A man has been jailed in Newcastle for sexually abusing a young boy while on camping trips with a Scouts group.
Gary Edward Peterson, now 78, was sentenced to a maximum of two years and 10 months behind bars, with a non-parole period of 10 months, after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the 1970s.
Peterson had previously served time in custody for offences relating to other young boys.
Peterson was the leader of a Hunter-based Scouts group when he twice sexually abused a boy, aged about 12, on separate trips away.
Newcastle District Court heard during sentencing this week that the boy was part of a Scouts group that went camping in the Glenrock lagoon area in the mid-1970s.
Peterson had taken over as a Scouts leader and organised the trip. He had his own tent and urged the 12-year-old boy to stay with him. Judge Roy Ellis said Peterson was clearly in a significant position of authority.
During the night, the Scouts leader rubbed the victim's arm and "worked his way down his body" until he was rubbing the child's genitals and performing fellatio on him.
During a camping trip the following year, again organised by Peterson, the same type of offending took place.
The court heard the boy made an immediate complaint to family members.
"He was ignored, which unfortunately was a fairly common occurrence," Judge Ellis said.
The boy continued to have social contact with his abuser, which the court heard had added to his trauma.
Peterson's predatory behaviour was exposed and he faced court in 1977 and 1994 relating to several other "young lads" associated with Scouts.
He served a prison sentence from 1994 to 2001, when he was released on parole.
But tragically, when investigators looking into inappropriate contact between Peterson and other boys, the victim's parents were recorded as saying nothing had happened to their son, Judge Ellis said.
The victim was not aware until more recent times that others had pursued Peterson and that he had been before the courts. And Peterson did not come clean himself.
Judge Ellis said Peterson would have been aware of the boys he had abused and would have been aware of the victim in this case.
"He chose not to bring the matters to the attention of police," he said.
The court heard details of Peterson's background, including that he had continued with rehabilitation and counselling, and had not been convicted of any offences since his release from jail in 2001.
Peterson was sentenced in Newcastle District Court this week on two counts of indecent assault, which is what the offences were known as at the time of their commission.
Judge Ellis said the maximum penalties if the same offending happened today would be "significantly higher". It would have been categorised under current law as sexual intercourse without consent, or rape.
Peterson was heading for a trial before pleading guilty.
