A LAL Lal man crept into the bedrooms of young boarders at Geelong Grammar and sexually assaulted them while they slept, a court has heard.
Phillipe Vincent Trutmann abused 41 male students, some aged as young as 10, while working as a tutor at the school's Highton campus between 1985 and 1995.
The 44-year-old, of Woodlands Rd, yesterday pleaded guilty in Geelong County Court to more than 40 charges, including indecent acts with children under 16, gross indecency and one count of possessing child pornography.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Barnett said Trutmann was a boarding house assistant providing pastoral care and supervising students aged nine to 14 when he assaulted his first victim.
Mr Barnett said Trutmann would sneak into the boys' rooms and sexually assault them while they were asleep.
He assaulted some of his victims up to 30 or 40 times.
"He gravitated towards students who were identified as heavy sleepers," Mr Barnett said.
"The majority of male students may have been unaware that he had been in their room."
The court heard one boy, who was 10 or 11, tied a piece of string from the doorknob to his toe in the hope it would wake him up should Trutmann try to enter his room.
Mr Barnett said Trutmann gained the boys' trust by letting them use his computer and offering them back rubs.
"These students were vulnerable and often turned to staff for support. Many looked up at him like a surrogate brother," Mr Barnett said.
The tutor stopped working at Geelong Grammar in 1995 when told his services were no longer required.
The crimes eventually came to light after a former Geelong Grammar student made a complaint to police in November 2004.
When officers went to Trutmann's house they uncovered 485 images and 159 videos of child pornography.
The court heard that during a later interview he voluntarily told police he had assaulted more than 40 students at Geelong Grammar.
Ian Hill, QC, said Trutmann, who had a serious psycho-sexual disorder, was entitled to some allowances in sentencing because of his openness and his remorse.
He said his client had not re-offended since.
"This is a man who is truly remorseful, repentant and wanting to set the record right," Mr Hill said.
Trutmann will be sentenced today.
- story courtesy of Geelong Advertiser