Magistrate Graeme Curran guilty of sexually abusing teen

A high profile Sydney magistrate who molested a teenage boy he nicknamed his “little chicken” nearly forty years ago has been found guilty of child sex abuse.

• Magistrate Graeme Curran made ‘foolish mistake’ sharing bed with boy
• Magistrate denies ‘prancing’ in nightgown before teen sex abuse, court hears

A high profile Sydney magistrate who molested a teenage boy he nicknamed his “little chicken” nearly forty years ago has been found guilty of child sex abuse.

Graeme Curran, 67, was convicted of seven out of nine counts of indecent assault at Downing Centre District Court today.

Magistrate Graeme Curran arrives at the Downing Centre Courts today. Picture: Peter Rae

After two days of deliberating, a jury accepted the Crown case that the former Children’s Court magistrate kissed, masturbated and performed oral sex on the kid in the 1980s when he was aged between 13 and 15.

During the five-week trial the jury heard that the magistrate first met the seven-year-old in 1974 when Curran was 22 and soon became his father figure.

The trusted babysitter groomed his “little chicken” with expensive gifts and overseas holidays while buying his parents a car and paying off some of their debts.

But Curran bathed and slept naked with the boy during weekend sleepovers at his Sydney home, where he performed a Saturday “ritual” of prancing around in a nightgown before tracing his fingers over his genitals, the jury accepted.

The jury found Curran not guilty of getting high on happy gas at his dentist mate’s surgery and trying to stick his tongue down the child’s throat when they were alone.

He was also acquitted of making the boy sit on his naked lap before feeling his nipples while on a trip down the NSW south coast.

The 67-year-old was found guilty of seven out of nine counts of indecently assaulting his underprivileged family friend in the 1980s

In a statement read out by the victim’s friend, he reassured other abuse survivors who are considering coming forward that “the feeling of relief brought about by the release from the oppressor far outweighs the doom and gloom of time spent bringing the accused to justice”.

“The liberation gained by the conviction is profound but even more so was the opportunity to stand before the court and tell my story,” the victim said.

“This is where true freedom is found.

“So with joy and optimism I thank my beautiful wife, my dear friends and family, and my five amazing children.”

Curran became “extremely aroused” when he noticed a hickey on the then 13-year-old’s neck after kissing a girl for the first time, and asked whether he’d ejaculated.

“This is the man who gave me a lesson about the ‘birds and the bees’ and the first sexual experience I have he’s getting off on it,” the victim said while giving evidence.

“I was broken. He broke me.”

When Curran masturbated the teen on the beach during a private Easter sailing trip, the victim said he got on his hands and knees and ran along the sand barking like a dog in an attempt to make light of the traumatising situation.

“It was a scared s***less dog that was trying to get away from a f***ing certain disaster,” he said.

But Curran chased and tackled the child and rubbed his erect penis against his body “like a dog humping a dog”, he said.

“He was just mauling me on the beach, I swatted him off and I started crying,” the victim said.

On that same trip the man said he was “horrified” when Curran forced him to skinny dip and gave the child oral sex on the boat.

“I remember sobbing myself to sleep,” he said.

The court heard Curran was a trusted babysitter. Picture: Peter Rae

The jury accepted that when the victim first confronted Curran about the abuse, he apologised and said he had to forgive him like Jesus forgave sinners.

The magistrate also tried to “explain away” the abuse by telling the child that sex with adult men was a rite of passage for adolescent boys in Ancient Greece, Crown Prosecutor Mark Hobart SC said.

As an adult in 2011 the depressed victim contacted the magistrate asking for money for psychiatric treatment, saying “my life is completely f***ed and he played a role”.

The magistrate later his victim more than $34,000 between 2011 and 2013 as hush money to keep him from telling police.

Curran claimed the complainant underwent hypnotherapy which could have reshaped his memories and said his story had changed over time.

The magistrate admitted to sharing a bed with the teenage boy, a decision his own lawyer said was perhaps the most foolish mistake he’s ever made.

“Even if you think it is gravely improper, that’s not the issue here,” Defence barrister Phillip Boulten SC said in his closing submissions.

Curran was sworn onto the bench in August 2002 but the magistrate’s position was suspended after he was charged in November 2017.