A former Hunter tennis coach has pleaded guilty to historical abuse of a teenage girl he coached in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Todd Ramsey Woods this week pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court to seven counts of an aggravated act of indecency against a person aged under 16 years old who was under his authority.
The 58-year-old, now a resident of the Sydney suburb of Kellyville, then ran a popular tennis coaching business at East Maitland.
According to an agreed statement of facts tendered to the court, the victim first met Woods when she was aged 11 and he "paid special attention to her".
Court documents note that Woods continued to groom the child, paying her extra attention - he began speaking with her on the phone and allowed her to pick horses and greyhounds from the newspaper form guide on which he could bet.
The documents say that Woods repeatedly rubbed his genitals against the body of the girl, who cannot be identified, when she was aged 14 and they were alone together at the tennis centre.
The statement of facts notes that, when the victim was 14, Woods asked her to stay back after a night competition to help him, saying he would drive her home.
In the car, he opened his legs and encouraged her to massage his thigh and groin - this took place between four and nine separate times.
In similar circumstances, Woods on 10 occasions incited her to rub his genitals outside his clothing while they were in the car - this took place another two to three times underneath his pants, according to the statement of agreed facts.
On two or three other occasions, the court documents say, Woods picked up the 14-year-old victim from school and encouraged her to touch his genitals - he also did so after picking her up from work on five occasions.
Woods also convinced the child to touch his genitals on two or three occasions while he and the victim were travelling to out-of-area tennis competitions.
The victim reported Woods to police in July 2017.
Police launched an investigation and detectives charged Woods in July 2020.
In Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, Magistrate Janine Lacy on Wednesday referred the matter to Newcastle District Court for sentencing.
Woods will face the district court on September 30.
