MasterChef Australia Finalist Found Guilty Of Child Sexual Assault

Former Masterchef Australia finalist Paul Douglas Frost has been sentenced to 24 years in jail for sexually assaulting children while working as a swimming instructor in Sydney. The 48-year-old was charged four years ago for assaulting about 11 of his students.

Paul Frost was arrested in September 2019 from his Sylvania home. Following this, he lost his job at the University of New South Wales (NSW) and Malabar Public School, ultimately leading to his current imprisonment. 

Imprisonment Details

Frost was found guilty of 43 offences in Sydney's southwest between 1996 and 2009. He was first charged with only 10 offences, but further allegations were raised as police investigated his crimes.  He was found guilty of sexually assaulting 10 boys and one girl, and the youngest child he molested was only nine years old and the oldest was 16.

Judge Sarah Huggett at Sydney's Downing Centre District Court imposed a maximum term of 32 years. She said, "He escaped justice for decades and enjoyed life in the community free of the opprobrium and punishment for his crimes."

Creating A Graphic Environment Among Children

Judge Sarah Huggett said that Paul Frost deliberately created an obscene environment in his swim classes to facilitate his acts as well as manipulate the children's parents to trust him. "Paul had built a culture of these types of things being normal," one of them told the court.

Testimonies from Frost's students detailed how he encouraged them to watch pornography and had explicit discussions about sex and masturbation, which eventually led to inappropriate physical contact. They also said that Frost encouraged them to have sexual intercourse between themselves in the school changing rooms or storage rooms. Some of the students described that they were made to believe they would be one of the "cool" kids if they followed along.

Judge Huggett noted that the children were either not aware of being molested, or were too afraid to speak up. She described Frost's crimes as 'opportunistic, impulsive and spontaneous,' and found that each of the survivors was a reliable witness who gave evidence in court with "dignity and courage". "It can only be hoped that the finalisation of the proceedings can offer some form of closure to each of the victims of these offences," she added. 

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