Stuart ‘Gus’ Mould: Baseball coach sentenced for sick abuse of players
Victims of a northern beaches baseball coach who inflicted ‘inhuman’ punishments on them over several years have spoken of how they cried and begged for mercy. Hi self styled torments including “toers” and “beestings” and left his victims with not only physical but mental scars.
Manly
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A former junior baseball coach from Sydney’s northern beaches who tortured young players with sick and “inhumane” punishments has been sent to prison for at least three years and nine months.
Stuart Angus Mould, 71, known as Gus, fronted the NSW District Court on Friday to be sentenced for 51 charges relating to child abuse offences and filming child abuse between 1987 and 2018.
The court heard he inflicted torments on 21 known and unknown victims – all boys – on hundreds of occasions including by twisting or crushing their toes, feet and wrists for up to an hour at a time and hitting them with rubber bands and wooden spoons while they cried out or writhed in pain.
One boy suffered a fractured toe in 1995 after being assaulted by Mould.
Mould would sometimes tell the boys to close their eyes and film them while he assaulted them on Sydney’s northern beaches.
The court heard Mould befriended many of his victims’ families which allowed him to spend time alone with the boys whom he coached.
Mould had nicknames for many of his sick torments including “toers” and “beestings” and would tell victims they owed him these punishments for being “cheeky” or making mistakes on the field.
Despite the serious offences, Judge Garry Neilson accepted his motivation was not to gratify a sexual or sadistic desire, and rejected the offending was “gratuitous cruelty”.
“There is no evidence before me to categorise the offender as a paedophile.”
Judge Neilson accepted Mould suffered from Autism and thought he was helping build resilience and fortitude in the boys and lacked insight into the extent of harm caused.
However, Judge Neilson said Mould knew what he was doing was wrong, and said it was the most bizarre case he had seen in 16 years.
“I find it very hard to comprehend how any adult human being could sit there and joke as a 15-year-old boy was writhing in agony and crying hysterically. Such behaviour is totally repugnant and might be described as inhumane,” he said of one offence.
“Boys were entrusted to his care in a position of trust which he abused.
“The offender physically abused his victims, sometimes as punishment for failings, or offences, or to ‘harden them up’ or ‘toughen them up’ to face adversities not only in competitive sport but in life.”
He was sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment with a non-parole of three years and nine months.
Victim impact statements read out in court detailed that some victims were abused frequently about two to four times a week for many years.
“I would often end up crying and begging him to stop but he would continue and tell me that it was helping me become a better person and better baseball player,” one victim wrote.
“The abuse would make me feel dirty and I would blame myself for the assault.
“I was aware he was doing similar things to my friends in the team but we would rarely speak about what he did to us because we were so ashamed and embarrassed.”
Another victim said: “He is a predator lurking around trying to pose as trustworthy … while he is the biggest threat to children’s safety.”
The victims were aged between eight and 20.
The court heard much of the offending took place inside Mould’s vehicle.
He was arrested last year and later pleaded guilty to 37 charges of common assault, one charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, 11 charges of produce child abuse material, and two charges of possess child abuse material.
The court heard that Mould would offer private baseball trainings to the victims, drive the boys to and from school, take them to sporting events, and even spend time alone with some victims in their bedrooms.
Mould formerly worked for a bank and has never married. He coached junior baseball at club, representative and state level on the northern beaches.