A Sydney tennis coach who sexually touched a young girl has argued he shouldn’t be sent to prison because he is showing signs of the onset of dementia, a court has heard.
Raymond Younan is set to learn his fate later this year after pleading guilty to a string of offences including sexually touching a child and is facing the prospect of years behind bars.
Lawyers for the Lindfield man appeared before the Downing Centre District Court on Friday afternoon arguing he should be spared prison because of his ailing health.
The 73-year-old last year pleaded guilty to 17 charges including 10 counts of sexual touching a child between 10 and 16 years old as well as seven counts of inciting a child to sexually touch.
The former head coach and director of Lindfield‘s Active Power Tennis appeared before a sentencing hearing on Friday, with the court hearing his victim was between 11 and 12 years old at the time of the offences.
Younan, who has over four decades of coaching experience, was arrested in December 2019 at the tennis academy, where he previously coached on Sydney’s upper north shore.
He spent several weeks in custody at Parklea Correctional Centre, where he was assaulted by a fellow inmate, before being released on bail, the court heard.
Younan declined to give evidence during his sentence hearing on Friday, however, his nephew Daniel Younan told the court he had seen his uncle with lacerations, a black eye and missing two teeth after being king hit in jail.
The court heard he was assaulted after fellow inmates found out he had been charged with serious sexual offences.
His nephew told the court the family believed Younan was suffering the onset of dementia and he often forgot what he was talking about mid-conversation.
The court heard he had suffered a heart attack in 2018 and his mental faculties had declined since then.
“He’s expressed to me profound sorrow,” Daniel Younan told the court.
“He’s privately cried to me as well, he’s wished that this thing never ever happened to begin with.
“I’ll condemn until the day I die the act itself, but the person, it’s not him as the person I know. It’s a dreadful situation, he has expressed his most profound sorrow and grief.”
The court heard he was caring for his sister, who was also suffering dementia, and was withxjmtzyw her 24 hours a day.
His nephew told the court that should Younan be sent to jail, there was no one else from within the family who could care for his sister.
Intentionally sexually touching a child carries a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison.
Younan’s barrister, Paul Hogan, conceded it was “inevitable there’s a significantly adverse effect, probably long-lasting, on the victim”.
However, he argued his client shouldn’t be sent to jail because custody would be burdensome on him given his medical conditions, which included a heart condition and a bad back, and he could not be properly cared for.
However, prosecutor Danielle Mansour told Judge Kara Shead his condition was not so severe that he should be spared jail.
“The offender is not suffering severe dementia but rather, in all likelihood, early onset dementia or early stages of dementia,” Ms Mansour said.
“His condition is not exceptional that it would warrant a non-custodial sentence in this matter.”
Younan will be sentenced on June 17.
