 18.
