An Indigenous elder and former Victorian Senior of the Year has been jailed for “appalling” offences against a child he had mentored as a football umpire.
Robert Eccles, 72, was in April found guilty by a County Court jury of four child abuse charges, including committing an indecent act on a child aged under 16 and sexual penetration of a 16- or 17-year-old child in his care.
Warrnambool football umpire Robert Eccles in 2009.Credit: Damian White
He was acquitted by the jury of another four charges of sexual penetration and one of committing an indecent act with a child.
Eccles was aged 59 and working as a senior umpire in Warrnambool when he started giving full-body massages to a 15-year-old junior umpire in his garage in 2011.
The Indigenous elder had mentored the boy and told him the massages were important for his performance as an umpire.
When the boy turned 16, the massages became sexual.
Supporters and lawyer of Robert Eccles outside court on Monday.Credit: AAP
Eccles faced the County Court in Melbourne on Monday, supported by four women, and was sentenced to a maximum of four years and eight months in jail, with a non-parole period of nearly three years.
Chief judge Amanda Chambers found his offending against a child who was under his care while inside his home was an inherent beach of trust.
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