What former Magpies cheer squad leader ‘Joffa’ Corfe told police about child sex abuse claims

In his first police interview over sickening sex act claims, former Collingwood cheer squad leader “Joffa” Corfe suggested his accuser was targeting him for his AFL notoriety.

Former Collingwood cheer squad leader Jeffrey “Joffa” Corfe initially claimed the person accusing him of sickening sex acts may have had “issues” with his affiliation with the Magpies.

In his first police interview in May 2021, Corfe told detectives he had no recollection of who the complainant was when told his name.

He even suggested he was being targeted for his notoriety in AFL circles.

But he admitted he did have “encounters” with men back in 2005 after meeting them on gay.com and MSN messenger.

He claimed he would not have met up with someone who was under age.

But emails kept by his victim for 15 years would reveal what the Pies cheer-squad leader was telling police was all lies.

The messages unveiled him preying on the then 14-year-old boy, knowing his age all too well, and repeatedly inviting him to meet up for oral sex under the pseudonym “David”.

“Hey sexy,” Corfe would write to the boy, before asking him to meet up so he could “give you good head job in car”.

“I like giving head,” he would tell the teen.

“If you know a good, quiet place we can meet … as long as it’s quiet and no one can see us.”

On January 29, 2005, the teenage boy went to Corfe’s house in Coburg where he was lured into a dark room and sexually abused.

Jeffrey ‘Joffa’ Corfe arrives at the County Court in Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Afterwards, his victim ran home, before sending Corfe a message: “Why did you do that? You shouldn’t do that to young people.”

Corfe, who was then aged 44 but told his victim he was 30, replied: “Yeah, I shouldn’t.”

Now 62, Corfe flew to Melbourne from his Queensland home and fronted the County Court on Tuesday for a pre-sentencing hearing after he pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16.

His courageous victim, surrounded by an army of supporters, stared Corfe down as he sat in the dock, speaking directly to him about how his crimes had taken away his prime teenage years and early 20s, made him suicidal and feel unworthy.

“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 said, reading out his powerful victim impact statement.

“I just wanted to be happy, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t.

“I was at breaking point. I had suicidal thoughts. I felt worthless.”

He viewed himself so poorly, he said, that he was convinced he was not good enough for anyone, ruining his relationships.

“For 15 years, I blamed myself for my decision to meet you,” he said, adding that he had willingly travelled to his house, so how could he blame anyone but himself for what happened.

He felt it was a “dirty, embarrassing, shameful secret” that he was terrified of anyone finding out.

“I now know and believe I’m a good person,” he said.

“I understand that I was not to blame for what you did to me.”

Corfe will be sentenced on Monday, but Judge Gerard Mullaly has indicated a wholly suspended jail term would be an appropriate punishment.