Sutherland junior footy referee Bobby Cummings spared jail time over sexual messages to underage teen on Grindr

Robert ‘Bobby’ Cummings was once a respected stalwart of the Sutherland/Engadine junior rugby league community. Now, a court has heard, he is shunned by people he once called friends.

Robert ‘Bobby’ Cummings, a former Sutherland Loftus Pirates president and long-time junior league referee, leaves court on Tuesday after being spared jail time. Photo: Jeremy Piper

A respected junior footy ref who a court heard was “shunned” by the rugby league community after he was busted sexually preying on a 15-year-old boy on Grindr has narrowly avoided time behind bars.

Robert ‘Bobby’ Cummings, a former Sutherland Loftus Pirates president and long-time junior league referee, was handed a 12-month suspended prison sentence in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday, after pleading guilty to a charge of using a carriage service to procure a person under 16 years for sexual activity.

The court heard Cummings, who identifies as bisexual, claimed he was forced to hide his sexuality from friends and family for years due to the stigma of being gay within the tight-knit rugby league community.

He said he turned to the gay dating website Grindr as a result, using it to secretly meet men for casual sex.

A set of agreed facts tendered to the court said Cummings connected with the teen in April and invited him to his Engadine home.

Cummings (right), pictured outside court with his lawyer, Paul McGirr. Photo: Jeremy Piper

“I‘m super young, 15. Is that an issue for you?” the teen asked Cummings in a series of message exchanges on the app.

The court heard Cummings, who said he was drunk at the time, didn’t directly answer the question but asked the boy if he was into “older people” and what experience he had in the bedroom.

“Have you done much with guys …. what have you done?” Cummings asked.

The court heard the teen told the 58-year-old he had previously had anal sex before asking about Cummings’ HIV/AIDS status.

“If you have either we can still f**k,” the teen wrote.

“Haha mate, I’m clean and get tested regularly and on prep,” Cummings wrote, the latter believed to be a reference to PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a prescription medicine taken to reduce the risk of contracting HIV from sex or injection drug use.

The Daily Telegraph understands Cummings and the teen were not known to each other prior to them connecting on Grindr and it is not suggested the boy is in any way connected to Cummings’ through his sporting commitments.

No meeting between the pair ever occurred, but Cummings was arrested three days later on April 27, charged and released on conditional bail.

On Tuesday, Cummings’ long-time friend, retired police sergeant Stephen Papworth, told the court Cummings had been “shunned” by the rugby league community since news of his crime was reported by the Telegraph.

“What’s been the response [to his charge] from the rugby league community?” Cummings’ barrister, Michael Smith, asked Mr Papworth.

“Very adverse. People who formally would have counted him as a friend have shunned him,” Mr Papworth replied.

Retired Sydney policeman Stephen Papworth gave character evidence for Cummings at his sentencing hearing. Photo: Jeremy Piper

“I’ve had comments myself about ‘why are you hanging around that p**fter’?”

Mr Papworth said he knew of no openly homosexual men in the Engadine area, and none in football.

In sparing Cummings full-time jail, Judge Andrew Scotting found the electrician turned truck driver was a man of “considerable standing” in the community, whose offending was “not planned or sophisticated” and was of a short duration.

“He was on an adult website, seeking adult company,” Judge Scotting said, noting much of Cummings’ conversation with the teen had taken place before he was informed of the boy’s age.

“[The offending covers] five messages sent in less than an hour.”

Cummings was ordered to pay a $1,000 recognisance bond as part of his sentence.