Snapchat, Facebook, sleepovers, international competition and Bring It On – SA cheerleading coach on trial for sex crimes

Sleepovers, all-night phone calls and global competition – a judge must decide if a top SA cheerleader is guilty of child sex charges or the victim of collusion between her jealous rivals.

It’s a secret world of teenage dreams made real – sleepovers and pool parties, all-night phone calls and travelling the world to compete at a global level alongside your very best friends.

But for the District Court, the hyper-competitive world of cheerleading now represents a mystery to be solved – with the fates of eight young woman at stake.

Judge Joana Fuller must determine whether one of the sport’s top coaches crossed the line from guidance and friendship into grooming and sexually predatory acts.

She must also decide whether seven alleged victims are telling the truth or have colluded – at burger bars, nightclubs and 21st birthday parties, on trips to the beach and while competing overseas – to ruin their former mentor.

It is a most unusual trial, with Snapchat images, Facebook photos and text messages tendered as key evidence, and comparisons made to the 2000 cheerleading movie “Bring It On”.

And one of the coach’s former peers has told Judge Fuller she saw warning signs long before the woman’s arrest shook the “cheer world”.

“She was quite outspoken, very confident and outgoing but I found, at times, she could be quite inappropriate,” she told the court.

“When I raised this with her, she and the people around her would laugh it off … I would find that frustrating.

“If that had been a male in her situation, who did the exact same things she did, I don’t think he would have been (in cheerleading) much longer.”

A scene from the 2000 cheerleading film Bring It On.

‘BOMBSHELLS’

The woman has pleaded not guilty to three counts of maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child and one aggravated count of indecent assault.

She has also denied three basic counts of indecent assault, and cannot be named in order to protect the statutory anonymity of her alleged victims.

Prosecutors have alleged the offences occurred between 2015 and 2017, when she was working as a coach for an Adelaide gym and prior to starting her own team.

They have further alleged she used her charisma and renown in the sport as a “pathway” to sexually abuse the girls – four of whom were just 12 years old – more than 21 times.

The abuse, they allege, was perpetrated on couches and at gyms, pool parties and sleepovers by the “controlling and manipulative” coach.

The girls, now women, have given evidence and been cross-examined in closed court, meaning their testimony is not on the public record.

The evidence of other witnesses, meanwhile, is public – and outlines alleged behaviour that, they say, concerned them.

An alleged victim’s mother said the coach would stay at their home but spend all her time in the daughter’s room, never eating or socialising with the rest of the family.

“It seemed that whenever my daughter was on the phone it would be (the coach) … it would be after school, it would be evenings, sometimes quite late at night,” she said.

“One night, I woke up about 2am and could see there was a light on in my daughter’s room … she had her mobile phone under her pillow and it was (the coach) on the phone.

“I said ‘don’t ring my child at crazy times’ and I hung up … my daughter was cross with me, she thought (the coach) would be cross with her … she said ‘you shouldn’t have done that’.”

The mother said her daughter subsequently told her ‘I’ve got a couple of bombshells for you – I don’t want to do cheer anymore and I don’t want to see (the coach) anymore”.

‘PETER PAN’

Jane Abby KC, for the coach, suggested the charges arose from rivalries between her client’s former club and the gym she had founded upon her departure.

She further suggested the film “Bring It On”, which details cutthroat competition between cheerleading teams, could be compared to aspects of the case.

The cover of the cheerleading film Bring It On.

“I suggest that, at the time she left the club, other girls left with her and that, when she was at the club, she was really important to the success of routines in competition,” she said.

“She was an excellent cheerleader and so, when she left (to start her own team), it was a loss for the club – and clubs are working toward competition.

“I suggest that the girls did sometimes engage in those kind of rivalries and competitions.”

Ms Abby said the sex allegations arose only after several of the witnesses and alleged victims travelled overseas to compete at the same international cheerleading event.

She questioned the cheerleaders about their social media use, pointing out most of them have continued to be friends and even work for the same employers.

She said Snapchat, Facebook and text messages showed they had attended the same 21st birthday parties, burger bars, nightclubs and beach trips prior to giving evidence at trial.

When asked if they had discussed the coach, the trial or the evidence they intended to give, each of the witnesses denied having done so.

Ms Abby also suggested her client was “not mature for her years” despite being a “reliable” coach who was “consumed by cheer”.

“I suggest that emotionally, socially, she was awkward in her dealings with people,” she said.

One of the witnesses rejected that suggestion.

“I wouldn’t say she was immature – she looked younger than she was, and she acted younger than she was,” she said.

“To be a coach, you have to have shown some level of maturity and leadership, and she was very confident and intelligent.

“I don’t think she’s immature … I would sometimes say she had Peter Pan syndrome, because she preferred to hang out with young girls.”

The trial, which is being heard by a judge alone, continues.

Originally published as Snapchat, Facebook, sleepovers, international competition and Bring It On – SA cheerleading coach on trial for sex crimes