An 80-year-old man who sexually abused his two step-granddaughters was jailed for 16 months yesterday.

The paedophile ? who cannot be named for legal reasons ? preyed on one of the youngsters for more than three years, Magistrates? Court heard.

Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo told the pensioner: ?You have severely damaged the life and reputation that you have built up over the years.

?You are charged with and convicted of very grave offences before this court; offences which have caused problems with and divided your family and which may have done untold and unforeseen damage to two young girls with whom you stood in a position of trust.?

Prosecutor Graveney Bannister had earlier described the man?s offences as ?appalling, embarrassing and distasteful? and told Mr. Tokunbo he should lock the man up to deter others entrusted with the care of children from abusing their position.

?He sought to corrupt two young girls, two young siblings,? said Mr. Bannister. ?In the case of (the eldest) it went on for a long period of time and she had to be counselled.

?In this case, the defendant did not give any degree of contrition at an early stage. This matter has torn the family apart and has had an adverse effect on the children involved.

?This grandfather was entrusted when the parents went out. He broke that trust.?

The pensioner pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two charges involving the eldest girl, now aged 14.

The offences were touching with a part of his body a part of the girl for a sexual purpose between April 1, 2001 and August 31, 2004 and on a date unknown between April 1, 2001 and August 31, 2004 inviting, counselling or inciting the girl to touch a part of his body for a sexual purpose.

He also admitted touching a part of the younger girl, now aged 11, with a part of his body for a sexual purpose on July 15, 2004.

Mr. Bannister said the eldest girl was so scared at one time that she could not take her clothes off in front of the family doctor.

?It?s an offence that has (left) great psychological and emotional scars for these girls,? he added. ?Elderly men are supposed to behave like gentlemen. He had a responsibility.?

The court heard that a pre-sentence report on the man found that he ?failed to accept the magnitude and the gravity of the offending behaviour?.

Elizabeth Christopher, in mitigation, said her client had shown some remorse and had attended counselling sessions with his church pastor and a health professional.

Mr. Tokunbo sentenced the man to 12 months in jail for the offence involving the youngest child and 16 months for the other two counts, with the prison terms to run concurrently.

He also ordered him to serve two years probation on his release.

He told him: ?The psychologist?s report concluded that the offences are the result of a lack of restraint and dis-inhibition of sexual desires.

?To me that means there was nothing wrong with your judgement. You simply yielded to your own personal temptations.

?The sentence must.reflect the degree of disdain with which society views these kind of offences.?