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	Ex-Priest Pleads Guilty to Child Sex By Luke Sayer Townsville Bulletin [Australia] November 29, 2005 A FAILED priest who preyed on teenage boys for more than a decade pleaded guilty to a string of child-sex offences yesterday. Paul Ronald Goldsmith, 60, who now lives in the Hobart suburb of Lenah Valley, molested 20 boys between 1976 and 1987 at his homes at Ulverstone and Port Sorell in Tasmania's North-West and on camping trips around the state. He also attacked boys while coaching athletics at Marist Regional College in Burnie. In the Supreme Court in Burnie he pleaded guilty to four counts of maintaining a sexual relationship with a person under 17 years, one count of aggravated sexual assault, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse and 36 counts of indecent assault. Hobart-born Goldsmith trained as a priest but was never ordained. He spent many years working in the insurance industry in the North-West, retiring in 2000, and was extradited from Western Australia in April last year. He is a former senior figure in the Lions service club in Tasmania and also held a position on the national executive of the Life Underwriters Association. Crown prosecutor Cath Rheinberger said it would no doubt be submitted in mitigation that Goldsmith was of good character and contributed to the community during his life. "From the outset it is our position that, because of the standing he had in the community, he was able to perpetrate these crimes for as long as he did and with so many complainants," Mrs Rheinberger said. She detailed more than a decade of abuse during which Goldsmith would lure boys to his home with alcohol and cigarettes. "The accused had an open-door policy for young boys where they were free to drink alcohol - which he often supplied - they could smoke cigarettes and they could come and go as they liked," Mrs Rheinberger said. The court heard he would hold prayer meetings and serve alcohol to teenagers before grabbing at their genitals or sliding his hand into their underwear. On other occasions he would play strip poker with boys as young as 13 and would make them masturbate if they lost a game. Mrs Rheinberger told the court of camping trips to Trial and Granville harbours on the West Coast, Bruny Island and other locations around the state. On one occasion he asked a 14-year-old to strip and sleep in the same sleeping bag with him. During the night he put his hand on the boy's penis and placed the boy's hand on his. While coaching athletics he was giving one boy a rub-down and touched his genitals. When the boy refused to take his shorts off, Goldsmith wrestled him to the ground and tried to pull them off, but the boy fought his way free. Mrs Rheinberger presented victim impact statements from a number of the victims and read three to the court. One of the victims said he was very angry he had been used to satisfy Goldsmith's perversion. "I'm still angry 28 years later," the man said. "I've tried not to think of it, but certain events trigger memories." Another man said he had struggled with Goldsmith's actions for years. "He has condemned an innocent child to unhappiness and loneliness," he said. "He has taken away from me ... the right to happiness and a relationship with other human beings." Defence counsel Greg Richardson told the court Goldsmith had grown up as the oldest of seven children and his early memories had been characterised by violence and alcohol abuse. He said Goldsmith returned to Hobart while studying to be a priest and helped fight the 1967 bushfires. When he returned to Victoria to resume his training he had a complete emotional breakdown and was never ordained as a priest. Mr Richardson said Goldsmith had a psycho-sexual problem which had given rise to the charges. He said the condition was known as ephebrophilia. "His first sexual encounters as a pubescent male were with older males and involved masturbation," Mr Richardson said. "None of these factors are put as an excuse, but as to why he ended up with a sexual attraction to young males post-puberty." He detailed Goldsmith's history as a community worker. "His record demonstrates that, other than in this terrible way - and I don't want to be saying it - he is a good bloke," he said. Justice Peter Evans remanded Goldsmith for sentencing on Friday at 10am in the Supreme Court in Burnie.
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