Abuse anguish ongoing

Sexual assault victim tells court predator coach abused his position

A FORMER Geelong College student says he may never recover from the sexual abuse he suffered as a teenager at the hands of his rowing coach David Whitcroft.

The student, now a 52-yearold man, told the Melbourne County Court yesterday that Whitcroft abused his position of power and trust.

“I still feel like a secondrate citizen and that I am damaged goods. I just want my life back,” the victim said.

Whitcroft, 70, pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent assault last month relating to incidents with two boys while he was a staff member at Geelong College in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

But the court heard Whitcroft’s sex acts on his victim, mainly oral sex, now constitutes sexual penetration of a child under 16 years old, and the convicted sex offender also faces more jail time.

In a victim impact statement read to the court the victim said he lived in fear and isolation after Whitcroft abused him.

“At 15 years old I was scared of being exposed. The secrets were so deep that they had driven a wedge between me and my family.”

The victim said he turned to alcohol and cannabis to quell his anxiety following the abuse.

“I understand I’ll never be 100 per cent . . . but I owe it to my children to give (recovery) a crack,” the victim said.

According to a summary of Whitcroft’s offending read to the court, he lured his victim – while a 13-year-old – to a Mount Duneed farm multiple times, massaging his almostnaked body as a form of stress relief.

The court heard the nature of the massages became increasingly sexual in 1978 when Whitcroft performed a sex act on the boy.

On another occasion, Whitcroft and the victim, while still a child, both performed sex acts on each other.

Crown prosecutor Patrick Bourke told the court the victim confided in Whitcroft when his parents’ marriage broke down.

Mr Bourke said Whitcroft also touched another of his students inappropriately on another occasion.

He told the court Whitcroft continued to massage boys when he had been told not to by Geelong College.

Defence lawyer James Mortley said Whitcroft deserved a sentence reduction due to his guilty plea.

He claimed Whitcroft’s age reduced the likelihood of him reoffending, a contention which Judge Felicity Hampel did not agree with.

Judge Hampel will sentence Whitcroft on November 16.