A veteran ABC cameraman has been charged with over 40 child abuse and assault charges for alleged offences spanning over three decades. 

South Australian man Trevor James Scroop was arrested and remanded in custody in March 2023.  

The 65-year-old allegedly abused multiple children over a 34-year period between 1989 and 2023, The Advertiser reports. 

He was still employed at the ABC when his alleged offending began. He’s understood to have ceased working for the broadcaster in 2011.

A suppression order detailing the alleged offending and his identity was revoked in a District Court on Wednesday following a request from prosecutors. 

Scroop, from Hillcrest in Adelaide‘s north, has pleaded not guilty. 

The court previously heard Scroop had access to Indigenous children in the Northern Territory as a result of an ‘arrangement’ with the Department for Child Protection. 

During a 2023 court hearing, prosecutor Leah O’Donnell revealed that Scroop had an arrangement with South Australia’s Department for Child Protection (DCP) to house young Aboriginal boys who had travelled to Adelaide to attend school. 

‘It was formal in the sense that DCP had been involved,’ she told the court. 

‘There are records that support a number of these children being in the care of the respondent and his wife. 

‘I don’t know if all of the arrangements were formal, some may have been informal.’

Scroop has been charged with 12 counts of sexual abuse of a child, eight counts of indecent assault, three counts of aggravated indecent assault, one count of gross indecency, six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, four counts of assault and two counts of aggravated assault. 

He is further charged with one count of attempted aggravated inciting or procuring a child to commit an indecent act, one count of aggravated inciting or procuring a child to commit an indecent act, one count of aggravated compelled sexual manipulation, one count of aggravated procuring a child for sexual activity, one count of attempted indecent assault, and three counts of possessing child exploitation material.

The 65-year-old was granted bail in October 2023, but was taken back into custody the following March, where he has remained ever since. 

A date for a trial is yet to be set, with prosecutors considering applying for the trial to be heard in a multiple interstate locations.

South Australian Police Commission Grant Stevens described the charges as ‘vile’.

‘This is a very troubling investigation which has had a devastating impact on a particular community in the Northern Territory,’ he said. 

The matter will return to court in August.