Former cop Mario Didulica jailed for sexually assaulting teenage girl

A former Geelong police officer who sexually assaulted a teenage girl has been sentenced.

Mario Didulica in 2010. FILE PICTURE

A former Geelong police officer who sexually assaulted and groomed a teenage girl has been sentenced to three years jail.

Mario Simon Didulica was a serving policeman when he sexually assaulted the girl and begged her to move to France to be his “perfect wife”.

On Friday, the 52-year-old father was sentenced in the County Court of Victoria after he was found guilty by a jury in March of two charges of sexually penetrating a child.

The girl was aged 14 and 15 at the time of the offending

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, the victim said she suffered guilt and stress from Didulica’s offending.

“My innocence was taken from me. I was exposed to things no teenager should not be exposed to. I was left to deal with shame and blame for 10 years,” she said.

He was arrested by Interpol officers in October 2018 after he moved to Croatia and tried to cross the Bosnian border to attend a funeral.

The arrest followed years of investigations by Victoria Police.

The court heard Didulica met his victim through family friends in 2009, started a relationship with her and gave her a passport so they could move to France to be together.

Didulica was a sworn member of Victoria Police at the time of his offending.

In 2010, the then-38-year-old Didulica performed oral sex on the victim and, on another occasion, sexually assaulted her again.

Judge Liz Gaynor told the court police had been investigating Didulica, but he believed he would not be spoken to again by police.

Didulica moved to Croatia in 2013 to support his son to pursue professional sporting opportunities and was unaware he was still being investigated by police.

Because of his Croatian citizenship, he was unable to be extradited back to Australia.

However, after crossing the border into Bosnia to attend a funeral, he was arrested by Interpol officers on October 13, 2018 and jailed for 99 days in the country’s infamous Zenica jail.

Judge Gaynor told the court Didulica suffered PTSD after he was tormented by other prisoners when they learned he was a former police officer accused of sexual assault.

Didulica was extradited to Australia and charged.

Judge Gaynor said the punishment Didulica received in prison in Bosnia was more than severe and would impose a significant discount in her sentencing.

Didulica will be eligible for parole in 16 months, having already served 196 days in prison. He will be placed on the sex offender registry for life.

Originally published as Former cop Mario Didulica jailed for sexually assaulting teenage girl