A 53-year-old man who was found guilty of touching seven children while in his care at a New England Childcare Centre in 2024, has been jailed.
Douglas Clibborn, who sat quietly with his wife during his sentencing on eight counts of sexually touching a child under 10, was given 12-month prison sentences for each charge, before sentencing Clibborn to an aggregate three-year jail term with a non-parole period of two years.
The Northern Daily Leader reports the Armidale Local Court heard from three parents of children who had been abused by Clibborn who described how their young children, aged five and under at the time of the offences in 2024, had become “withdrawn, emotionally dysregulated” and now “see the world in a different lens.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Michael Holmes emphasised the need to hold the offender “accountable for his actions” and to “recognise the harm to the victim”.
He will be eligible for parole in 2028 and also be placed on the child protection register for 15 years.
