Ourimbah: Former St John Ambulance Superintendent Kevin John Thomas pleads guilty to 11 counts of child sex abuse

A former St John Ambulance Superintendent who later became a trainer on the Central Coast sexually abused two boys in the mid 1990s telling them “people won’t understand”, a court has heard.

St John Ambulance trainer Kevin John Thomas, now aged 72, of East Ryde, has pleaded guilty to 11 counts of sexually abusing two young boys in the mid 1990s. (Supplied picture circa 1995)

Looking relaxed and comfortable, a 72-year-old former St John Ambulance Superintendent appeared in court where he was arraigned on 11 counts of sexually abusing two boys he trained in the mid 1990s.

Dressed in prison greens Kevin John Thomas, of East Ryde, appeared via video link at Gosford District Court on Friday where he pleaded guilty to 11 charges of aggravated indecent assault, sexual intercourse with a child and attempted sexual intercourse with a child.

Thomas leant forward in his chair a few times as if he was struggling to hear as the judge’s associate read out each charge to which he replied “yes” and “guilty”.

Judge David Wilson adjourned Thomas’ case to October 18 for sentence stating “it should be finalised that day hopefully”.

An agreed set of facts states Thomas joined St John Ambulance in Sydney in 1965 and reached the rank of Superintendent before leaving the service in 1987.

Thomas rose through the ranks to become a superintendent until has left and rejoined as a trainer. Picture: News

In the early 1990s Thomas saw an advertisement to join a division on the Central Coast to help train cadets for first aid competitions.

Thomas was aged about 42 or 43 at the time and living between a unit at Enmore in Sydney and a house at Ourimbah when he first met his two victims in the mid 1990s.

Thomas’ victims were St John Ambulance cadets (Picture: SUPPLIED)

The facts state Thomas would pick children up and bring them to training at his Ourimbah house.

“The offender would be very physical and tactile in his demonstration during the training, for example, if the training related to a broken leg the offender would demonstrate on him feeling the entire leg up to the groin area and touching the ‘patient’s’ penis with his hand,” the facts state.

One victim recalled Thomas would pick him up and drive him to a secluded location, such as Chittaway Point, where he would slide the driver’s seat back and undo his trousers.

After sexually abusing the boy Thomas would clean up with a towel.

Years later, the victim would tell police every time he was sexually abused he would just think that he could get more knowledge from Thomas to advance his skills in St John’s competitions.

“My whole life was about the St John’s competitions and first aid,” he would tell police.

“That’s why I would perform sexual acts with Kevin, as at the time I would do anything to advance my skills.”

Thomas also abused the boy at his Enmore unit.

He started abusing another boy in a very similar fashion, starting out in a “playful way” with hugs and wrestling before it progressed to inappropriate touching and eventually full blown sexual abuse.

“After engaging in these sexual acts the offender would say words like, ‘don’t tell anyone about this, people won’t understand and we will get into trouble’,” the facts state.