Youth group leader Sean McCartney charged with historical sex offences at Nowra, Kings Cross

A former youth group leader, now living in Queensland, has been charged with more than 30 historical sex offences for allegedly assaulting half a dozen boys across the space of two decades from Sydney to the NSW south coast.

A former youth group leader has been charged for allegedly assaulting half a dozen boys under his care from Sydney to the NSW south coast across the space of two decades.

Sean Alan John McCartney, of Northgate in Queensland, was not present at Nowra Local Court on Monday charged with 33 offences, due to the current Covid-19 outbreak and lockdown in Brisbane.

The charges against the 68-year-old date back from the late 1960s to 1990.

According to court documents, Mr McCartney allegedly sexually assaulted and had sexual intercourse with six boys under the age of 16 at Nowra, Bomaderry, Sussex Inlet and Termeil on the south coast, and Kings Cross in Sydney.

According to court documents, he indecently assaulted a teenage male multiple times from 1968 to 1970 at Nowra and Bomaderry and committed an act of buggery with the same teen between that time.

Sean Alan John McCartney, of Northgate in Queensland, was not present at Nowra Local Court on Monday due to lockdown after he was charged with 33 offences.

He allegedly indecently assaulted another teenager at Bomaderry from 1976 – 1982 at both Nowra and Bomaderry, committing an act of buggery on him in 1978.

In 1982 Mr McCartney allegedly sexually assaulted the same teenager at Sussex Inlet, where he put his hands down the boy’s pants and “fondled his penis while kissing him passionately”, according to court documents.

The 68-year-old allegedly sexually assaulted a 14-year-old in 1985 at Nowra, with police alleging he sat the boy on his lap while driving a car, with the teenager able to feel the youth worker’s erection as he rubbed it on the boy’s bottom.

In that same year, Mr McCartney allegedly went into the same boy’s tent while on a camp at Termeil and spooned him from behind, rubbing his erect penis against the teeagner’s bottom, according to court documents.

On another occasion at Bomaderry, according to police documents, he allegedly made the teenager apply cream onto the cracks of his bottom and “over his anus” using cotton balls.

The 14-year-old was also allegedly forced to apply cream to Mr McCartney’s front, and was asked to “put the cream onto his hands and massage it into his testicles and penis”, according to court documents.

In 1986, the youth worker allegedly sexually assaulted another teenager, lying beside the boy on a bed with his pants down and pushing his erect penis on the boy’s bottom.

That same year, Mr McCartney allegedly masturbated a boy aged between 11 and 12 years, before doing it again two years later when he was between 13 and 14.

Between 1986 and 1988 the youth worker allegedly had sex with the young boy without his consent multiple times at Bomaderry, Nowra and Kings Cross, and forced the same boy to masturbate him.

In 1989, he allegedly sexually assaulted another teenager by placing his hand on the boy’s penis through his clothing at Kings Cross.

Detectives from the South Coast Police District launched an investigation in 2019 following reports a teenage boy had been sexually assaulted by a man known to him at a Nowra youth group on multiple occasions.

During the investigation, police found a further five boys alleged they were also sexually assaulted while under the man’s care.

Court documents reveal Mr McCartney changed his name from Alan John McCartney to Sean Alan John McCartney in 2006.

The 68-year-old moved from NSW to Queensland in 1994, where he is currently residing and has not had any prior offences with either state’s police.

The court heard Mr McCartney could not make it to Nowra as he was under a current lockdown in Brisbane.

It is expected the charges will be dealt with by the Director of Public Prosecutions, with the matter being adjourned for eight weeks for brief service orders.

Mr McCartney is due to face Nowra Local Court on September 27.