Ex-Hey Dad! star to appeal sentence

Convicted sex offender and former Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes will appeal his sentence, and his lawyer may take the case to the High Court.

Hughes was sentenced to a maximum of 10 years and nine months, with a non-parole period of six years, after being found guilty of ten charges, including two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

Fairfax Media reports if Hughes’ lawyer, Greg Walsh, does not overturn the 10 child sex convictions in the Court of Criminal Appeal, he will pursue it in the High Court using ”tendency evidence” which goes to prove that the accused ”has or had a tendency to act in a particular way.”

”If you know a person has a signature way of committing a crime, that might elevate a pathetically weak case into one that a jury will accept,” said Peter Morrissey, a senior counsel in criminal matters and chairman of the Criminal Bar Association of Victoria.

Last month Judge Peter Zahra said Hughes, 65, was brazen, predatory, persistent and calculated, taking advantage of the trust placed in him and described his actions as “degrading and shameful.”