Former sports coach jailed over historic sex abuse charges

A former boys softball and rugby league coach has been jailed for three years for sexually abusing boys in his care.

Neville Earnest Hearling, 76, coached boys softball and rugby league in Mt Albert in the 1960s and 1970s and used his position there to meet and abuse three young boys, the High Court at Auckland was told this morning.

Hearling pleaded guilty to a total of 21 charges of indecency and attempted indecency on boys under 16 before his trial was due to start at the end of this month.

The court heard he claimed to be affected by a mental illness that made
him offend and at one stage even blamed the victims for what happened.

But in sentencing Hearling, Justice Andrews said he orchestrated situations to get the boys alone and their victim impact statements made "harrowing" reading.

She said his actions had devastated his victims to the extent they were still suffering more than 30 years after the offences happened.