RICHMOND – A 59-year-old Richmond man has been given an eight-year prison term for sexually assaulting three young sisters.

Ronald “Riley” Pinkham had pleaded guilty in Sagadahoc County Superior Court to 22 sex charges, including gross sexual assault.

At his sentencing Friday in Bath, Pinkham sobbed as he apologized in a courtroom filled with members of his own family and the family of the victims.

“I just ask that there be no hate,” said Pinkham, a slight man who walks with a cane. “I hurt people. And I’m sorry.”

Pinkham was a family friend and member of the church attended by the three sisters he molested on several occasions from 2000 and 2002. Two of the girls are under 10 years old; their older sister’s age was not listed in court documents.

The sisters’ parents said eight years was not enough, but Justice Thomas Warren said the sentence was reasonable because Pinkham agreed to plead guilty and spare the girls from having to testify at a trial.

Pinkham, who had been free on bail, was taken directly from the courtroom to begin serving his prison term. He faces 16 years of probation upon release.