Child sex charges against swim coach Scott Volkers will not proceed

Charges against swim coach Scott Volkers have been permanently stayed and will not proceed after a Court found it would be "unfairly and unjustifiably oppressive" to allow him to be prosecuted over child sex allegations.

Volkers was charged in 2017 with five counts of indecent treatment of two girls under the age of 16 in the 1980s, and allegedly occurred in the Brisbane suburbs of Aspley and Bald Hills.

Volkers was originally charged in 2002 over the alleged incidents, but the prosecution was later discontinued and a second attempt to prosecute him also failed.

As reported by the ABC, he was arrested in October 2017 but granted bail to continue coaching in Brazil.

In a judgement delivered in Brisbane's District Court, Justice David Reid found that an unreasonable delay to the case reaching Court amounted to a breach of Volkers' rights under the Human Rights Act.

Justice Reid ordered that charges against the former swimming coach of Australian stars Susie O'Neill and Samantha Riley be permanently stayed and will not proceed.

Of his decision, Justice Reid said "I am persuaded that it is appropriate" because there had been a delay between charges being laid in 2002 and the matters reaching trial nearly two decades later.

The judgement stated that, in that time, evidence from confidential witnesses supporting Volkers' plea of innocence was destroyed.

A redacted version of those witness statements was kept in a sealed envelope, but many of the witnesses' details were no longer known and they were unable to be contacted.

Justice Reid said Volkers had been dropped as a coach in Australia, forced to live and work overseas and was denied accreditation to attend competitions in Australia.

He said while it was unusual to grant a permanent stay of proceedings, it was justified in this case.

The judgement read "to allow the prosecution to proceed is in my view unfairly and unjustifiably oppressive of the applicant, in the particular and very unusual circumstances of this case.

"In this case, the effect of the long delay has been very significant."

Justice Reid said allowing the prosecution to proceed "would amount to an abuse of the court processes pursuant to which a trial without unreasonable delay is fundamental".

However, he also acknowledged the impact of the trial on the alleged victims, adding "to say these things is of course not to diminish the hurt, humiliation and upheaval in the lives of the complainants.

"They too have had to withstand the glare of publicity.

"In my work I see, almost daily, the devastating effects of child abuse.

"I am very conscious of observations of judges about the importance of bringing the perpetrators of such matters to justice."

One of the complainants, Julie Gilbert, said she feels let down by the system.

Quoted by the ABC, Gilbert advised "it's tough. I'm sure I haven't got the words yet.

"I think it will take a lot of time to heal from today's decision.

"I put my trust and faith in a system once, it let me down.

"I did it again for a second time, believing that it was going to be about us, to have our final chance to have our story told in the right forum.

"We came forward to do the right thing and we've been penalised.

Outside court, child protection advocate Hetty Johnston said she was devastated by the Court's decision, stating "this system has screwed these people around for 17 years. The system has failed right from the get-go.

"The message to all survivors out there is really a bad one.

"It's really about why would you bother doing this when the system doesn't back you up?

"When the system screws you over, it's just an insane situation.

"This has been wrong from the get-go," she said.

Volkers was employed by Swimming Australia and Swimming Queensland until 2010.

Image: Scott Volkers in 2010.