An accomplished Canberran has walked free after being accused of committing historical child sex abuse offences against a member of his family for more than a decade.
The man, aged in his 70s, briefly faced the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon, when he was greeted by two supporters in the public gallery and eventually granted bail.
Magistrate Robert Cook read out the man's 17 charges, most of which related to child sexual abuse.
They included six counts of incest, five acts of indecency on a child, four counts of second-degree sexual assault on a child, and two counts of assaulting a child.
All charges relate to alleged offences said to have occurred between January 1992 and December 2004.
The magistrate issued an interim non-publication order, suppressing the name of the man and the alleged victim.
A prosecutor did not oppose the bail application, so long as "certain conditions" were applied.
Those conditions were not read aloud in court.
With no information other than the alleged offender's charges, Mr Cook granted him bail.
Wearing running shoes, tracksuit pants and a hoodie jumper, the alleged offender walked free on Thursday.
He is set to face court again next month.
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