NSW child sex offences: Number of recorded incidents, offenders jailed in 2022-23 named
The daunting number of child sex crimes across NSW has been recorded, with almost 10,000 incidents reported in the space of 12 months. Now, some of the state’s newly-convicted child sex offenders can be revealed.
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They’re the worst of the worst, the criminals who parents fear most and unfortunately, they are just as common as they are sick – they are the ones who prey sexually on vulnerable children.
Scarily, the number of monstrous sexual acts committed by adults on children in NSW has continued to sit in the thousands in recent years, with 9883 sexual acts listed on the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) between April 2022 and March 2023.
Despite the staggering number of reported offences, Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Newcastle Xanthe Mallet said the figures “only just touch the surface of what’s actually going on”.
“We need to remember, these numbers are massive, but the important word there is that they are reported,” she said. “Most sexual crimes, especially child sex crimes are left unreported.”
Ms Mallet said this was a result of fear in the victims.
“Sometimes they’re too scared to come forward, or sometimes they know the perpetrator quite well, so they’re hesitant to come forward.”
The BOCSAR statistics also reveal how some local government areas have seen a rise in child sex acts, like the Richmond Valley, which has seen incidents rise by 56 per cent over 24 months, or Broken Hill which has seen a 26 per cent rise.
However, some areas like Kempsey have seen a 56 per cent decline in the acts.
Statistics from BOCSAR revealed the 10 local government areas (LGAs) with the highest recorded incidents of sex crimes against children in a 12 month period before March 2022 were; Central Coast (512), Blacktown (470), Lake Macquarie (320), Penrith (300), Campbelltown (292), Canterbury-Bankstown (277), Parramatta (235), Liverpool (230), Newcastle (225) and Mid-Coast (210).
Ms Mallet said a fair percentage of those reported cases would be incidents which had been initiated online.
“There has definitely been a change of what we would consider the modern day paedophile,” she said. “It is so easy for people to contact children and initiate conversation with things like Facebook, Snapchat, online gaming.
“And we also need to remember that being sexually attracted to children isn’t actually illegal – it’s acting upon which is, and this new-found easy way to do so with online platforms is only making the situation worse.”
Ms Mallet said it was important for parents to talk to their children and if possible, monitor their online usage.
“Parents need to talk to their children about people online,” she said. “Parents can’t really stop children from accessing online gaming on their iPads, phones, computers – but they can speak to them so they understand what dangers to look out for and when or even if they should reply to strangers on the internet.”
Below are nine individuals who have been convicted for sexual crimes relating to juveniles, between June 2022 and June 2023 in NSW.
Paul Frost
The son of Ian Thorpe’s swimming coach, Paul Frost, was found guilty in June 2023 of sexually abusing 11 children at the swim school where he worked.
A jury ultimately found him guilty of the criminal sex acts in which he sexually abused students at the Doug Frost Swim Academy at Padstow in the 1990s and 2000s.
The 47-year-old was employed at Malabar Public School as a teacher up until the day before his arrest.
Frost was convicted of 18 counts of aggravated indecent assault of a child under 16, 13 counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 10 and 16 under his authority, and six counts of inciting aggravated indecency with a child under 16 under his authority.
They also included two counts of grooming a child under 14 for an unlawful sexual act, one count of indecent assault of a child under 16 and two counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 16 and 17 who was under his care.
Simon Tiffen
Tiffen was a groundskeeper who touched a three-year-old boy under his shorts while the boy rode a lawnmower and worst of all – filmed it.
The 64-year-old was sentenced and convicted in Sydney District Court in February 2023, after he pleaded guilty to touching the boy and filming the encounter for more than 10 minutes.
The groundskeeper, who had his own gardening business, also exposed his penis and touched the boy’s back.
Along with the offence, Tiffen was also convicted of possessing more than 153,000 child abuse photos and videos, including graphic images of small children involved in sexual activity with adults.
Tiffen was convicted and sentenced to prison on all offences for four years, with a non parole period of two years and eight months.
Collen Dixon
Collen Dixon, 36, treated his multiple children victims as “sexual commodities”.
The young Sydney man was charged with 27 offences, including child abuse material offences and sexual intercourse with person under 16 outside Australia.
The details of his offences are too graphic for this publication to publish.
Along with his sexual offences, police who searched his Chippendale home discovered child abuse material located on devices, including three mobile phones, and a hard drive.
The material ranged footage of babies to adolescents.
Dixon was convicted in the Downing Centre Court in April 2023 and jailed for 16 years, with an 11-year non parole period.
