Repeat child sex offender Mark Smorti jailed for groping girl, 6, in Rundle Mall’s Kmart store

He groped a little girl while her mother’s back was turned and claimed he was just moving her out of the way. Today a court rejected this pervert’s pitiful excuses and jailed him.

Mark Smorti groped a child in Rundle Mall.

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A man who sexually groped a girl, 6, in a Rundle Mall store as her mother reached to buy her a toy has been jailed for at least 18 months, despite his 11th-hour attempt to make amends.

On Tuesday, Mark Smorti – who also kept a schoolgirl’s uniform, children’s underwear and child exploitation material in his home – asked what he could to do ease his victim’s distress.

“I know she’s probably not in the courtroom but I really want to say sorry to her and hope there’s no long-term damage to her in the long run,” he said via video link with prison.

“Is there any way I can make the victim’s life better? Other than just being in here?”

Judge Liesl Chapman, however, said Smorti’s running commentary proved only one thing – that he sorely lacked insight into the true effects of his offending.

“This little girl has been deeply affected by what you did … she has a vivid memory of it, as well as of you, and is scared it will happen again,” she said.

“Your problem with controlling your sexual instincts is evident.”

Smorti, 38, of Adelaide, pleaded guilty to aggravated counts of indecent assault and possessing child exploitation material.

He was arrested in September, just hours after a woman caught him crouching down and grasping the buttocks of her daughter as they shopped in Kmart.

When police found the other items in Smorti’s home, he accused them of “making up the evidence”.

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Smorti then tried to excuse his behaviour, telling the court he was “moving” the girl “out of the way” as she was “blocking the aisle”.

On Tuesday, Judge Chapman rejected his explanation, saying he had offended in a “similar” way against a different young victim in 2013.

“There’s no doubt your touching of this six-year-old girl was deliberate … there can be no other explanation,” she said.

She noted Smorti had been diagnosed with schizophrenia but said that in no way lessened his criminal culpability, as he had elected to stop taking his medication.

“It seems that when you remain on your medication you can be a law-abiding citizen – it’s when you stop that you become dangerous,” she said.

Judge Chapman jailed Smorti for two years and eight months, with an 18-month non-parole period.