An Australian swim coach who sexually abused 11 students for more than a decade received his prison sentence on Thursday.
Paul Frost, 48, was sentenced to 32 years behind bars after being found guilty of 43 child sexual abuse offenses in June, having abused children he taught at a swimming school in southern Sydney between 1996 and 2009.
Frost reportedly watched via videolink as Judge Sarah Huggett said he “deliberately created a culture which faciliated his offending,” including normalizing talk of sex among the children he was teaching, encouraging sexual activity both with and between students, and engaging in “graphic acts” in the school’s change room.
“Paul had built a culture of these types of things being normal,” one of his victims wrote in a statement to the court. “I know they seem a bit horrifying and strange now.”
The victim said he went along with discussing sexual matters openly with Frost because he wanted to be “one of the cool kids.”
“I thought talking about that … was just what people did,” he wrote. “I thought it was normal.”
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. Three of those charges were eventually dropped before he was found guilty of the remaining 43.
The charges 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’s 32-year sentence is the maximum term, expiring in June 2055. He will be first eligible for parole in June 2047.
Frost, who was previously a finalist on the Australian version of the television show MasterChef, is the son of Doug Frost, the former coach of Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe.
As time passes we continue to find out just how pervasive this problem is. And it’s worldwide too. It’s good that more of these cases are being exposed but it’s just overwhelming to know how many kids were abused and are still being abused.
Ah,actually not the son of doug frost, he found out he’s the biological son of a family friend
The Sound of Freedom movie exposed creeps like him. Glad he was prosecuted and is behind bars!
Yeah, if it weren’t for that movie made in 2023, we’d have never exposed this dude in 2019.
32 years in prison as a 48 year old is a life sentence. He’s never going to see daylight unless the Aussies have American 3=1 state system of sentencing.
32 years?! Thats it?! How is this not a life sentence. Someone please explain.
Weak politicians make for a weak legal system where practically no criminal gets his or her just deserts.
48 + 32 = 80… he’s likely never getting out before he dies.