Scout leader plied young boy with cash and pornography in exchange for sex, court told

A Scout leader plied a young boy with cash and pornography in order to abuse him, a court has heard.

A Scouts leader allegedly abused a young boy over a number of years, plying him with pornography magazines and cash in exchange for sexual favours, a court has heard.

The accused man, whose identity is suppressed, is standing trial in the District Court charged with a count of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child.

Opening the trial Donna Foundas, said the accused man, now aged in his 40s, had abused the boy over several years beginning in the 1990s.

She said the offending first began when the accused man was involved in Scouts leadership in metropolitan Adelaide.

The boy had been attending Scouts for a few years before the offending began.

Ms Foundas said the accused man had arranged with the child’s mother to drop him home after a Scouts meeting.

“The accused and complainant were joking around, photocopying funny things when, on the prosecution case, it led to the accuse saying something about photocopying body parts,” she said.

She said the accused man encouraged the boy to photocopy his genitalia, but he refused. The accused man dropped the boy home on multiple occasions over time and his alleged offending progressed to sex acts.

“The complainant looked up to the accused,” she said.

“He thought the accused was cool and did all the cool things that his parents did not allow him to do,” Ms Foundas said.

“Whilst still in Scouts the accused implemented a reward structure in which the complainant would receive rewards for sexual favours,” she said.

“The rewards started off with the provision of pornographic magazines.”

She said he “coaxed the complainant” into performing sex acts by offering the magazines

He allegedly progressed to offering the complainant money, initially $50 which reduced to lesser amounts as the time passed.

Ms Foundas said the offending initially occurred at a Scouts hall.

It continued after the man left the Scouts, occurring in his car and at the homes of both the complainant and accused.

On one occasion the sex acts were broadcast to a third man via a webcam.

The accused man’s lawyer Andrew Graham told Judge Jane Schammer, who is presiding over the trial in the absence of a jury, that his client “denied any sexual activity with the complainant”.

The trial is continuing.

Originally published as Scout leader plied young boy with cash and pornography in exchange for sex, court told