Exposed: Shocking crimes of NSW junior sport coaches revealed
They were meant to be mentors and role models, but these NSW sports coaches found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Here are their shocking stories.
Manly
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They were meant to be role models for the young impressionable athletes they mentored, but these NSW sports coaches found themselves on the wrong side of the law for various crimes. Here are their shocking stories.
STUART ANGUS MOULD
Former northern beaches baseball coach Stuart Angus Mould is set to learn his fate after pleading guilty to multiple child abuse material offences.
The 71-year-old South Coast resident also entered guilty pleas to assault charges for punishments he meted out to young athletes when they failed to perform to his standards.
In total, Mould, who coached local clubs between 1994 and 2017, has admitted to a staggering 51 offences, including 14 child abuse material offences relating to the possession, production and dissemination of child abuse material, 36 counts of common assault and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
A police statement tendered to the court at the time of his arrest in August 2019 alleged he kept a “torture tally” of the punishments inflicted on the boys aged nine to 20.
The cruel measures allegedly included twisting the boys’ nipples, feet and wrists and snapping them with elastic bands until they developed welts.
He is due to be sentenced later this month.
Read the full story here.
NICK WARBY
Knox Grammar’s former head of aquatic sports Nick Warby was sentenced to jail after being caught with a sickening stash of child abuse material.
The 31-year-old had pleaded guilty to possessing child abuse material and was ordered by Judge Gina O’Rourke earlier this month to spend at least 14 months in jail before being eligible for parole.
Warby’s crimes were uncovered in August 2019 after a colleague picked up a mobile phone the swim teacher had accidentally left behind and stumbled onto the material while trying to figure out the phone’s owner.
A police investigation subsequently found 3400 images and videos on five devices belonging to Warby.
Judge O’Rourke acknowledged Warby - who was also a former patrol captain at Queenscliff SLSC — was remorseful for his actions.
Read the full story here.
JOSHUA PETRANKER
Swim school teacher Joshua Petranker was jailed over a terrifying attack on his former employer, which left her bleeding and unconscious in her own home.
The Peakhurst man, 38, pleaded guilty to break and enter and causing actual bodily harm after bashing former swim coach Rose Agius, 74, in her Lugarno home.
A Sydney court heard Petranker was caught in the walk-in wardrobe where he hit Ms Agius over the head.
When she regained consciousness, he attacked her again before continuing to ransack her home.
Petranker told the court through his lawyer he was “disgusted” with himself.
He was sentenced to jail for seven years and two months with a non-parole period of four years and two months.
Read the full story here.
CHRIS CRANNY
Illawarra cricket coach Chris Cranny is set to be sentenced later this year after admitting to grooming three teen boys over a four-year period.
The 31-year-old primary school teacher earlier this month pleaded guilty to 11 offences, including three counts of groom child over under 16 for unlawful sexual activity, two counts of aggravated indecent victim under 16 and six counts of committing aggravated sexual act child between 10 and 16.
According to documents tendered to court, Cranny told police after his arrest he had a “disorder” related to adolescent boys from the ages of 14 to 17 which led him to sexualise them “in a way that he gets curious about seeing them naked”.
He told police he had rationalised his behaviour as “being okay” because he didn’t physically touch them and expressed shame and remorse for his actions.
He will be sentenced in November.
Read the story here.
FRANK MCKEE
A rugby league coach from the northern beaches landed himself in court after assaulting a police officer at a Manly pub.
Frank McKee, 42, of Collaroy Plateau, was convicted of assaulting and intimidating police after he violently objected to being searched by officers at The Steyne, forcing officers to taser the Narrabeen Sharks A-grade coach in November 2018.
According to documents tendered to the court, officers had observed McKee and another man coming out of a toilet cubicle.
Believing the pair were using drugs in the bathroom, police told the men they would be searched.
McKee objected and at one point “lashed out with force using his elbow, which made contact with a constable’s left arm”, the police facts stated.
A Sydney court was told McKee was sorry for his actions.
He was sentenced to a six-month community correction order and the charge of resist a police officer was dismissed.
Read the full story here.
GRANT DAVIES
A Sydney dance coach was jailed for sexually abusing nine children over more than a decade.
Grant William Davies was sentenced in 2016 to at least 18 years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to 28 charges relating to child sex offences and child abuse material.
Davies, who ran a dance studio in Sydney’s inner west, targeted nine children — eight girls and one boy — aged between 9 and 15 over a period of 13 years.
A Sydney court heard Davies sexually assaulted victims at his home and during private dance lesson, and groomed ambitious parents.
In sentencing, District Judge Jennie Girdham described his offending as “predatory and persistent”.
He was sentenced to jail for 24 years with a non-parole period of 18 years.
An appeal against his sentence was dismissed in 2019.
Read the full story here.