Saturday, December 21, 2024

Former Canberra basketball coach charged with four counts of child sexual abuse

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A former prominent Canberra basketball coach and player, Jesamine Wheeler, had fronted the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday on child sex abuse charges.

Ms Wheeler, 39, was in her early twenties at the time the abuse occurred, in 2009.

On Friday she was formally charged with four counts of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

Court documents reveal Ms Wheeler was the girl’s basketball coach and at one stage the girl’s parents had paid for one-on-one coaching.

It is alleged that on two occasions Ms Wheeler had snuck the girl into her parents’ home, where two of the alleged crimes happened.

Another alleged incident happened out of sight of the public at Kambah Pool, and a fourth during a trip away.

Police allege that at one point, when the girl’s mother took away her phone over an unrelated incident, Ms Wheeler bought her a replacement so the pair could continue to communicate in secret.

The ACT Magistrates Court heard the victim and Ms Wheeler’s former wife, who has supported the victim, have both given interviews to police.(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

The documents suggest the contact between the pair continued for some time, until around 2016.

Police said even after that Ms Wheeler would try to contact the girl, who was by then an adult.

In July 2020 the victim reported the matter to police, but it was finalised in September with no prosecution.

The investigation was later reopened after talks with the Director of Public Prosecutions, after the Sexual Assault (Police) Review, which looked into the rates of prosecution for sexual assault cases in the ACT

The court documents reveal that the victim complained to Basketball Australia in 2023.

Ms Wheeler was initially banned from the organisation for five years, and later for life after her appeal was thrown out.

On Friday prosecutors did not oppose bail for Ms Wheeler, but asked that she be banned from contacting a long list of potential witnesses.

The court heard the victim and Ms Wheeler’s former wife, who has supported the victim, have both already given interviews to the police.

The case will return to court in July.

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