Famed Australian swimming coach Scott Volkers, who has worked with champions including Susie O’Neill and Samantha Riley, has been arrested and charged in relation to historic child sex offenses.
Detectives from the child abuse and sexual crime squad arrested the 59-year-old at his Sunshine Coast home yesterday, and he now faces five counts of indecent treatment of a child.
The coach had similar charges laid against him in 2002, and though they were eventually dropped, they continued to hang over him, and several years later, he was denied a blue card to work with children.
In 2015, Volkers was cut from the the Swimming Queensland Hall Of Fame, following Royal Commission evidence given by a number of women accusing him of sexual assault.
Julie Gilbert, Kylie Rogers and Simone Boyce all gave evidence claiming they were abused as children while in his training squad in the 1980s and 1990s.
Swimming Queensland chairman Kevin Hassemann said at the time:
“This is, first and foremost, about the right of children and young people to participate in swimming free of inappropriate behaviour from adults and particularly those in a position of trust. In the view of the SQ Board, Mr Volkers violated that standard, and it has acted accordingly.”
Volkers had been working in Brazil until recently, unable to carry on a coaching career in Australia. He will appear at Maroochydore Magistrates Court next month.
Speaking to Nine News, Simone Boyce said: “This needs to go to court. This needs to be decided by a jury, that’s all we’ve ever wanted.”
