‘Grub’ carer William Parker Skelland’s excuse for vile acts
A carer who molested boys in the 1970s had a disgraceful excuse for his behaviour, with one of the survivors labelling him a “grub”.
A “grub” carer who molested multiple boys blamed his wife for the behaviour and is still in denial about the crimes.
William Parker Skelland was extradited from the UK and pleaded guilty to nine counts of indecent assault of a male person in Victoria’s County Court on Monday.
The 81-year-old molested five boys at the Burwood Boys’ Home in the 1970s when he and his wife were “cottage parents” at the state facility. The boys were aged between five and 15 when Skelland abused them.
The pair were dismissed from their positions after the allegations were aired.
His wife hasn’t been accused of any wrongdoing.
Skelland appeared via video link dressed in his prison greens as the survivors of his crimes gave harrowing statements about the abuse.
One of the survivors told the court that he was sent to the home after his parents split up.
“The first opportunity you got you chose to molest me repeatedly,” the man told the court on Monday.
When he and other boys reported the abuse they were called “lying little bastards”, he said.
“You would creep into my bed while your wife was asleep and molest me to your satisfaction – you grub,” the man said.
The prosecutor told the court that the abuse was persistent and it only stopped when the couple were sacked.
His wife was told of the allegations when she was in hospital to give birth, prosecutor Charlotte Duckett said.
She was “as much to blame … because they hadn’t had relations for three months” Skelland told his wife when they were dismissed, Ms Duckett said.
The couple divorced in the 1990s and Skelland returned to England.
He was living in the UK when a warrant was issued for his arrest but fought the extradition on medical grounds, the court was told.
During his police interview he told them “his wife was not giving him sex” and he was “sexually frustrated”, according to court documents.
However, he didn’t agree that he told his wife that she was as much to blame for the crimes as him, according to prosecutors.
The court was told that Skelland was diagnosed as a pedophile but posed a low risk of reoffending.
His lawyer argued that he was an elderly man, with nowhere to go once released, and he’d asked for his bail to be revoked in England.
This wasn’t out of a sense of contrition or remorse, Judge Mark Dean pointed out, as Skelland continued to deny aspects of the offending.
At the end of the hearing Skelland apologised for his crimes but continued to hit out at his ex-wife.
“I want to say I’m sorry for what happened with the boys, I haven’t thought about it before,” he said.
He said his wife was “never in love with me” and he worshipped her but it was a “loveless marriage”.
Skelland has been in custody since 2019 and will be sentenced at a later date.