Court told of child rapist’s ‘sexual mania’ during attack
Monster of Kogarah Anthony Sampieri claims he was experiencing “sexual mania” while high on methamphetamine when he abducted and raped a child. During his sentencing, details of his vile phone calls were also been released.
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Monster of Kogarah Anthony Sampieri claims he was experiencing “sexual mania” while high on methamphetamine when he abducted and raped a child.
It has also emerged he was not just making obscene phone calls in the months leading up to his attack but masturbating in public toilets next to women to get a “thrill”.
Sampieri’s drug-fuelled “aberrant” sexuality has come to light as one of the heroic parents who rescued the child told him he “must suffer” in prison.
Sampieri, 55, sat cowed and pale in the NSW District Court dock on the first day of his sentencing after his November 2018 attack on the child.
Sampieri formally pleaded guilty on Thursday morning to seven counts relating to 94 offensive phone calls between August and November 2018.
He had previously pleaded guilty to 10 charges related to the attack on the girl, including three counts of sexual intercourse with a child.
Those three charges alone carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
A police fact sheet, with many of the horrific details suppressed to spare the child further harm, detailed how he dragged her into a toilet cubicle and tied her up before abusing her for more than half an hour.
Nicola “Nick” Gilio was among the group of adults who rushed in to stop the attack once the girl was found to be missing.
Mr Gilio told the court about the brutality he endured when Sampieri slashed a scalpel across his neck and stabbed him in the abdomen.
“The feeling of a scalpel dragged across the back of my head with no regard for who I am … no regard for anything but (Sampieri’s) own thirst for abuse, this is what keeps me awake at night,” Mr Gilio said.
Mr Gilio had slowly walked past the dock where Sampieri sat, staring unblinkingly at the convicted rapist, anger and disgust creasing his face on his way to the witness box.
A psychological report released by the court on Thursday said the turbulence in Sampieri’s turbulent life began when he was abused by a teenage girl as a child.
“He describes some form of sexual mania when affected by methylamphetamine, staying awake for days ‘fixated’ on sexual fantasy,” forensic psychologist Patrick Sheehan wrote.
Sampieri told the psychologist he became obsessed with bondage and “power over women” while under the “euphoria” of ice but denied he had been attracted to children.
He also revealed another disturbing hobby.
“In the months prior to the current offences Mr Sampieri had also taken to masturbating in public toilets, finding a sexual thrill in masturbating in cubicles adjacent to women,” the report said.
Sampieri reported a “thrill” in getting away with the act.
A toxicology report after the Kogarah attack would find ice, speed, and other drugs in his system.
Sampieri blames the drug for much of the attack and regrets the “life sentence” his abuse has condemned the child to, the psychologist noted.
Outside the court, Mr Gilio said the girl at the centre of the case had suffered more than anyone else.
But he earlier told the court how he had changed from a “happy-go-lucky” man who loved riding his Harley-Davidson and spending time with his family.
“I feel a huge part of me has died on the night of this incident and I feel there is no recovery,” Mr Gilio said.
The diesel mechanic struggles to work and still grapples with the physical trauma.
He said the flashbacks were never going to leave him.
“The pain you have caused me and my family and to others is a life sentence to all of us involved,” he told Sampieri in court.
Mr Gilio said there was no sentence powerful or harsh enough for Sampieri’s crimes.
“I hope your incarceration leads you to a life of pain, darkness and misery,” he told Sampieri.
“There is no forgiveness or rehabilitation for what you have done. For the consequences of your actions you must suffer.”
Sampieri’s sentencing continues.
SAMPIERI’S VILE PHONE CALLS
The weeks before Anthony Sampieri walked into a Kogarah dance studio, abducted, bound and raped a seven-year-old girl he was making dozens of phone calls so obscene most details are unable to be published.
Documents released by the NSW District Court reveal Sampieri’s lengthy criminal history beginning with drug possession in the 1980s, larceny in the early 2000s and finally sexual assault with a weapon in 2012 — which landed him seven years in prison.
His tendency toward increasingly violent and sexualised crime morphed into a perverted telephone spree in mid-2018 after he was released on parole.
In August last year, at 54 years old, Sampieri began making anonymous phone calls to businesses and individuals in Sydney’s south from a private number, police documents released by the court on Thursday say.
The call transcripts were released by the court after Sampieri formally plead guilty to seven “offensive” phone charges relating to dozens of conversations.
The court documents detail what Sampieri said to each victim in the 94 calls he made from August to the day he abducted and raped the child in November.
His victims included real estate agents, marriage celebrants, psychologists, receptionists and even an elderly prayer group co-ordinator.
“Can you please pray for me, I was sexually abused as a child,” Sampieri told the 82-year-old woman on October 26.
“We have a prayer group and healing mass, could you please come to that in Enfield?” she asked.
“I really need you to pray for me now,” Sampieri responded.
When the woman began reciting a prayer Sampieri interrupted to tell her he was masturbating.
About one hour earlier Sampieri had called a maths tutor asking about lessons for his daughter.
He asked the tutor to come to his home, but she said she would meet his daughter in public as a safety precaution.
“My daughter has been sexually abused, I’m going to unzip my pants and I am going to bring out my big p****,” Sampieri told her.
Across just three days, September 23 to 25, Sampieri made 44 of his offensive phone calls alone, police say.
Between November 14 and 15 he made four offensive calls.
His final phone call, on November 15 at 3pm, came less than two hours before his heinous attack on the child at the Kogarah dance studio.
In that call he asked a receptionist if she liked to watch pornography or “touch herself”.
Sampieri is expected to be sentenced in December for the calls and the attack on the girl.