Wayne Robinson sex crimes: Wangaratta music teacher raped boy, assaulted several more
A vile predator from Wangaratta who raped a boy and sexually assaulted several other music students over a number of years was reported to authorities almost a decade ago but nothing was done.
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A well-respected Wangaratta music teacher used his position to rape and sexually assault boys for 13 years, despite being reported to police years earlier.
Wayne Robinson, 47, pleaded guilty at the County Court on January 29 to 19 charges including sexual penetration of a child under 16 and committing an indecent act on a child under his care or supervision.
Robinson used his position as a popular and trusted teacher at Wangaratta music school Northern Rivers Academy of Music to groom and assault his underage male victims.
The vile predator raped one boy three times and sexually assaulted eight others between 2005 and 2018 at the Academy, the Boorhaman North home he shared with his wife and two daughters and a holiday home.
He used the promise of music scholarships to groom some of his victims.
Robinson sexually assaulted many of his victims during massages he claimed would help them “relax” during “breathing exercises”.
Robinson told one victim – who was assaulted “10-20” times – to bring baby oil because it would “feel better” on the skin.
He made the boy take his clothes off and lie facedown on a sleeping bag.
Robinson would then perform lewd acts on his victim.
He sexually penetrated this victim three times before the offending stopped.
The victim quit the Academy but Robinson continued to try and contact the boy, twice leaving pornographic magazines and condoms outside the boy’s house.
Another victim – who was lured with offers of a $14,000 music scholarship he never received – was assaulted by Robinson.
Another victim was molested by Robinson on multiple occasions while they watched Star Wars movies together.
Robinson sent another victim lewd images via Snapchat.
The predator was under police investigation when he offended against his final victim in 2018.
A male student at the Academy spotted “gay young boy sex movies” on the Google search history of a computer used by Robinson.
The boy created a fake account and contacted Robinson via Wickr.
Robinson – using the handle “Nitro89” asked the boy if he needed a “dad figure”.
The boy said he was 15 to which Robinson replied, “IDC”, understood to have meant “I don’t care”.
Robinson sent the boy lewd images which were handed to police.
Robinson was interviewed several times before he was eventually charged.
During one of the interviews Robinson told police the massages and breathing exercises were a “documented procedure” of the Academy.
Robinson sat with his head down as two of his victims and one victim’s mother bravely read their victim impact statements to the court.
One victim tearfully told the court “what happened to me will never go away”.
“The end of this horrible journey is still not in sight,” he said.
The victim said “everybody knew everybody” in Wangaratta and Robinson was so well known he cast a “shadow” over the town.
The mother of another victim said “Robinson had taken years off my life”.
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Robinson was reported to police in 2012 but he was not investigated after police claimed there was “nothing to substantiate” the accusations.
Judge Paul Higham – one of the County Court’s most experienced sex crimes judges – said this was “most unfortunate”.
“Let’s hope no police officer would have such a response in 2020,” he said.
“His trusted role as a teacher in the community gave him access to his victims.”
Robinson – who has no priors – will be a registered sex offender for life when he is sentenced at a later date.