Justice … Gregory Urch faces sentencing this month.

HE SEXUALLY abused two young girls, sending their lives into a spiral of drug addiction, anorexia and depression.

So how and why did Gregory Ernest Urch become a decorated police officer in a unit charged with addressing family violence, including the protection of abused children?

The sentence hearing for the 61-year-old former senior sergeant at the Downing Centre District Court this week has revealed a man torn by stark contradictions.

He was a sexual predator who preyed on vulnerable children, but at the same time a committed policeman who devoted his spare time to caring for his terminally ill former wife and later sold his home to settle a civil case brought by his victims.

There can be no excusing the acts Urch committed against the two girls - one of whom was just nine years old at the time.

He was charged with six counts of child sex abuse over a string of incidents between 1993 and 1997. He finally pleaded guilty last year after a 2009 complaint from one of his victims lead to an extended investigation by the police force's professional services command .

Gut-wrenching victim statements read in court this week - one of them delivered by an extremely fragile, tearful young woman - revealed the devastating impact of the abuse.

As Urch sat stony-faced in the public gallery, the woman described how she stopped eating as a teenager in a bid to make herself unattractive to men - an act of self-immolation that developed into a life-threatening eating disorder.

''I was punishing my body for what happened … I was punishing myself because I thought I deserved nothing less,'' she said.

''This terrible illness nearly killed me … anorexia was feeding on the insecurities within myself.''

Less than an hour later, Urch's daughter took the stand and painted a very different picture.

Eliza Urch told the court she believed her father had a ''strong moral and ethical compass''.

She said he had settled a civil damages claim brought by his victims just two days earlier.

Urch had sold his house for $400,000 so that he could pay his victims, she said, and, having lost his entitlement to a police pension because of the charges against him, he would be destitute when released from jail.

''It's two completely different poles,'' she said of her father's contradictions.

''The way we were brought up by dad was with such strong morals and ethics - he was involved in so many different things to help the community.''

She said that when her mother - Urch's former wife - had become terminally ill with leukaemia, he had spent a considerable amount of time caring for her until she passed away last September.

''He fixed up the whole house - installing rails so that she could get around more easily … He was always visiting the home and the hospital. He helped her get around, made her lunch, that sort of thing.''

She said that around the time the abuse took place, her father had been experiencing psychiatric problems.

''His behaviour clearly wasn't normal. We stayed away from him, he wasn't himself, he was erratic and emotional, and over a certain period of time, suicidal.''

But the court heard that Urch did not seek help.

Instead it appears that he threw himself into his work, deliberately directing his energies into the area of family violence, including ''child protection issues''.

Urch had a ''distinguished police career'' and ''an extensive commendation history'' the court heard, which culminated in 2008 with the NSW Premier's Award.

His barrister, Peter Hamill, SC, said that Urch's efforts as a police officer could be seen as having ''an element of atonement'' for his offending.

His willingness to settle the civil case was among a number of actions that were ''overwhelming and clear evidence'' that Urch was remorseful for his actions.

Urch had committed offences that put him ''at the bottom of the food chain'' in prison, and this should be taken into account by Judge Deborah Sweeney when she came to pass sentence.

But the Crown prosecutor asked for a full-time custodial sentence, a call echoed - in sentiment at least - by one of Urch's victims.

''I have often wondered why I came forward - now I know the answer is justice,'' she said. ''I have learned that no one is above the law and I want justice to be done.''