Australian swim coach Scott Volkers will finally stand trial in Brisbane on allegations of sexual abuse committed against two girls under the age of 16 in the 1980s.
Volkers appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday, where it was determined that there was enough evidence for him to stand trial in front of a jury for five offenses that allegedly took place in two Brisbane suburbs of Aspley and Bald Hills between 1984 and 1988. Volkers did not enter a plea.
“It’s an exciting day. It’s a hard day. But we’re really, really looking forward to our chance to have our say,” one of the two alleged victims said outside of the court, according to the AAP.
Volkers was charged once in 2002, but the charges were ultimately dropped. Queensland’s child abuse and sex crimes group re-opened the case after three of his former swimmers accused him of abuse in front of a Royal Commission in Australia, though charges have only been filed involving two.
While Volkers was refused a “blue card” in Australia, which means he is not allowed to work with children in Australia, he did continue to hold positions at the Queensland Academy of Sport and within Swimming Queensland until 2010. He then moved to Brazil, where he served as the head coach of Minas Tenis Club until 2016. The Australian Olympic Committee asked Brazil to leave him off the roster for the 2016 Olympic Games, and while he coached at the pre-Olympic camp, he was denied accreditation to the Games themselves.
At the time, he was coaching swimmers like Nicolas Oliveira and World Record holder Cesar Cielo.
Among the Australian athletes that Volkers coached when he shot to fame in the 1980s is 8-time Olympic medalist Susie O’Neill, though she has not made any public accusations against her former coach.
A little off topic, but what was the outcome of the Bowman Hutchinson story reported here a few months ago.
Michael Crow said be more innovative next time and Bob went on coaching
Anyone want to point out that SH’s Ikkos used to be a Swim Swam partner? Not saying that there was any malice, but we all get caught in “the next best thing in swimming” honey pot.
Not trying to be obtuse, but I genuinely don’t see the connection between Ikkos previously being a SwimSwam partner and the Bowman-Hutchinson story. Can you please elaborate?
My guess is that it’s a Bowman cronie trying to create a false equivalence between ‘paid advertising for a product that actually worked before everyone knew the guy who owned the company was a creep’ to ‘letting the guy use your cellphone to send creepy messages to athletes’ in an attempt to let Bowman off the hook.
Just a guess though.
If you go by the timeline of events… it was clear that SH was relieved of his coaching responsibilities under the Impression to continue to grow his technology company rather than his involvement with AK. Swim Swam like many others looked the other way… or made a choice to support the business rather than support the facts that were coming out, eventually leading to the full disclosure of what happened.
I’m not saying trust the rumors, but somewhere in the middle is the truth.
What’s the ruling on statute of limitations? Not saying he is guilty or innocent
You have to imagine the Magistrate wouldn’t have allowed this to go to a trial if there was a statute of limitations issue…
Most of Australia’s states and territories have passed legislation removing statutes of limitations on childhood sexual abuse. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-19/sa-removes-time-limits-for-child-abuse-compensation/10270016
(There’s a lot of complexity to it if you want to read more, but, in short, no, no statutes of limitations should apply here).