A former New South Wales state Liberal MP, Rory Amon, has been acquitted of eight charges related to an alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy, but may face a retrial on two remaining counts. The jury in the NSW Supreme Court found Amon not guilty of four counts of child rape, two counts of attempted child rape, and two counts of indecent assault, after three days of deliberations.
However, the jury could not reach a verdict on one count of rape and one count of indecent assault of a child. The 36-year-old had pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied any criminal conduct. He testified that he held an honest and reasonable belief the teenager was over 16, the age of consent in NSW.
The court heard the pair met on an adults-only gay hook-up app in 2017, when Amon was 27. The boy had inflated his age online. Amon admitted meeting the teen once for sex but denied a second encounter. The Crown argued that seeing the boy in person would have made his age obvious.
Amon was arrested in August 2024. The charges ended his political career; he resigned as MP for Pittwater in March 2023 and was expelled from the Liberal Party. The subsequent byelection saw the seat lost to a teal independent.
