A Sydney tennis coach will face at least four years and three months behind bars for what a judge has described as depraved acts with one of his underage pupils.
On Thursday, Ray Younan was hauled off to jail after pleading guilty to 17 charges relating to the sexual abuse of a young girl under his care over six months in 2019.
“The offender deliberately chose to offend time and time again in the way that he did for the depraved purpose of sexual gratification,” said District Court Judge Kara Shead.
Younan, who is now 73, has been convicted of a string of charges including sexually touching a child between 10 and 16, and intentionally inciting a child to touch him.
While escorting the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on tennis tournaments around rural NSW and at his training facility in northern Sydney, Younan touched the girl during massage sessions with oil and cream, gave her naked body massages and kissed her.
In a statement read out in court, the victim said she felt horrified, traumatised and disgusted by what had happened.
“When the crime first happened, I felt confused, scared and threatened. I had many nightmares about the situation,” she wrote.
“After I understood what had happened to me, I cried a lot … At first I questioned whether I had done the wrong thing.”
Delivering judgment at Sydney’s Downing Centre, Judge Shead found the tennis coach had manipulated and abused the innocence of his victim, telling her lies that what he was doing was to help her prepare to play tennis and prevent injury.
Younan went to great lengths to get himself alone with the victim, making up excuses why he should share a hotel room with her while on tour and sending other pupils off on errands or to run laps, the judge found.
The coach also threatened his victim and abused her trust, saying she needed to pay him back for the massages by stroking his genitalia, and that if she did not do so he would cease coaching her and she would be unable to play tennis.
“The victim was entirely vulnerable to the offender’s predation … The offender was in complete control of her and she had no one to turn to,” the judge said.
“The blame lies entirely with the offender. The victim was a blameless and innocent child who has nothing to be ashamed about. She is not responsible in any way.”
The conduct was uncovered after another student stumbled across the pair naked in a hotel room and called his parents. An investigation by police in the child abuse unit led to his arrest.
Judge Shead gave a sentence discount for Younan’s early guilty pleas to the various charges. His parole period was also shortened due to his advanced age and mental health difficulties such as a possible early diagnosis of dementia.
She also took into account that the tennis coach had been king-hit from behind during a two-week stint in jail in December 2019 after the other inmates learned what he had been charged with. In the attack, Younan suffered a laceration, black eye and two broken teeth.
Younan will spend a maximum of six years and six months in jail, expiring on February 3, 2029.
He will be eligible for parole on November 3, 2026.
