EXCLUSIVE
A city’s Citizen of the Year was handcuffed and frog-married away from his sprawling country home after being charged with more than 70 sex crimes including rape.
Lawrence ‘Laurie’ Norris, 63, was arrested at his home in Forbes, central west New South Wales, about 8.45am on Wednesday, following an 18-month police investigation into historic child sex crimes in the region.
Police will allege that the local icon, who is an equestrian and former president of the Forbes Pony Club, sexually assaulted four girls between 1974 and 2023, including three under the age of 16.
His charges include sexual intercourse without consent, sexually touching another person without consent, having sexual intercourse with a person aged 14 or over and under 16, attempted rape, act of indecency with a child under 16, aggravated indecent assault , aggravated sexual assault, and committing acts of indecency.
Norris was named Forbes Citizen of the Year at an awards ceremony on Australia Day in 2022 for his “dedication to ensuring generations of residents enjoy and achieve in horse riding and sport”.
Lawrence ‘Laurie’ Norris is pictured (center) with Mayor Forbes after receiving his 2022 Citizen of the Year award.
He comes from a well-known farming family within the Eugowra community, where his father Wilf Norris was a popular farmer known for his use of horses to work the fields and his mother Pat was a horse rider and polocrosse player.
Wilf was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his work with draft horses and service to heritage preservation, having helped establish the Australian Draft Horse Stud Book Society and the Golden Plow competition.
Norris continued his family’s love of horses by mentoring young riders and offering horse-drawn carriage rides at local events. He is also a committee member of the local Riding for the Disabled Association, a charity offering therapeutic horse-related activities.
According to media reports of the time, Norris was described as a “tireless worker” and “popular within the community” who willingly dedicated his time to mentoring and training young cyclists.
Accepting her award, Norris said she loved working with the Pony Club as teaching children to ride helped “keep them safe”.
“Hoses are great levelers,” he told Forbes Advocate in 2022.
Norris is known as a local dignitary for his work within the community.
He is pictured being arrested by detectives at his farm on Wednesday.
‘Pony Club is helping children become better riders, keeping them safe…
“What it teaches kids is how to be competitive, how to perform, how to grow and be a good human being.”
Norris became involved with the Pony Club as a jockey in 1975 before traveling around Australia working as a horse trainer on films including The Man From Snowy River.
He returned to Forbes in 2000 and became involved again with the Pony Club, which has about 50 members.
In late 2021, a 15-year-old girl, a friend of Norris’s family and a member of the club, was seriously injured in a riding accident.
According to a local media report at the time, Norris, who was also the girl’s coach, and his wife spoke to her on the phone every day while she was in a coma in the hospital, “urging her to hold on.”
After his arrest, Norris was taken to the police station and granted strict probation.
He will face Forbes Local Court on Tuesday, May 21.
Strike Force Boche was created in October 2022 to investigate reports of historical child sexual abuse.
As investigations continue, anyone with information should call police or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
The father of two has been charged with more than 70 historic counts of child sexual abuse.
