A man who admitted sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy in the 1980s fostered up to 300 other boys as a short-term carer, the ACT Supreme Court has heard.
Christopher Cooksley, 72, is now behind bars after Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson revoked his bail.
The judge told the court it was inevitable he would be jailed.
Cooksley has already served six months in prison for offences against the boy in New South Wales. He was jailed after the victim reported the crime to police in 2009.
Now, the ACT court is dealing with the crimes committed in Canberra, where the pair first met.
The boy met Cooksley at a service station, where he had gone to buy fuel for his mower.
Cooksley later befriended the boy's family and they began spending time together. Cooksley helped the boy with his homework and picked him up from school occasionally.
But the boy's school performance started to decline and his parents sent him to live with his grandparents.
In a victim impact statement read to court today, the victim said Cooksley had shattered his innocence and led him to a double life, involving a descent into drug and alcohol abuse, which he hid from his family.
"The hidden shame of my sexual abuse never left me," the victim said.
"I became devoted to wiping out any reality, by wiping myself out. My moral compass went south."
He said he still struggled with the impacts of the abuse.
"Time did not diminish the trauma … has not reduced the resentment," the victim said.
Cooksley took the stand when he was queried about his history fostering children.
He said he never offended against any of the nearly 300 children who were in his care.
"Right from the start, I knew it was wrong," Cooksley said about his abuse of the 13-year-old boy.
"I was just attracted to him."
He said he knew it was legally irrelevant, but insisted he had not forced the child.
"The activity that took place … I did not force him to do it," Cooksley said.
"I did not physically force him in any way."
Cooksley also admitted he only stopped the abuse when the boy was taken away from him.
He will be sentenced later this month.
