Pedophile Todd Hubers van Assenraad confessed to Geelong Revival Centre leader days before turning himself in to police

A Geelong pedophile who preyed on young boys for years, confessed to the leader of the controversial Geelong Revival Centre church days before handing himself in.

Todd Hubers

A pedophile confessed to sexually abusing young boys to his controversial church leader and deleted terabytes of child abuse material in the days before he handed himself in.

Todd Hubers van Assenraad, 38, also known as Todd Hubers, appeared in the County Court at Geelong on Wednesday for a plea hearing before Judge Gerard Mullaly, having pleaded guilty in August to 16 charges related to the sexual abuse of nine boys and possession of child abuse material.

The abuse took place between July 2016 and January 2023, coming to an end shortly before Hubers handed himself in to police on January 25 last year.

Unshaven and wearing a dark suit, Hubers, who has remained in custody since his arrest, sat quietly during the hearing.

His victims, all boys from the Geelong area, were between the ages of six and 12 years old at the time of the abuse.

Crown prosecutor Daryl Brown told the court the abuse took place at various locations including in a mezzanine level Hubers constructed in his garage – dubbed the “loft” – and at public pools in the Geelong region.

Hubers’ groomed his victims, using movies and video games to gain their trust before sexually assaulting them in various ways, including orally, anally and by touch.

He called the abuse “Boy’s Club” and would show his victims pornography and child abuse material on his phone.

The court heard more than one victim burst into tears upon learning Hubers was in custody.

Following his arrest, the court heard Hubers confessed to police he had a “problem” and had been accessing child abuse material for 25 years and was attracted to young boys.

He had collected “terabytes” of the material, the court heard, but had ‘scrubbed” his devices prior to handing himself in, as it would make him look worse.

Investigators were still able to recover a multitude of files containing child abuse material – 1676 images and four videos – from a hard drive.

Hubers, a regular churchgoer, was a member of the Geelong Revival Centre, a controversial Pentecostal group based in Norlane.

A day after his offending came to light, but three days before handing himself in to police, Hubers spoke to the church’s late pastor, Noel Hollins and made some confessions.

However, the police were not contacted regarding Hubers until the following day, allowing the IT worker to delete incriminating files.

“I’m just struggling to understand how someone admitted to child abuse to a number of people, (and) there was some days until he turns up at the police,” Judge Mullaly said.

Hubers’ lawyer, barrister Anthony Pyne, conceded his client’s conduct was serious offending and “utterly immoral”, describing it as “protracted” and “depraved”.

Mr Pyne told the court the most serious mitigatory factor in the case was Hubers’ guilty plea.

Hubers had a sheltered upbringing, coming from a middle-class, conservative Christian home, which gave him a “good foundation for rehabilitation”, Mr Pyne argued.

Judge Mullaly questioned how Hubers’ had the moral foundation for being rehabilitated when “plainly, he had no moral compass whatsoever throughout years of downloading and watching children being raped online, then doing similar”.

“I’m not sure that he has a solid moral compass on any analysis,” Judge Mullaly said.

Hubers will be sentenced in January.

Originally published as Pedophile Todd Hubers van Assenraad confessed to Geelong Revival Centre leader days before turning himself in to police