A Perth counsellor has been found guilty of sexually assaulting seven boys in his care 25 years ago.
Allan Keith Huggins, 68, had been on trial in the West Australian District Court, charged with 35 offences stemming from when he was an education officer at the Warminda school-to-work program in 1990 and 1991.
On Friday, the jury convicted him of 16 charges after deliberating for about five-and-a-half hours over two days.
Huggins testified that he inappropriately touched two boys unrelated to this trial while struggling to deal with his homosexuality, but denied sexually abusing the seven boys.
He told the court that he was having difficulty at the time adjusting to being gay and did not want to hurt his wife and children.
Huggins also attributed some of his desire for boys to the fact that he had been abused when he was aged between seven and 12.
His lawyer had claimed that the complainants colluded to fabricate their stories to get compensation under the Redress scheme, for people abused while in state care.
Huggins had originally faced 49 offences at the start of the trial, but more than a dozen charges were dropped.
Share
