Warning: Graphic content
Former NSW MP Rory Amon allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old boy multiple times in a car park bathroom while he was a Northern Beaches councillor, a court has heard.
The 35-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts over two alleged incidents, including five counts of sexual intercourse with a child between the ages of 10 and 14, two counts of indecent assault of a person under 16, two counts of attempted sexual intercourse with a child between the ages of 10 and 14, and committing an act of indecency with a person under 16.
Amon argues that he believed he was communicating with someone aged at least 16, the NSW Supreme Court trial heard as opening addresses were delivered on Friday.
Outlining evidence the jury was expected to hear, Crown prosecutor Meaghan Fleeton alleged Amon connected with the 13-year-old boy on a gay hook-up app in mid-2017, when Amon was 27. Due to the app’s guidelines, the complainant had to lie about his age to register.
The pair then moved the chat to Snapchat, where they exchanged texts and images.
“You will hear evidence in this trial about what age the complainant first thought the accused was and what age the accused may have told him he was,” Fleeton told the jury.
“Similarly, you will hear evidence about what age the complainant thinks he told the accused he was … it’s anticipated he will give evidence that he told the accused he was 15.”
Amon allegedly offered to pick the boy up and take him to his home, but the boy wanted to “feel safe” by being near his own house.
One night in June or July, they met up at the entrance of the boy’s parents’ Northern Beaches apartment block, where he lived.
The Crown alleges the boy first took Amon to a bench in a communal courtyard, but Amon said it was not private enough and led the teenager down a dimly lit corridor, to a “small shared bathroom hidden at the back of the car park”.
They shut the door. Amon is accused of committing the first alleged sexual acts inside the bathroom, including oral sex. Afterwards, the boy left and went upstairs to his home.
Amon allegedly waited until the teenager was out of sight before leaving. Later that night, he sent the complainant a sexual message via Snapchat.
The pair continued communicating over the next few days and arranged to meet a second time inside the same car park bathroom, the Crown alleged.
This time, the prosecutor said, Amon brought a towel with him and placed it on the bathroom floor. He is then accused of committing the second raft of sexual offences.
This was the last time the pair met in person.
Fleeton told the jury that Amon tried to contact the complainant about meeting up again, but the boy made an excuse and blocked him.
After the incidents, the Crown submitted, the complainant told his school’s wellbeing teacher about the alleged sexual assault, but was reluctant to provide details.
The teacher told police and the boy’s mother about the disclosure and police spoke briefly with the boy, but the investigation was suspended as the boy still did not elaborate. The court heard the boy also confided in his friends and psychologist, who will be called to testify.
Some time in 2019 or 2020, the pair reconnected on Snapchat for “just a couple of weeks”, Fleeton said, adding that the boy “found out some information that identified this accused as being the councillor for the Narrabeen Ward of the Northern Beaches Council”.
“That was the first time he became aware of the identity of the accused,” she said.
In late June 2022, the complainant formally reported the matter to police. He was by then 18.
One month later, the Crown alleges, there was “some brief contact” between the pair on the dating app Grindr.
Amon was first spoken to by police in March 2024 and was arrested three months later.
“It is very important to note that due to the complainant’s age, he could not consent to … any of the sexual acts that comprise counts on the indictment,” Fleeton said.
Delivering his opening address, Amon’s lawyer Matthew Johnston, SC, did not dispute that the pair connected online and met up to engage in sexual activity, but disputed that they met up twice.
However, he argued that “at no point did the complainant provide Mr Amon his real age”.
“I’ll expect you’ll hear from [the complainant] that when he signed up to the website, he knew that he was lying about his age, and he said that he was 18 years or older,” Johnston said,
“The Crown anticipates that the best evidence that [the complainant] might give was he said ‘I think I might have said I was 15’ but he didn’t give his real age.”
Johnston said that Amon’s case was that he “held an honest and reasonable belief at all times that [the boy] was at least 16 years of age, and that is an innocent state of mind”.
The trial before Acting Justice Robert Allan Hulme continues.
Anyone needing support can contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028, Lifeline 13 11 14, Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800.
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