Former state MP found guilty of raping child in toilet

Detailed summary

An ex-state MP has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a young teen in a car park toilet after previously being acquitted of eight other charges.

A former politician is facing the possibility of a significant jail stint after a jury found him guilty of raping a 13-year-old boy.

Ex-NSW Liberal MP Rory Amon was found guilty by a jury after about four hours of deliberation on Friday of one count of sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 14, and indecently assaulting a child.

The 37-year-old was facing his second NSW Supreme Court trial after a different jury acquitted him in March on eight separate charges of child sexual offending but could not reach a verdict on the two counts decided on Friday.

The charges related to Amon's interactions with a 13-year-old boy who the former MP met on an adults-only website, the court heard.

Amon always maintained his innocence, saying he held an honest and reasonable belief the teen was over the age of 16.

The original trial was told the boy inflated his age when signing up to the gay hook-up app and again while talking with Amon.

Amon and the boy exchanged explicit images before a 2017 meeting in the carpark of the boy's apartment block, the court heard.

At the time he first contacted the youth, Amon was working full-time for federal Mackellar MP Jason Falinski.

He would go on to serve two terms on Northern Beaches Council before being elected as the Liberal MP for the state seat of Pittwater in 2023.

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