Former Australian MP found guilty of raping 13-year-old boy he met on dating app

Former Australian MP Rory Amon has been found guilty of raping and indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy he met through a dating app in 2017, following a retrial at the New South Wales Supreme Court. A 12-member jury returned its verdict on Friday after deliberating for about four hours.

Amon, 37, was convicted of sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14 and indecently assaulting a person under 16. The court heard that Amon connected with the boy through an adult dating app before moving their conversations to Snapchat, where they exchanged messages and explicit photographs. They arranged to meet in July 2017, with the teenager telling his parents he was going for a run. The pair met outside the boy's apartment block and walked through a communal courtyard into an underground car park toilet.

Prosecutors told the court that they began kissing before Amon placed the boy's hand on his penis through his tracksuit pants, then pulled down his own clothing and made the teenager perform oral sex. Amon did not dispute that sexual activity took place but maintained that he believed the boy was 17. The complainant said he had told Amon he was 15, although he was actually 13. The teenager told the court he had been lonely when he connected with Amon and was hoping to find a romantic partner. He said he did not fully understand that sexual activity would take place when they met, as he was “developmentally not ready”.

Second trial over same encounter

The verdict follows a second trial after the jury in the first proceeding earlier this year failed to reach a decision on two charges relating to the encounter. At the first trial, Amon was acquitted of eight other charges concerning an alleged second meeting with the same teenager. The Crown accepted that the jury was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the second meeting, during which further sexual activity was alleged to have occurred, had taken place. The jury was unable to reach verdicts on the two charges relating to the first meeting, prompting the Director of Public Prosecutions to seek a retrial. The second trial lasted a week and relied on pre-recorded evidence given by the complainant during the earlier proceedings. The court heard that the boy told several people about the encounter after it happened, including a teacher who made a mandatory report to police. He later learnt Amon's identity after a photograph of the former MP circulated online in around 2020 or 2021. The complainant formally reported the matter to police in 2022, when he was 18.

Amon was charged in 2024 and resigned from the NSW parliament in August that year following his arrest. He remained on bail throughout both trials and was not taken into custody after Friday's guilty verdict. He is due to return to the NSW Supreme Court for a sentencing hearing on November 27.