Rory Amon sexual assault trial told ex-MP used fake name to 'manipulate a child'
Rory Amon has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges. (AAP: Dan Himbrechts)
In short:
Former Liberal MP Rory Amon used a fake name to "manipulate a child", his sexual assault trial has heard.
Mr Amon has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges against a complainant who was aged 13 at the time of the alleged offences.
The Crown urged the jury to find the complainant's evidence was believable, plausible, consistent and resilient in the face of cross-examination.
Prosecutors have accused Rory Amon of using a fake name to "manipulate a child" before two sexual encounters despite knowing he was under the age of consent, as the former Liberal MP's sexual assault trial nears a conclusion.
The 36-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges and his lawyers urged a jury to accept he held an honest and reasonable belief the teenager was 17, after they connected through a gay hook-up app before meeting in mid-2017.
The complainant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was aged 13 at the time and Mr Amon was 27.
The Supreme Court trial heard the pair's conversation on the app — which was either Squirt.org or Grindr — then moved to Snapchat, where nude photographs were exchanged.
The complainant told the jury he believed he told Mr Amon on Snapchat he was 15, because he thought it was an age he "could maybe get away with looking like".
On Mr Amon's evidence, the complainant gave his age as 17.
Complainant's evidence 'rings true'
Crown Prosecutor Meaghan Fleeton told jurors on Tuesday the complainant was not at fault and could not, at law, have consented to sexual acts which took place in a "dirty, hidden car park toilet where he had his first sexual experience".
The Crown alleged the offences took place during two separate meet-ups.
Rory Amon told the court he thought the boy was 17. (AAP: Bianca de Marchi)
Ms Fleeton urged the jury to find that the complainant's evidence was believable, plausible, consistent and resilient in the face of cross-examination.
"It rings true," she said during a closing address.
"It was a significant and life-changing course of events for [the complainant]."
The trial has heard Mr Amon, who had been preselected and was soon to become a northern beaches councillor in 2017, used the fake name "brandcoopz1" on Snapchat and had previously used an old phone registered to another false name to access Grindr.
Ms Fleeton said there was nothing honest about Mr Amon's asserted belief about the complainant's age and accused him of using the fake name "to manipulate a child".
Mr Amon sent the complainant an image of himself on Grindr wearing a RFS uniform. (Supplied: NSW Court)
Mr Amon does not dispute there was sexual activity in the toilet, but he denies there was a second meeting where eight of the offences, including sexual intercourse with a person between the ages of 10 and 14, allegedly occurred.
The former politician gave "self-serving, disingenuous, inauthentic" evidence at the trial, the prosecutor suggested, and "conveniently" lacked any specific recollection about the acts apart from the conversation about age.
The complainant did not realise who Mr Amon was until a friend saw a COVID-related newsletter with the then-councillor's photo in 2020. He made a complaint to police after turning 18.
Amon was not 'out to the world at large'
Mr Amon's defence counsel, Matthew Johnston SC, said a key issue would be whether the Crown had satisfied jurors beyond reasonable doubt his client did not hold a belief the teenager was 17.
During his own closing address, Mr Johnston said his client was not "out to the world at large" in 2017, and there was "an important distinction" between someone's private sexual life and engaging in criminal conduct.
"The mere fact somebody wants to keep their private sexual life private does not of itself lead you to the conclusion they were keeping it private for some reason more sinister than that," Mr Johnston said.
He told jurors both parties used "a degree of anonymity" in their online conversations.
Mr Amon's use of Grindr — which required users to be 18 or older — was "inconsistent with any intention to pursue a ... sexual encounter with a person who's under the age of 16," Mr Johnston said.
He invited jurors to consider the context of the online interactions and the complainant's exchange of "sexualised" images, suggesting the purpose was not to tip-off Mr Amon that he was under 16.
The complainant had used language that was "less than definite" when he testified about what age he gave on Snapchat, Mr Johnston said.
"You might think: why would he say he was 15 when that would put him under the age of consent?"
While there is no record of the online conversations, a "plausible analysis" of the exchange was to prefer Mr Amon's recollection that the age given was 17, the defence counsel suggested.
The trial continues.