Evangelos Nussis
Nussis found himself behind bars in 2023 after he admitted to catching the train from the Illawarra region to Sydney on more than one occasion to have sex with a 15-year-old girl after meeting her on the popular video game, Fortnite.
The 29-year-old, who was convicted on seven counts of sexual intercourse with a child between 14 and 16, connected with the victim via the online game in 2019, then added her on Discord and Snapchat.
The predator soon began catching the train to the Illawarra region to have sex with the minor.
The offending occurred at various locations including on the sand at Wollongong Beach, nearby beach huts and the City Beach Motel.
Nussis was convicted and sentenced to five years and six months jail with a non-parole period of three years. With time already served, he could be eligible for parole in May, 2026.
Former Berejiklian staffer:
The staffer, who cannot be named due to him being a teenager at the time, was convicted and sentenced to a 12-month community correction order in July 2022, after he sexually abused children as a teenager.
The then-adviser to former NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian pleaded guilty to six counts of aggravated indecent assault, after he sexually abused two children in the mid 1990s.
In 2020, the man was arrested following four years of police investigating allegations made by a man and woman who said they had been abused as children.
During his sentencing in the NSW District Court in 2022, the court heard the children were aged between eight and 12 at the time of the sexual abuse and lived across the road to the offender, who would regularly babysit them.
Judge John Pickering told the court the abuse occurred to the children under the guise of playing “games”.
“He would play a tickling game with victims where they would tickle each other and the person being tickled had to be still,” Judge Pickering said.
The former staffer was convicted for the crimes.
Robert Van Gestel
Described as a “monster” by one of his victims, Robert Van Gestel was convicted and sent to prison in October 2022 after he was found guilty of sexually abusing three girls under the age of 10 in the late 1970s.
During his sentencing, the court heard how Van Gestel forced his first victim’s hand onto his penis in separate acts while she was visiting his home, then put his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence.
In court, this very victim said Van Gestel had ruined her life.
“You shattered my world into a million pieces and I have spent my life picking them up and trying to piece them back together,” she said. “You are a monster.”
The 78-year-old will spend the next six years in prison and will be eligible for parole in January 2026.
Roderick ‘Rod’ Corrie
The former Scouts Master Roderick ‘Rod’ Corrie, was convicted in the Downing Centre District Court in July 2022, with 40 charges of child sex abuse.
The 79-year-old sexually assaulted eight young scouts between the ages of seven and 14, during a 20-year time frame.
Across the 40 charges, he – at different times and to different boys – forced them to perform oral sex on him while he babysat, made them share a bed with him and forced them to shower with him, among other horrific acts.
During his sentencing, the court heard how after he sexually abused one of the children, Corrie pleaded to him not to tell anyone.
Corrie was convicted and sent to jail for 14 years, with a non-parole period of nine years.
Rhys Nelson
The 22-year-old from Wollongong harassed a 15-year-old on Snapchat, despite her asking multiple times to leave her alone and informing him on more than one occasion she was too young.
Despite the calls from the young girl, Nelson sent her a video on the popular social media app, of him masturbating with the message “WYD” which means “What are you doing”.
The girl was “shocked and felt sick” and told the offender she didn’t want to see the video, reiterating she was not interested in him and that she was 15.
“Mate I said I didn’t want to see it so keep it to yourself you weird c***. How old are you?” she said in one message.
After the girl’s mother reported him to police, officers searched his home and unearthed 130 child abuse videos and images including one where a group of children were engaging in sexual activities with one another.
He was sentenced in Wollongong Local Court in October 2022 for charges of grooming a child between the ages of 14 and 16 for unlawful sexual activity and three counts of possessing child abuse material, which he pleaded guilty to all.
Nelson was jailed and placed on a three-year community corrections order for the child grooming offence.
Darren Vuolanne
This 52-year-old man has been convicted in the Wollongong District Court and thrown behind bars until at least 2031, after he was found guilty of 11 child sex charges relating to four female victims aged eight to 15 between 1996 and 2001.
The former Scouts leader was handed a 10-year non-parole period as a supporter of the victims scolded; “Every dog has its day you piece of s**t”.
The trial heard one of the victims was raped between 15 and 20 times by Vuolanne with the court hearing he had “control” over her and “touched me whenever he felt like it”.
The offending also included kissing the minors on the lips, putting his hand down their underpants and fondling their nipples.
Vuolanne was convicted and sentenced to prison until 2037 with a non-parole period of 10 years.
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