The actress who played a molester on classic Australian TV show 'Prisoner' has been convicted of sexually assaulting a young female psychiatric hospital patient.
- Aug 20, 2015
AceShowbiz - Maggie Kirkpatrick was convicted of child abuse. The Australian actress, now 74, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and one count of gross indecency with a person under 16 years. She will be sentenced on Friday, August 21.
Kirkpatrick was accused of molesting a young female psychiatric hospital patient in her home more than 30 years ago. The actress reportedly took the 14-year-old girl to her house to eat dinner and watch TV, and then sexually abused her in bedroom.
The grandmother of two vehemently denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty. "I need to go to court to have this ridiculous situation quashed," she told News Corp. "Allegations have been leveled at me, yes. Are they true? Absolutely not."
The veteran actress may dodge jail sentence as prosecutors did not oppose a non-custodial sentence for her after defense lawyer Justine Hannebery had asked the court to impose a community service order instead of a prison term.
Maggie Kirkpatrick is famous for her role as a violent warden nicknamed "The Freak" on a cult Australian soap opera "Prisoner" which was set in a women's prison. She would molest inmates with the excuse of conducting body searches.
The victim, now a married mother of three, was reportedly an obsessed fan who watched the show "religiously" and met Kirkpatrick through a TV producer. She came forward only two years ago because she thought people would call her "crazy" if she raised allegations against a famous person in the 1980s.
