By Mitchell Clarke
A former Upper Beaconsfield Scout leader has pleaded guilty to historical sexual assault charges, after he was accused of assaulting three young children under 10.
Robert Wilcox, 61, fronted the County Court on Thursday 26 November, charged with eight offences, including four counts of gross indecency with a girl under 16 years.
Wilcox was also charged with three counts of indecent assault of a female and one count of indecent assault of a male.
The court heard each victim was under the age of 10 when they were abused, and were known to Wilcox.
Over a two-year period in the 1970s, Wilcox, who was aged in his late teens, often babysat the four children.
The accused suggested they “play a game of hide and seek”. After a few turns of the game in the normal fashion, Wilcox introduced a new rule – the last person found had to take off their clothes and be touched all over their body by the other two victims.
Wilcox assaulted his victims on multiple occasions, before forcing them to commit lewd acts on him.
The offending occurred during a number of incidents, but Wilcox wasn’t questioned until 2018.
According to court documents obtained by the Gazette, one of the victim’s ran into Wilcox at a party, where he stated he had “no regrets” in life.
The comment “hurt and upset” the victim, who reported the matter to police.
Wilcox was eventually arrested in April 2018. Court documents stated he “provided his own narrative” about the various interactions and otherwise denied or didn’t remember the sexual assault allegations.
Prior to his arrest, Wilcox was the director of business development at Halls Outdoor Education.
He left that position in September 2019 following the charges and has since worked casually in traffic control and camping equipment sales.
A Scouts Victoria spokeswoman said the organisation had recently discovered Wilcox, a former member, was being prosecuted.
“This member stepped down from Scouts Victoria in early 2019, and since then has had no interactions with our organisation or our youth,” the spokeswoman said.
“Scouts Victoria is a Child Safe organisation with zero-tolerance for any harm, abuse or neglect.
“We value the diversity of our members, including gender, sexuality, race, religion and ability.”
Wilcox will be sentenced on Friday 4 December.
