A former teacher charged with historical child indecent assault offences in Armidale, in northern New South Wales, has entered a plea of guilty.
John G Ferris, 77, was taken into custody at Armidale Local Court yesterday after pleading guilty to a list of more than two dozen charges.
The charges relate to incidents that occurred in the 1970s, at Ben Venue Public School in Armidale.
The charges include assaulting a female under 16 years and committing an act of indecency, detaining for advantage without causing injury to victim, and common assault.
The investigation into Ferris was triggered by a referral from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and he was arrested and charged in July last year.
The matter was investigated by the New England Local Area Command's Strike Force Flair, set up in 2013, which heard from more than half a dozen people who were under the age of 16 years at the time of the alleged incidents.
Magistrate Michael Holmes committed Ferris for sentencing in the District Court, with proceedings to begin next month.