A former Liberal MP accused of raping a 13-year-old boy he met on a homosexual dating site has been cleared of eight charges, but could face a second trial after a jury were deadlocked on two more.
Rory Amon, 36, who resigned as MP for the state seat of Pittwater on Sydney’s Northern Beaches after being charged, was found not guilty by a NSW Supreme Court jury on Monday of four counts of child rape, two counts of attempted child rape, and two counts of indecent assault of a child.
But jurors were unable to reach a verdict on two further counts of rape and indecent assault of a child after three days of deliberation, meaning Amon may face a second trial, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Amon pleaded not guilty to all 10 charges relating to two alleged incidents in June and July 2017 involving the boy, who reported Amon to police in 2022 after seeing his photo in an email sent by Northern Beaches Council in 2020.
The ex-MP, who was a councillor for two terms before being elected, testified that he met the boy once at a car park toilet where the alleged sexual offences took place, but denied meeting him again and said he believed the boy was 17 at all times.
The jury cleared Amon of the eight charges related to the second alleged meeting, but were discharged when they told Acting Justice Robert Allan Hulme they were “at an impasse” for the two charges relating to the first meeting, and “nowhere closer to achieving a majority verdict as directed”.
The court heard Amon was using a fake name on the gay dating site and on Snapchat where he exchanged nude photos with the boy, who admitted he lied about his age on the site to meet its requirements but claimed he told Amon he was 15, The Daily Telegraph reported.
They then met outside the boy’s home before going to the toilets in a communal car park, where the complainant testified he told Amon he had no sexual experience and Amon replied “good”.
The complainant testified that he felt “repulsed” after the second alleged meeting and blocked Amon on Snapchat because he “knew it was so gross and didn’t want to do it again”, and later that year confided in a teacher and a psychologist.
In 2019 the pair had further contact on Snapchat before the boy blocked him again, and in 2022 they came into contact on homosexual dating app Grindr, where Amon sent the complainant photos of himself, including one in Rural Fire Service uniform, but the boy did not reply.
Crown prosecutor Meaghan Fleeton argued in closing submissions that it “would have been obvious” to Amon that the boy was under 16 after seeing him under streetlights, and that it was “utterly implausible” that Amon could have believed he was 17.
But Amon’s lawyer, Matthew Johnston SC, argued his client would have assumed anyone he met on Grindr or Squirt was an adult because of the age requirements, and because the apps were intended for adult men to meet for sex.
“This is not a case that we sometimes hear in the news or read about where there is an adult who’s on a chat room that’s frequented by 13-year-olds, and he’s tricking them into a meeting,” he said.
Prosecutors must now decide whether to pursue a retrial.
Amon remains on bail on the two remaining charges.
Header image: Left, Rory Amon. Right, a picture Amon sent to the boy on Grindr (NSW Supreme Court).
