Robert Hughes
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Robert Lindsay Hughes (born 19 August 1948) is a British-Australian former actor and musician most famous for his starring roles in ABBA: The Movie and the popular sitcom Hey Dad!. In March 2010 he was accused of sexual assault by multiple women, including Sarah Monahan, who had played his daughter Jenny on Hey Dad!. He was convicted of 10 counts of sexual assault, indecent assault and committing an indecent act with a minor and sentenced to 10 years and nine months in prison.
Biography edit
Hughes acted extensively in Australian film, TV and theatre. He had roles in several plays and TV shows until eventually being propelled into minor stardom by his role in the 1977 cult classic ABBA: The Movie as DJ Ashley Wallace.
From 1987 onward, Hughes played the lead role in the Australian sitcom Hey Dad!. He was eventually written off the show in Season Twelve, and did not participate in two cast reunions because of animosity with the rest of the cast.
Sexual assault accusations edit
In March 2010, Sarah Monahan, who had played Hughes's daughter Jenny in Hey Dad!, gave an interview to Woman's Day magazine alleging that an unnamed cast member had molested her and exposed himself to her on the set of Hey Dad!. She later gave another interview to A Current Affair in which she named Hughes as her abuser. Two other cast members supported these accusations: Simone Buchanan, who Monahan had confided in at the time, and Ben Oxenbould, who had seen Hughes inappropriately touching another young girl on the set. Both of them had complained at the time but had been told to keep quiet.
When asked, executive producer Gary Reilly denied ignoring claims of sexual assault, alleging that he had had "stand-up rows" with Hughes about his behaviour and forced him to leave the show over it. Several other women also came forward and accused Hughes of assaulting them or exposing himself to them when they were children, including Hughes's niece. Hughes was confronted by A Current Affair journalist Ben McCormack (who would himself later be arrested with child pornography) in Singapore, where he was living at the time, and denied the allegations, claiming he was preparing a defamation lawsuit against Sarah Monahan. This lawsuit never came to pass.
Arrest and conviction edit
On 29 March 2010, Australian police launched Strike Force Ruskin, a taskforce created to investigate the claims against Hughes. After over 100 interviews with cast members and alleged victims, police announced their intent to prosecute Hughes for sexual and indecent assault. On 9 August 2012, Hughes was arrested by the Metropolitan Police after arriving in London. He was extradited to Australia on 28 September to face trial for 11 counts of child sexual abuse. In May 2014 he was convicted on ten counts (the jury failed to reach a verdict on the final count) and sentenced to 10 years and nine months in prison with a non-parole period of six years.
Upon arriving in prison, Hughes was pelted with urine and faeces by other inmates, forcing guards to erect a screen in front of his cell. He appealed his conviction, but his appeal was rejected. Hughes later renounced his Australian citizenship so that he could be deported to Britain upon being paroled, only for parole to be denied in March 2020 on the grounds that allowing him to be sent to Britain without supervision would pose a risk to the safety of children.