Couple charged with raping children

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SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A man and woman have been charged with a series of sexual assaults on children between 1987 and 1991, police in Australia said Tuesday.

The man, now 65, was charged with 37 separate offenses, including nine counts of having sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 10 and six counts of sex with older girls aged from 10 to 16, New South Wales Police said. The woman, 59, was charged with five counts of sexual offenses involving minors.

The pair were partners at the time of the alleged crimes but have since broken up, The St. George and Sutherland Shire Leader reported. Both were ordered held without bail Tuesday after hearings in different courts.

Police said the arrests Monday followed a year-long investigation that included interviewing seven alleged victims. Investigators said most of the assaults took place at a house in Oatley in Sydney's southern suburbs and others at a nature center in Mittagong, the Shire Leader said.

The girls the man is accused of assaulting include his step-daughters, the newspaper said.