Paedophile swimming coach Dick Caine dies just weeks after being found guilty of raping and sexually abusing girls as young as 10
- Found guilty of 39 heinous acts in August
- The crimes include rape and indecent assault
Former top swimming coach Dick Caine has died in hospital at the age of 78. He was found guilty of 39 heinous sex offences against young female athletes who trained with him.
Caine, who once trained several swimmers who went on to become Olympic and world champions, was in palliative care with terminal cancer before he died Wednesday morning.
On August 28, he was found to have committed 39 crimes, including rape and sexual assault, on female members of his swim team, aged 10 to 16, in the 1970s and 1980s.
The attacks took place at Carss Park swimming pool in Sydney’s south, as well as at Caine’s home and in his car.
Several of the victims were virgins when they were raped by Caine. One of them said she had never been kissed by a boy before.
Caine’s illness meant he was not required to respond directly to the charges in court. The case was heard through a special hearing rather than a trial.
The former coach’s wife said he had “six months” to live when police arrested him in 2022.
Caine’s victims were scheduled to testify about their impact on the case at a special hearing in December.
Former swimming coach Dick Caine (pictured) has died of cancer shortly after it was discovered he had committed disgusting acts against girls as young as 10 years old.
In passing sentence, New South Wales District Court Judge Paul McGuire said he found the victims’ evidence reliable, despite the significant amount of time that had passed since the incidents.
“I am satisfied that each of the elements of each of the offences has been proven beyond reasonable doubt,” he said.
Several victims present in the courtroom breathed a sigh of relief, hugged each other and wiped away tears as the verdicts were read.
“We did it,” said one of them.
Judge McGuire found that the coach had an interest in girls in puberty and adolescence and acted on that interest, including raping a girl who was 10 years old at the time.
The terminal cancer that kept Caine (pictured) from testifying at his trial took his life on Wednesday morning
The court heard that one of the victims had genuine ambitions for the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, but these ambitions were dashed because of Caine’s behaviour.
A number of victims reported being afraid of Caine because of his authority and coaching style.
Several victims reported pornography and alcohol in the coach’s home and sightings of the suspect’s horse. Prosecutors said these findings corroborated their claims.
One of the victims gave a “harrowing” account of how her hands were tied, while she then saw a used condom lying next to the bed.
Prosecutors said the victim’s story was “so detailed and convincing” that it had to be true.
One of Caine’s victims gave the court a graphic account of her hands being tied
Caine was arrested at his home in Condell Park, in Sydney’s south-west, on June 22, 2022.
He was taken to Bankstown Police Station where he was charged with six counts of sexual intercourse with girls aged 10 to 17 and three counts of sexually assaulting women and committing indecent acts – aged 14 to 16.
When he appeared in court, Caine’s wife Jennifer told the magistrate: ‘He’s got strokes, he’s got lung cancer, he’s got throat cancer. He’s got seizures, he’s got heart problems, he’s got a pacemaker.’
Caine was head coach at Carss Park swimming pool in Sydney’s south for over 40 years before retiring in 2018.
In his 51 years at the pool, he trained 17 Olympic and world champions and numerous state and national champions, including Michelle Ford, Janelle Elford, Karen Phillips, Stacey Gartrell and Michellie Jones.