Bob Montgomery: Shrink’s child abuse compared to hazing
A court has heard why a disgraced former celeb psychologist is facing jail over “opportunistic” sexual abuse of children in Sydney’s eastern suburbs and inner west.
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A former celebrity psychologist’s historic sexual abuse of multiple children as a Sydney scout master has been described as “skylarking or sexual hazing” by his legal team as they fight to keep the 77-year-old out of jail.
Robert Bruce Montgomery, known for his role on reality show Big Brother, is facing potentially years in prison for a spate of sex offences committed against children in the 1960s.
The allegations came to light in 2018 while Montgomery was at the height of what had been a stellar and decades-long career.
The court was told in one incident 40 years ago he put his hands down a child’s pants and grabbed his genitals.
“I don’t wish to sound glib but in the 1960s your honour skylarking and sexualised hazing was very much more common, even in youth groups and schools among teenagers, than it is now I suspect,” Montgomery’s defence barrister Phillip Boulten SC said.
“This was an example of that. It was sexualised conduct by a young adult briefly in the kitchen.
“It was quick, it was opportunistic, it was such as your honour might conclude that the offender might well have thought this is kind of funny, it’s mucking around.”
The Crown is arguing Montgomery exploited and pursued the boys because of his “sexual interest”.
The former Family Court expert’s legal team on Friday conceded he is fit to plead guilty to charges of buggery and multiple indecent assaults after flagging his early onset dementia.
The question over his fitness could have seen him avoid being sent to jail and the case thrown out.
Montgomery has yet to physically face a Sydney court over the allegations and was again beamed in from his home on the Gold Coast in Queensland on Friday.
His sentencing hearing has previously heard from victims who recounted the horror of the abuse he subjected them to as 12-year-old boys in the suburbs of Edgecliff and Marrickville.
“At his home he encouraged me to explore my sexuality and to masturbate, this was with him looking on while I was on the lounge,” one victim said.
Mr Boulten SC argued Montgomery’s offending was “at the lower end” of criminal conduct and that jail would present “unimaginable difficulties” in disputing the Crown’s case it was “targeted and predatory”.
Montgomery will return to court to be sentenced at a later date.