How former Magpies superfan Jeffrey ‘Joffa’ was unmasked as a monster

Former Collingwood cheer squad leader “Joffa” Corfe kept an evil secret for years — until a brave young man decided to right the wrongs of the past.

Magpies super-fan Joffa Corfe may never serve a day behind bars over the sexual assault of a teenager. Picture: Michael Dodge

For 15 years, a young Melbourne man had been tormented by evil acts inflicted upon him by an older, predatory monster.

But on June 29, 2020, after struggling for years with mental health issues caused by his sexual assault, he decided he needed closure and began his own detective work to unmask the villain who had preyed upon him.

In January 2005, then-14-year-old “Jack”, whose real identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons, had been communicating online with “David”, someone he thought was a similarly young man.

In fact it was a much older man — 44-year-old Jeffrey Corfe. But although known widely by the public, the young teen did not, and has not, followed AFL and the identity of his attacker remained unknown to him.

The MSN messaging via an email account gave Jack a starting point to uncover the identity of a man who had ruined his life.

The victim discovered he still had access to the email account he used in communicating with Corfe.

The emails, in which Corfe called him “sexy” and “champ” and offered him oral sex, contained “David’s” mobile number.

A Google search of that number would lead Jack to an Instagram account named “jeffcorfe”.

Scrolling through the pictures on the social media site was a chilling trigger for his victim, who immediately recognised Corfe had the same eyebrows and mouth that he recalled of his attacker.

He tried to search Google maps to confirm his memory of the house. But he had no luck as it had been bulldozed in 2012.

Further searches lead Jack to a post on a Collingwood Football Club Supporters Forum, which recorded Corfe’s address in 2009 was the same he had visited in 2005.

He made a statement to police.

Joffa Corfe outside his house in 2004, the same house where the evil acts were committed.

The house were the horror unfolded had been bulldozed in 2012. This image, taken from Google maps, shows it in 2009.

Fifteen years had passed, but he remembered the day as if it was yesterday.

It was broad daylight on January 29, 2005. The slim and curious teenager was standing across the road from a run-down white home with a big, black spray-painted number on the front wall.

The garden was unkempt and a path lead to the front door.

What Jack didn’t know was a predator was lurking inside.

Jack reached for his phone and let the male he had been speaking to on MSN messenger know that he was there.

But when the front door of the Coburg home opened, he was faced with someone much older and more stocky than he expected — a man he was 15 years later able to identify as Corfe.

In 2005, Corfe had been the leader of the Collingwood Football Club cheer squad for four years.

His love for the Magpies saw him front and centre at every game, donning his iconic gold jacket when he suspected his team could not be beaten.

However, this was summer - the off-season - and there was no sign of a sparkly jacket.

Instead, the young boy, now a man, recalled the male who greeted him at the door had long, brown shoulder length hair which was unwashed.

He was wearing a dark-coloured jumper and a two-toned striped beanie with a pompom on the top.

Corfe quickly lead the boy in to a dark bedroom, which had a blanket slung over the window as a curtain, to the left of the front door.

What happened inside that room was sickening, and continues to haunt his victim. He was sexually abused.

He recalls as he was leaving the house, Corfe slapped him on the buttocks.

It was Jack’s vivid recollection of that day — including the description of the house and details about Corfe’s appearance, including that he was uncircumcised — that would help him to out his abuser and get justice years on.

Joffa Corfe was a well-known figure of the Collingwood cheersquad. Picture: Michael Dodge.

Joffa had been a staunch Pies fan for many years.

A 2009 picture of Corfe’s house was later uncovered, matching the description provided by the victim, in particular the big “48” in black paint scrawled on the front of the house.

As part of police investigations, a building plan of the old home was obtained which confirmed the existence of a bedroom to the direct left of the front door.

Inquiries with VicRoads would indicate Corfe had listed that address on his driver’s licence from August 2002 to October 2012.

The email address used to communicate with the boy was linked to the 3058 postcode.

On May 6, 2021, police made their move on Corfe.

During his interview with detectives, he confirmed among many things that he was uncircumcised, did live at that Coburg address and his bedroom was on the immediate left from the front door.

He also revealed he has had the same mobile number for 20 years.

But when asked about the accusations of abuse against a 14-year-old boy, he denied any such encounter.

The once-married father of a daughter divulged to detectives he was “bisexual” and would meet up with other men for oral sex after meeting them on gay.com or MSN messenger.

They would come to his house or he would meet them elsewhere.

Yet he was adamant he would not have met up with someone who was underage.

He even told investigators he wondered if the complainant was a person who “has any issues with him because of his affiliation with Collingwood”.

Detectives saw through his lies and charged him.

Corfe denied the allegations and indicated he'd go to trial to clear his name. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Corfe vehemently denied the allegations and indicated he would go to trial to clear to his name.

But in November 2022, the now 62-year-old fronted Victoria’s County Court and admitted his crimes, pleading guilty to sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16.

On Tuesday he returned to court for a pre-sentencing hearing, where his victim, now 32, stood to face him while bravely reading out a statement on how that day had impacted him.

For 13 years Jack had not told anyone what happened that day, calling it his “dirty, embarrassing, shameful secret”.

And then in 2018, he courageously divulged what happened to his partner.

with his mental health, it was another two years before he went to police, armed with the evidence of his own investigation.

“What you did to me on that one day in 2005 planted something so toxic in my mind that, for 15 years, I was convinced that I was a bad person, and that I deserved nothing good,” he told Corfe.

“But now that I understand that I was not to blame for what you did to me, sometimes I feel like I’m mourning the 15 years that I lost.”

Corfe, who stopped his role in the Collingwood cheer squad in 2019, now resides near Ipswich in Queensland.

Judge Gerard Mullaly will sentence him on Monday, indicating he will not be sending Corfe to jail.

He will instead place him on a wholly suspended sentence, which means if he behaves himself for the period the judge sets, he will never spend a night behind bars.