A former Sydney, Australian swim coach has been found guilty of 43 child sexual abuse charges relating to 11 different children.
Paul Frost, 47, had pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges relating to 11 complainants, all former students of his at a swimming school in Sydney’s southwest, from the 1990s and 2000s.
He is the son of Doug Frost, the former coach of Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe.
Frost was found guilty on Wednesday in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court by a New South Wales district jury of all charges he faced, which included multiple counts of sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 16 under his authority, aggravated indecent assault of a child, and grooming a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activity.
Frost was first arrested in September 2019, and in January 2020, faced more than 100 child sexual abuse charges. After all but 46 of those charges were dropped, he pled not guilty to the remaining 46 charges in September 2020. As evidenced by Wednesday’s verdict, three of those aforementioned charges were dropped.
Frost was handcuffed and taken into custody after the jury gave its verdict and will face a sentence hearing in August.
A juror reportedly entered the witness box to tell the court they had not reached a unanimous verdict and wouldn’t be able to on Wednesday. The judge said she would accept a majority verdict, though it was “preferable” that the verdict be unanimous. The jury then returned the guilty verdict hours later.
A previous trial had its jury discharged without a verdict after 16 days amid allegations of bullying and refusal to deliberate that a judge worried would taint the outcome, according to The Guardian.
Frost was also previously a finalist on the Australian version of the television show MasterChef.
What reasonable doubt is there here for the vote to not be unanimous?!?
The fact that there were even 40+ charges to drop is disgusting.