Hill appealed his conviction but then dropped the appeal.

"I pleaded not guilty to all charges but we decided not to keep going because of mental stress on my family and the costs – I spent over $100,000 defending myself in the courts. You get to a point where you turn the other cheek and walk away. I am definitely not guilty. It comes down to one man's opinion over another person's opinion."

However he apologised to his victim, Melissa Buchanan, on social media, as she was preparing to tell police what had happened to her as a little girl. "I'm truly sorry Melissa," he told her in a Facebook message. "I know you must be hurt and I'm so sorry for that. Trust is very hard to earn but easy to destroy."

Ms Buchanan, 41, who is no longer in the sect, told police Hill was living in her family home in the northern suburbs in the 1980's and one night after a shower he came into her bedroom dressed only in a small yellow towel and after making her sit on his lap sexually abused her while telling her to be quiet.

Her family, she says, all staunch Jehovah's Witnesses, hushed it up to save face and the church's reputation, and Hill later became an elder.