Anglican Scout master 'molested seven boys'
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Anglican Scout master 'molested seven boys'*
By Melissa Jenkins
January 23, 2007 06:30pm
Article from: AAP
AUSTRALIA - An Anglican sponsored SCOUT master who molested seven of his
charges, befriended their families before persuading the boys to watch
porn and engage in sex acts, a Melbourne court was told today.
The 35-year-old man cannot be named to protect his victims' identities.
He was leader of an Anglican scout troop for a decade in Melbourne's
east and was aged just 16 when he began preying on cubs aged as young as 10.
Today, in the Victorian County Court, he pleaded guilty to 30 offences
between 1988 and 2000, including nine counts of sexual penetration of a
child.
His victims included a 16-year-old with whom he had a two-year live-in
relationship after the boy ran away from home.
One victim had just lost his mother to cancer when the man molested him,
while another was aged around 11 or 12 when he was shown porn and given
pizza at his family home.
Crown prosecutor Arna Marjanovic told the court the man had taken the
boys on camping trips, to the movies and for drives.
He had accompanied one of the victims on a family holiday and employed
several of the boys after school.
“Through his involvement with the scouting movement the defendant was
able to meet and cultivate friendships with multiple families,” she told
the court.
“After obtaining the parents' trust and approval the defendant would
then cultivate individual friendships in the victims' families.”
Ms Marjanovic said one of the victims felt like a “rag doll” during the
abuse but did not know how to stop what was happening.
The man was first interviewed by police in October 2003.
He told police he viewed the abuse as “experimenting” and he considered
the boys “friends”.
Judge Thomas Wodak adjourned the matter for further hearing and
sentencing on February 6.