Posted on 12/11/2005 7:56:39 PM PST by ncountylee
Former Sydney scoutmaster Robert Potter has been jailed for at least five and a half years for sexually assaulting young boys over a 24-year period.
Potter, 57, pleaded guilty to 18 charges of aggravated indecent assault between 1978 and 2002 while he was a scout leader and a pool shop owner at Narwee, in Sydney's south-west.
Sentencing him in NSW District Court today, Judge Robyn Tupman described Potter's role as a scout leader and the numerous assaults on his four victims as "a double-edged sword".
Judge Tupman said the sexual predator "enticed" and "groomed" his four victims with big trucks, guns and pornography before forcing himself on them and committing a "gross breach of their trust".
"Whilst his service to the scouting movement is laudable as far as it goes, that too is a double-edged sword because he was using that involvement as a way of accessing young boys for his own sexual gratification," she told the court.
Judge Tupman sentenced Potter to a maximum sentence of eight years with a non-parole period of five and a half years.
What the ACLU would like to see here.
No where near a long enough sentence.
The ACLU wants NAMBLA in charge here.
What is this liberal moron Judge smoking? The only reason this creature got into scouting was to get into a position of trust over young boys to he could rape them. These are the miscreants that the ACLU wants to force on the Scouts in the US.
I've followed this case, as I'm a former scout leader myself, and unfortunately I had some contact with this man.
Frankly, I think the Judge said what she said was simply because his defence brought this up during the trial. By mentioning it, accepting what the defence said, and basically dealing with it in imposing sentence, the Judge prevents the defence in any future appeal for a reduced sentence, claiming that she didn't consider it.
People can look at the transcript and see that she did consider this, gave allowance to it, and still imposed the sentence she did.
If she didn't mention it, she'd open up an avenue for appeal against sentence. By mentioning in a positive way, she closes that door.
There are some stupid judges out there in Australia. There are some left-wing judges out there in Australia. Sometimes they are the same ones.
But quite often statements like this have a deeper meaning.
It would be helpful if articles like this would give an age range for the "young boys." The discussion of trucks suggests that they were older teens.
Not that it makes the crime any less serious, but one of the tactics of the gay activists is to blur the line between sex with genuinely young children (pre-adolescent) and those who are physically adult but legal minors.
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