Children’s sports coach Brett Leroy Richards guilty of rape, indecent treatment of five girls

**DISTRESSING CONTENT** A “predator” children’s sports coach has been found guilty of raping and indecently treating five pre-pubescent Central Queensland girls. Read more here.

A Central Queensland sports coach has been found guilty of abusing a number of children.

A “predator” children’s sports coach has been found guilty of raping and indecently treating five pre-pubescent Central Queensland girls over a six-year period.

Brett Leroy Richards, 62, was found guilty of six counts of rape and 10 indecent treatment of children counts on Monday after a 10-day trial in Rockhampton District Court.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton, who has asked Richards to receive a 10-11 year prison term for his crimes, said Richards’ behaviour was ‘predatory’ and exploited the vulnerability of the victims.

He said the offending involved Richards raping three of the five girls, with five rapes being digital penetration and the sixth involving his tongue.

He said four of the indecent treatment offences involved his tongue on the girls’ genitals, five of him touching their genitals either under or over clothing and one involved touching a victim’s breasts.

Mr Sutton said one of victims testified that Richards used force in his offence, pushing her down on the bed as she tried to protest.

Judge Jeff Clarke said the court had heard evidence that Richards told a mother that it was safe for children to stay over at his house as he held a Blue Card and was a children’s sports coach.

The court heard Richards tried to make one of the victims out to be a liar, accusing her through cross-examination with questions of smoking marijuana, being promiscuous “and getting around”.

A relative of some of the victims wrote in a victim impact statement that the girls did not like being touched anymore and struggled to connect with people.

The court heard two of the girls had self-harmed after Richards offended against them.

One child who wrote a victim impact statement stated she had been in counselling, feared men and boys, and lacked self-confidence.

Defence barrister Kate Gover said her client had recently been diagnosed with diabetes and had high cholesterol and vitamin D deficiency.

Judge Clarke asked if he was being treated for “severe” mobility issues due to arthritis, having talked about it when he took the stand during the trial.

Ms Gover said no as it was not painful.

She said his recidivism risk was reduced due to his Blue Card being cancelled once he was charged with these offences.

Ms Gover said Richards had always worked after school and had run his owned computer shop for 10 years before it went bust.

She said he then did an apprenticeship under his brother and they now ran a town planning type business dividing properties for developers and Richards had organised accommodation for NDIS clients.

Judge Clarke adjourned the sentencing until October 28.