Ex-Liberal MP Rory Amon denies sexual assault complainant told him he was 15

Former Liberal MP Rory Amon has told a jury the complainant in his sexual assault trial told him he was 17 before they discussed meeting up, and he would have "ceased communications" if the teenager had said he was under 16.

Mr Amon has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges, including indecent assault of a person under 16, and having sexual intercourse with a child aged 10 to 14.

Jurors in the Supreme Court trial have previously heard evidence from the complainant that he was 13 when he met up with Mr Amon in June or July 2017, after initially connecting through a subscription website before the communications moved to Snapchat.

The complainant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, recalled lying about his age when he signed up for a free trial because the website's policies prohibited underage users.

In his evidence, the complainant said he also lied about his age in his Snapchat communication with Mr Amon.

"I believe I told him I was 15," he testified last week.

Mr Amon began giving evidence on Friday afternoon, after the Crown closed its case.

He told the jury that at some point during the Snapchat interaction, the question of age was raised, but he could not remember who asked it.

"I do recall he told me he was 17," he said.

Defence counsel Matthew Johnston SC asked: "When he told you he was 17, did you believe he was 17?"

"Yes," Mr Amon replied.

He said there was nothing in the communications or images received to indicate a different age.

Asked directly about the complainant's evidence of giving the age of 15, he replied: "No, he did not."

"What would your reaction have been?" Mr Johnston asked.

"I would have ceased communications," Mr Amon replied.

"Because if you're under 16, you can't engage in sexual activity."

Mr Amon recalled there being an exchange of nude photographs with faces obscured.

He was 27 at the time and testified that he would have told the teenager his true age.

Privacy concerns behind move to Snapchat

Earlier in his evidence, Mr Amon said he had never had an account with the subscription website, Squirt.org, and first became aware of it through court proceedings.

He gave evidence that the first contact between himself and the complainant would instead have been on the hook-up app Grindr, because it was the only app he used at the time.

Grindr required users to acknowledge that the app was for people 18 years or older when creating a profile, he told the court.

Mr Amon was elected to the Northern Beaches Council in September 2017. He was elected to state parliament in March 2023 and remained in office until the commencement of the court case.

Mr Amon explained his "privacy concerns" around 2017, which led him to transfer interactions to a Snapchat account under the name "brandcoopz1", typically very shortly after a conversation began.

The jury heard that he began using Grindr from late 2013 via an old mobile phone attached to a separate prepaid number, which was registered to a fake name.

"I wanted to maintain privacy by having another phone."

He recalled developing an interest in exploring a political career and was of the view that his sexuality may negatively impact the progress.

Mr Amon recalled periodically deleting Grindr profiles and setting up new ones, sometimes due to feelings of "guilt or shame", or because he "wasn't in the mood for encounters".

The jury has previously heard evidence from the complainant about meeting up with Mr Amon and allegedly being sexually and indecently assaulted in an underground car park bathroom.

The Crown has told jurors that due to the complainant's age, he could not consent to any of the sexual acts.

According to the defence case, the significant area of dispute is Mr Amon's knowledge of the teenager's age.

The trial, before Acting Justice Robert Hulme, continues on Monday.