Jeffrey Steel: Scout leader jailed for Narrabeen rape, northern beaches
A former Scout leader screamed ‘you deserve this, you want this’ as he raped a 14-year-old boy at a northern beaches campsite. Nearly 30 years on, Jeffrey Steel has been jailed after one of his victims told of the “absolute horrific pain” the assault had caused.
Manly
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A former Scout master who sexually abused two teenage boys, including one on a northern beaches camping trip in the 1990s, has been jailed for six years.
Father-of-two Jeffrey Steven Steel, 48, sat quietly in the dock of the Downing Centre District Court as Judge Robyn Tupman handed down his sentence on Wednesday afternoon.
Steel, who was employed by Woolworths up until he pleaded guilty to seven charges in August 2019, abused one of the boys in a toilet block in an ordeal the now grown man described as causing him “absolutely horrific pain”.
The court heard during that during the Narrabeen Scout trip, Steel, who is from Kellyville, had given the 14-year-old victim port before fondling him in his tent, taking him to a shower block and sexually assaulting him.
“You better not tell anyone about this, you wanted it, it’s your fault,” Steel told the boy.
“He was screaming ‘you deserve this you want this’,” the court also heard.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he was “finally free” after working up the courage to come forward and report the abuse to police almost 20 years after the incident.
“It’s been more than 10,000 days when I was assaulted by my Scout leader – I was 14 and on that day my life changed forever,” he told the court as part of his victim impact statement in December.
“The consequences of what was done to me in a toilet block in Narrabeen have impacted me every day since.
“I also had many other trains of thought which escalated my anxiety: ‘why did he do this, why me, when will the pain stop, did he give me AIDS, will I die’ … it isn’t what any 14-year-old should have to deal with.”
Several years after the camping trip, Steel abused another boy.
He gave a 17-year-old boy cannabis and amphetamines before making him pose naked for pictures under the guise of needing them because he “was in trouble with bad people”.
Over the next few weeks Steel would go on to have sex with the teen on a work site at Wisemans Ferry.
He was supported by his family in court on Wednesday.
Steel’s wife Lynda had previously given evidence during the first instalment of his sentencing last year, describing him as a “loving, caring man”.
Mrs Steel had told the court of how the pair’s two young children had only just been able to see their father in Silverwater Jail due to the nature of his crimes, which they had been made aware of.
“He said he was deeply sorry and he is has indicated the regret, the guilt and that he is ashamed,” she said when asked what he told her about the abuse.
“He was clouded in himself, he didn’t know himself, he found it really hard (to admit he abused the boys).”
Judge Robyn Tupman said his prospects of rehabilitation were “excellent” as Steel’s family have been supportive of him throughout the proceedings.
Judge Tupman sentenced him to six years in jail, but Steel will be eligible for parole after four years.
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