Teen felt 'blaming' and 'shaming' after sexual abuse by senior SA church member, court hears

Australia Broadcast Center

22-05-2025

A woman has told a court that she felt "blaming" and "shaming" by members of an Adelaide church after reporting sexual abuse at the hands of a senior member when she was 14 years old.
The 50-year-old man, of Christies Beach, appeared in South Australia's District Court earlier this week after previously pleading guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a teenage girl in the early 2000s.
In a victim impact statement read aloud to the court, the girl who is now aged in her 30s, said she felt "deep wounding and re-traumatisation" when attempting to report the incident to family and church members shortly after it occurred.
"The response from people was only blaming and deeply shaming," she said.
"I recall asking to change churches or do something about what has happened like go to the police and the responses given to me by adults were, 'what about "[the defendant] and his kids? What if he went to jail? His kids would be left behind'.
"This totally negated that I was also a child."
The woman said the offending has negatively "tainted" her "beliefs about God and religion and spirituality".
"I do believe he groomed me, he admitted to me he was feeling this way about me for one year prior to this crime, leading to my lack of trust in men and people in authority positions."
Prosecutor Mitch Mott told the court the man had committed the offence while "in an unofficial position of trust over the complainant".
"In my submission, the defendant was … a respected member of a large church and, also a senior member of the unofficial youth group," he said.
He said it is accepted that the offending was "isolated" in nature, but that a "kiss on the sly", for which he has not been charged, "showed some continuing interest in the complainant by the defendant at the time".
Mr Mott said a "significant number" of character references had been handed up to the court in favour of the man — and that he opposed the assertions in one of them.
Defence lawyer Jon Lister, for the man, said his client "deeply regrets" the offending and "will continue to regret it for the rest of his life".
"He made two apologies to the complainant … one shortly after the incident came to light … and the second was some years later after she wrote to him," he said.
He also said the defendant and the young girl had been drinking alcohol on the night of the offending, to which his client was "unaccustomed" to.
"He really feels that his judgement was impaired by the use of alcohol on that night which he says he was encouraged in using by [the victim] at the time," he said.
Mr Lister said the man, and other members of the church, had attempted to bring the matter to the attention of police but that they'd been told the victim, or her mother, would have to file a report.
"A telephone call was made to the police, and they were informed of the nature of what had occurred," he said.
Mr Mott disagreed with this submission and said there are no records showing contact with the police.
"Police records do not show there was an approach to the police at the time of the offending, that is not to say there was not internal conversations within the church about whether a statement should be made.
"What I do say is: a 14-year-old is not an appropriate person to ask whether a statement should be made about unlawful sexual intercourse."
Mr Mott asked Judge Liesl Kudelka to sentence the 50-year-old to an immediate term of imprisonment "because of the inherent seriousness of the offending as well as the critical need for general deterrence".
Contrastingly, Mr Lister asked the court not to sentence his client to a term of imprisonment, and instead, only record a conviction and impose a good behaviour bond.
He will be sentenced next week.