Former baseball coach allegedly kept ‘torture tally’ on young boys, court hears
A man kept a ‘torture tally’ in relation to alleged ‘punishments’ he imposed on young boys while acting as their baseball coach in the 1990s and 2000s, a court has heard.
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A former Northern Beaches man kept a “torture tally” in relation to alleged “punishments” he imposed on young boys while acting as their baseball coach in the 1990s and 2000s, a court has heard.
Stuart Angus Mould, 70, was arrested at his Sanctuary Point home on the NSW South Coast on Wednesday after allegedly assaulting five young baseball players between 1994 and 2017, while working as a coach at several Northern Beaches sports clubs.
Mould faced Nowra Local Court today, where Magistrate David Williams refused his application for bail, due to the seriousness of the 19 charges against him.
Detectives from Northern Beaches Police Area Command began an investigation into Mould’s alleged crimes after five men reported they had been physically abused by him while they played at the Pittwater Baseball Club and Manly Warringah Baseball Club.
The court heard Mould assaulted the boys, who were aged between nine and 20 at the time, keeping a “torture tally” in diaries allegedly seized by police on Wednesday.
Police facts tendered to the court allege Mould would often assault the boys during private coaching sessions, issuing “punishments” if they made a mistake.
Police will allege Mould had specific names for the “punishments”, with the main ones being “toers”, “lazos”, “crushers”, “twisters” and “wristers”.
According to one of the alleged victims, a toer involved Mould pulling the child’s foot into his groin, twisting his toes in an “outward and prolonged and aggressive manner” to create pain.
Police facts allege a lazo was when two thick elastic bands were wrapped around the foot and pulled back only to be released on the bottom of the foot, which caused “pain and welts”.
One alleged victim told police the lazos could last for up to an hour, depending on the “mistake” that had been made.
Twisters allegedly involved the young boy taking off his shirt at the request of Mould, who would then twist their nipples.
Wristers allegedly involved Mould twisting the wrists of the boys while they lay face down. According to one of the alleged victims, Mould would allegedly sit on top of him while his legs were “folded back in a ‘Y’ shape”. He would then lean over him and twist his wrists to cause him pain.
The facts tendered to the court allege the punishments were dealt after a number of seemingly minor incidents.
According to one victim, when he was aged between 13 and 14 years old, Mould allegedly told him he “owed him toers” after missing balls that were thrown at him during baseball practice.
After the “punishment” was over, Mould allegedly drove the boy home, telling him “you did well today, you’re a tough kid”.
In one of the alleged incidents detailed in the police facts, a 12-year-old boy suffered fractures to his foot from Mould’s punishments.
Police facts also allege Mould filmed some of the assaults. One victim in particular recalled being told to keep his eyes closed while filming was underway, and that if he opened his eyes, Mould would issue more punishment.
On Wednesday, a search warrant was executed at Mould’s home, where investigators located several items, including electronic storage devices, video tapes and documentation.
In court, the prosecution alleged some of VHS tapes had uncovered footage involving some of the alleged victims.
Mould is facing a total of 19 charges, including 16 counts of common assault, produce child abuse material, produce child pornography, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
He will return to court at Manly on September 3.