Victim of child entertainer and sex offender Ric Marshall convicted of possessing child exploitation material

A victim of former entertainer and sex offender Ric Marshall has been caught with child exploitation material, saying he was trying to “recreate” the abuse he suffered as a boy.

A victim of former child entertainer and sex offender Ric Marshall has been caught with child exploitation material, saying he was attempting to “recreate” the abuse he suffered as a young boy at the hands of the TV star.

The 61-year-old man, whose name is suppressed, pleaded guilty in the Adelaide District Court in July to two counts of producing child exploitation material.

The court heard the man was caught with two images he had constructed by cutting out young boys from shopping catalogues, as well as older men, and gluing them together to portray them committing indecent acts.

Judge Michael Burnett heard the man had been abused multiple times during his youth, including by former children’s TV show host Marshall.

“You stated that you created the images years ago in an attempt to recreate events that happened to you as a child,” Judge Burnett said.

The court heard the man was in year eight at school during the mid-1970s when he joined a private theatre group – the Cottage Theatre – run by Marshall.

Ric Marshall in front of the Cottage Theatre in Halifax Street, Adelaide in September 1991. Picture: File

Marshall was hosting children’s TV show Super Duper Flying Fun Show at the time and his role on television and with the theatre company gave him access to his young victims and also attracted other sex offenders.

Marshall’s co-accused – Peter Leith and Phillip Cave – were each jailed for their involvement in the abuse.

In 2011, the District Court ruled that a bedridden Marshall would stand trial for 10 counts of buggery, two counts of indecent assault, one count of rape and one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

TV presenter and children's entertainer Ric Marshall (left) with Joanne White (right) and Bozo the clown from Ashton's Circus in a scene from TV program "Super Duper Flying Fun Show" in 1971.

Marshall was branded “evil through and through” by a judge in 2012 when he was sentenced to 25 years’ house arrest for the abuse of four boys between November 1971 and December 1976.

He died while in home detention on November 8, 2019, aged 91.

Marshall on a stretcher being carried away from the Adelaide District Court by an ambulance officer in July, 2006.

In addition to the abuse inflicted by Marshall, the court heard the man had endured other sexual abuse at a young age including by a random stranger at a swimming pool when he was 10 and also by fellow brothers at a Christian Youth Group when he was 16.

The possession of child exploitation material is not the first time the man has been convicted of a sex offence.

The court heard in 2004 he was convicted of attempting to incite a child to commit an indecent act and received a suspended sentence.

This was later revoked when the man wrote a lewd note to a 12-year-old boy at an aquatic centre, telling the boy he reminded him of himself at that age when he was abused at a pool.

In 2006 the man was jailed for one year and six months for attempting to touch a 15-year-old boy in the change rooms of an aquatic centre.

Judge Burnett sentenced the man to two months and 23 days in jail for the child exploitation material offences.

He is due to be released later this month.