Former Tasmanian high school principal David Billing sentenced to home detention for sexual abuse of student

A man who worked as a teacher, principal and district superintendent in Tasmania has been placed on a home detention order for the persistent sexual abuse of a school student in the 1980s. David John Billing, 76, was sentenced in the Hobart Supreme Court today after pleading guilty to the offence which occurred over 10 separate occasions in the 1980s. Her victim impact statement described "guilt, shame, anger, sadness and profound remorse" when she reflected on Billing's offending, and that he was "controlling". In sentencing, Acting Justice David Porter said Billing's conduct had "drastically changed immediate environment" and had ongoing effects on her life.