Trevor Dale pleads guilty to vile child sex abuse in Sylvania

A well-known Australian actor has found the confidence to come forward four decades after he was subjected to a number of vile sexual assaults when he was only 10 years old. Now, his attacker will finally face justice. WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS.

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A South Coast man who committed a series of sickening sexual assaults on a terrified 10-year-old in his own backyard 40 years ago will finally face justice after the victim, now a well-known Australian actor, bravely came forward to police in 2017.

Nowra bus driver Trevor Dale, 60, was 20 when he met the victim through his parents at Sylvania Bowling Club in 1979.

Three family lunches after hot summer days on the green in December 1979 and January 1980 ended in unspeakable horror for the victim after Dale repeatedly orally and anally raped him behind his parents’ granny flat at their Sylvania home.

Dale met his victim’s parents through Sylvania Bowling Club in 1979.

The victim had guarded his horrific ordeal from all but a few trusted friends and family members for nearly 39 years from the day his mother rushed him to their doctor for medical treatment after finding his bloodied underwear in the laundry.

“Even though what happened wasn’t his fault, the victim continues to feel dirty and ashamed, and suffers from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks and nightmares,” the agreed police facts stated.

“In 2017 the victim, after forming a close bond with a new counsellor, finally gained the confidence to make a formal complaint to police.”

Dale pleaded guilty to one count of buggery and one count of indecent assault before Judge Siobhan Herbert at Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday.

Judge Herbert will consider two additional indecent assaults Dale committed against the victim when she sentences him on November 8.

Judge Siobhan Herbert in 2015. Picture: Adam Yip

Dale has been behind bars since February 2018 after police formed Strike Force Janovo to investigate the victim’s complaint.

Police listened in on the phone as the victim spoke to Dale for the first time since the vile final attack in 1980.

“The offender stated he was concerned the victim had contacted him after such a long period of time,” the facts stated.

“The offender said “I was hoping the reason you had contacted me was not to say ‘hi, how are you, it’s been 30 years since you molested me’.”

Dale continued to deny raping the victim in a revolting attack during which the boy’s head was shoved so forcefully into the granny flat wall it dented the fibro and pulled out strands of his hair until Tuesday, when he changed his plea.

The victim told police the final attack left him “crying, hysterical and in excruciating pain”.

“(The rape) caused the victim to feel an excruciating stabbing pain, the likes of which he had not felt before,” the facts stated.

“The victim screamed out in pain, yelling ‘no’, and the offender covered the victim’s mouth with his hand to prevent him screaming.”

Other distressing details of Dale’s repeated oral and anal rapes are too graphic to be repeated.

“After the offender left with his parents the victim remained in the backyard and remembers crying and consoling himself with his pets,” the facts stated.

Dale will return to Downing Centre District Court on November 8. Picture: John Grainger

Dale appeared morose in court, resting his chin in his folded arms on the dock’s window sill.

“I’m not having fun, I’ve been incarcerated for 16 months,” Dale told police inside the courtroom.