Ex-Lawmaker Rory Amon Convicted of Raping a 13-Year-Old in Australia

A jury in the New South Wales Supreme Court found former state lawmaker Rory Amon guilty on Friday of raping and indecently assaulting a 13-year-old boy in 2017, ABC News and The Guardian reported. The jury deliberated for about four hours. Amon, 37, remains on bail and faces a sentencing hearing on Nov. 27.

The verdict came at a retrial. The Guardian said Amon now faces the possibility of a significant jail term.

How the case reached a verdict

• July 2017: ABC reported that the court heard Amon met the boy in person for the first time after connecting with him on a dating app. The Guardian described the app as an adults-only service and said the pair exchanged explicit images before the meeting.
• March 2023: Amon was elected as the Liberal member for the state seat of Pittwater, according to The Guardian. At the time he first contacted the boy, he was working full-time for federal MP Jason Falinski.
• August 2024: ABC reported that Amon resigned from the state parliament after being arrested. The Guardian said the charges forced his expulsion from the Liberal Party and ended his political career.
• March: At a first trial on 10 charges, a jury found him not guilty on eight of them and could not reach a verdict on two, ABC reported. Those two counts led prosecutors to seek this week's retrial.
• Friday: The second jury convicted him on the two remaining counts: sexual intercourse with a person aged between 10 and 14, and indecent assault of a child.

What Amon argued in court

Amon has always maintained his innocence. He argued that he honestly and reasonably believed the boy was older. ABC reported that he said he thought the boy was 17, while The Guardian said he believed the boy was over 16, so the reports differ on that detail. The first trial heard that the boy had overstated his age when signing up to the app and again when talking with Amon. ABC reported that the boy said he told Amon he was 15 when he was in fact 13.

Amon did not dispute that sexual activity occurred at the 2017 meeting, according to ABC. The eight charges on which he was acquitted in March related to a second alleged meeting, which he denied ever took place.

What this means for the Liberal Party and the courts

The Guardian reported that Amon's resignation had consequences for the state Liberals, who lost the formerly safe seat of Pittwater to a teal independent at the subsequent byelection.

The Guardian also noted that Amon is the third former New South Wales MP convicted of sexual offenses in recent years. Former Kiama MP and Coalition minister Gareth Ward was jailed in 2025 for the sexual abuse of two young men, and his minimum term of three years and nine months expires in April 2029. Former Labor minister Milton Orkopoulos was found guilty in 2023 of sexually abusing teenage boys and supplying them with drugs.

What happens next

Amon will return to court for a sentencing hearing on Nov. 27, according to The Guardian. ABC said the hearing is listed for later this month. He remains free on bail until then.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News (Australia), The Guardian

Cover photo: Nick-D / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped