A homosexual football umpire has been spared jail and given a fine of just $2,500 for molesting a vulnerable teenage boy at a rock concert in Melbourne.
Gavin Sell, 42, from Warrnambool in southwest Victoria, pleaded guilty to sexual assault in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday but was spared a conviction.
The court heard that Sell, a football umpire in the Western Districts, consumed about 20 alcoholic drinks before aggressively groping a 14-year-old boy at a Cold Chisel concert while the band played the song Flame Trees on November 22 last year, The Leader reported.
Sell’s assault was eventually stopped by bystanders who alerted the boy’s father, but Sell was too drunk to be interviewed by police and was ejected from the venue by security.
In a later formal interview he told police he could not remember the attack, but that it was “not something I would have done” and said he thought the boy was a “younger adult rather than a child”.
In addition to the $2,500 fine, Magistrate Rohan Lawrence imposed an “adjourned undertaking” that requires Sell to continue seeing a counsellor and be of good behaviour.
The magistrate noted that crime had an impact on the victim’s extended family, and the the teenager could no longer enjoy going to concerts with his father.
The father told the court that his son had refused to discuss the sexual assault with him or his wife, but spoke to police “so that this man does not do this to other kids”.
The victim had been going to concerts to help him overcome social anxiety and develop confidence, but the attack had set him back, the father said.
The 14-year-old had also “banished” Cold Chisel and Flames Trees from the house, despite them once being among his favourite bands and songs.
Sell, who was supported in court by his “husband”, will be on the sex offenders’ register for eight years.
Header image: Gavin Sell (Facebook).
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