A homosexual former suburban Melbourne mayor has been released on bail while awaiting an appeal against his three-month prison sentence for sexually assaulting a teenage boy after giving him nitrous oxide.
Cameron Nation, 42, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court by videolink from the Metropolitan Remand Centre on Monday seeking bail for an appeal hearing set for February 11 next year, just four days after he was sentenced to imprisonment in the same court.
Nation, who was City of Mooney Valley Mayor in 2020 and 2021, pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child aged 16 or 17 under his care, supervision or authority over a December 2019 incident, which involved a then-17-year-old boy who he had met while coaching swimming when the victim was eight or nine.
The prosecution did not seek a custodial sentence, but Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz said Nation’s offending was “serious”, and sentenced him to three months’ jail followed by an 18-month community correction order (CCO), and put him on the sex offenders’ registry for eight years.
But on Monday she agreed to release Nation on bail ahead of the appeal, telling him prosecutors were “saying you’re no risk to the community”, and noting that he complied with his previous bail conditions, the Herald Sun reported.
The prosecution did not oppose bail, but asked for conditions including bans on contacting witnesses, leaving Victoria, and attending international points of departure.
At last week’s hearing Ms Mykytowycz refused to extend a suppression order that had prevented media from revealing Nation’s identity since his first court appearance in December, rejecting defence lawyer Sam Norton’s request for a two-year gag order on mental health grounds.
The court heard that Nation first met his victim while coaching swimming at aquatic centres in Melbourne’s north-west, The Age reported.
He went on to work for Nation as an assistant swim coach, and the pair began communicating privately after Nation congratulated him for “coming out” as a homosexual.
Nation then showed interest in taking him to a gay club to “show him the ropes”, and the then-36-year-old invited the boy to his home after he had been at a house party nearby.
The pair inhaled nitrous oxide in Nation’s living room, which the victim told police “made me feel really spaced out, like I had no control over my body”, and Nation then carried out the assault.
“I was not enjoying what he was doing. I did not know what to do. I felt like I had no control,” the victim told police.
Mr Norton and the prosecution both told the court a CCO was a suitable punishment, but Ms Mykytowycz said the offending “involved a breach of trust” of a vulnerable young person.
“[The assault] involved you violating the body … of the complainant for your own sexual gratification,” she told Nation.
“Ultimately, I am of the view that the only sentence that can be imposed is one which does involve a period of incarceration.”
In an apology letter to the victim tendered in court, Nation said “I am extremely sorry and apologise unreservedly”, and blamed alcohol and drug consumption for being in an “unstable state”.
Nation previously avoided a conviction in 2022 for falsifying two claims for community swim grants by personally applying for $4,000 in federal funds on behalf of SwimAid and an LGBT support group, even though he had no affiliation with them.
He pleaded guilty and was given a two-year good behaviour bond.
Header image: Left, Cam Nation (City of Moonee Valley). Right, with a homosexual flag.
