Not obvious sexual assault complainant was a child, ex-MP Rory Amon tells court

Former Liberal MP Rory Amon has rejected suggestions it was obvious that a teenage boy he met up with for a brief sexual encounter was younger than 16, and denied "tailoring" his evidence at a sexual assault trial.

The 36-year-old stepped into the witness box in his own defence after pleading not guilty to 10 charges, including indecent assault of a person under 16 and having sexual intercourse with a child aged 10 to 14.

While he does not deny that there was sexual activity with the complainant in 2017, he insists that the teenager told him on Snapchat that he was 17, rather than his real age of 13.

At the time, Mr Amon was 27 and initially chatted with the teen on a gay hook-up app, before they exchanged nude photographs on Snapchat in the lead-up to meeting in person.

According to the Crown's case, the teenager was sexually and indecently assaulted in the toilet of an underground car park during two encounters in mid-2017.

But under questioning from his defence counsel, Mr Amon said there was only one meet up, which began with an exchange of pleasantries before the teenager led him down some stairs to the toilet area.

He did not recall a conversation the complainant previously testified about, in which Mr Amon was said to have asked whether the teen had ever "done anything like this before".

Mr Amon said he did not recall specific sexual acts which took place, including oral sex, but did not dispute it took place.

Asked about the complainant's evidence of a second meeting, he replied: "There was no second meeting."

He testified that the complainant's Snapchat profile disappeared from his app and he assumed he had been removed as a friend.

Mr Amon agreed there was further online contact with the complainant around 2019 and 2022, when he contacted the complainant on Grindr and sent an image of himself in an RFS uniform.

Seeing teen in person would have been 'obvious' he was a child

Under cross-examination, Mr Amon was shown several photographs of the teenager from around the time, depicting multiple angles.

"You would agree he's very slight?," Crown Prosecutor Meaghan Fleeton asked.

"That's subjective, it appears as though he is," Mr Amon replied, before agreeing the teenager appeared slim.

But the former northern beaches councillor said those photographs were not how the teenager was depicted in the Snapchat images, which showed only partial faces.

Ms Fleeton suggested that once Mr Amon was walking towards the complainant under street lights and then saw him in person, he must have known he was a child.

He denied that he then looked for a secret or private place to go so nobody would see him with a person under 16, and said it was the complainant who led the way to the car park.

"I suggest it would have been obvious, in the light of that bathroom, that [he] was a child under 16 years," Ms Fleeton said.

Mr Amon repeatedly said that nothing he saw changed his belief about the teenager's age.

When Ms Fleeton suggested Mr Amon didn't have a recollection of many of the specifics of the activity in the bathroom, he agreed and said it was "eight, nine years ago".

"But you're very specific in your recollection that he told you he was 17?," she asked.

"Yes," Mr Amon replied.

During the complainant's evidence, he told the court that he recalled telling Mr Amon that he was 15, because he thought it was an age he felt he "could maybe get away with looking like".

The complainant said Mr Amon told him that he was 17, but Mr Amon disputes this and says he would have been honest about his age if asked.

Last week, Mr Amon told the court that if the complainant had said he was under 16, he would have "ceased communication".

Ms Fleeton on Monday suggested the former MP was "tailoring your evidence for this trial", which he denied.

The trial continues on Tuesday.