Star ‘got away lightly’ with Hughes

Hey Dad! actor Robert Hughes has been found guilty of another charge.

Found guilty ... Avctor Robert Hughes and wife, Robin Gardiner, leave Downing Centre Courts. Picture: Bradley Hunter Source: News Corp Australia

FORMER Hey Dad! child star Sarah Monahan claims she "got away lightly" when comparing her abuse case to the other victims of her co-star and convicted sex predator Robert Hughes.

Monahan, the brave whistleblower who has consented to being identified as a victim of sexual abuse, has told A Current Affair's Tracy Grimshaw she feels "vindicated" by the verdict against Hughes, found guilty of 10 child sex offences yesterday.

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In an extended ACA special to air tonight, Monahan said she shared the court victory over her jailed molester with the four other female victims who took their claims to police after she first went public with her story in Woman's Day magazine four years ago.

The sordid details of his on-set abuse of the former child star shocked his trusting TV audience, but blew the doors wide open on the depraved sex secrets he had managed to keep closeted for more than 20 years.

"Element of ego in all of this" ... Cast of TV show Hey Dad, including Robert Hughes, Sarah Monahan and Simone Buchanan. Source: Supplied

With her Hey Dad! castmates surrounding her in Nine's Willoughby NSW studios yesterday, she said she was "thrilled for the other girls" when Hughes was found guilty in the jury case.

"It wasn't about me. He did some awful, terrible things to them. I feel like I got away lightly."

Monahan was just six when she joined the cast for the 1987 Channel 7 sitcom, and 10 when she claims she was first flashed by the man who played her TV father, Martin Kelly.

As Sydney's Downing Centre court heard, he would go on to inappropriately grope and expose himself to the vulnerable young actor during production breaks on the top-rating TV show.

While she left the show harbouring the darkest of secrets in 1993, Hughes continued to play it large as the leading man until further "concerns" were finally raised with the show's producers and Seven management.

Former casting director, Liz Mullinar told News Corp Australia she was brought in by the Hey Dad! bosses to help replace Hughes after he was "pushed" to leave in February 1994.

She said rumours had circulated about his inappropriate behaviour, which executive producer Gary Reilly has said culminated in "stand-up rows" with the headline star.

Mullinar said: "the cast didn't want him to continue on the program. Channel 7 behaved fantastically as did Gary Reilly and in the end Robert Hughes resigned."

Actor guilty of sexual assault ... A Current Affair host Tracy Grimshaw with cast of Hey Dad! (seated from left) Sarah Monahan Morris and Ben Oxenbould; (standing, from left) Christopher Trusgrove, Simone Buchanan and Julie McGregor. Picture: Channel 9 Source: Channel 9

While child abuse campaigner Derryn Hinch is among those who say producers gave a "bulls. t explanation" for his exit and still "have a lot to answer for," Mullinar, herself an abuse victim, said it's the system which initially failed Monahan and Hughes' other victims — arguing police are only able to act on complaints by victims not those who suspect wrongdoing.

"Here was someone, insiders who knew there was something wrong but there is no authority in Australia at the moment you can go to and say `I have very real concerns about that person'," Mulliner said.

"There should be a cautionary list. If they'd gone — and already two people had been to the police at that point — that's when action should have been taken in this matter 20 years ago.''

A long-time friend of both Hughes and his agent wife Robyn Gardiner, Mullinar also revealed she had told Gardiner about the industry suspicions.

"She didn't believe me then and obviously she's sticking by her husband now. It was my decision at the time that telling her was also the right thing to do ...(but) she completely rejected the concept," Mullinar said.

She said sexual predators like Hughes were not just "greasy men in dirty coats."

"Society has to understand paedophiles aren't just that seedy man in the corner, he's that fabulous social worker or indeed that wonderful star who has charisma and is so fantastic.

(Hughes) is a very nice human being. You can be a very nice human being and a paedophile. That's my point.''

Woman's Day editor-in-chief Fiona Connolly, who was first to publish Monahan's claims in 2010, said: "there was an element of ego in all of this. You have the headline star of the top rating show who thinks he can do whatever he likes. This (verdict) proves whether it's 20 years later, you can't get away with it."

A Current Affair's extended special with former Hey Dad! co-stars Sarah Monahan, Simone Buchanan, Julie McGregor, Ben Oxenbould and Chris Trusgrove airs Wednesday, 7pm on Nine

Child sexual assault ... Former Hey Dad! star Robert Hughes entering Downing Centre Courts. Source: News Corp Australia

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