Police interviewed man accused of Kogarah dance studio attack over obscene call
The police officer running the offensive phone call investigation that included an interview in October of the man who allegedly raped a seven-year-old girl in a toilet at a Sydney dance school has been stood down from operational duties.
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The police officer running the offensive phone call investigation that included an interview in October of the man who allegedly raped a seven-year-old girl in a toilet at a Sydney dance school has been stood down from operational duties.
Police have admitted they interviewed the man when he made at least one obscene call just weeks earlier.
Convicted rapist Anthony Sampieri, 54, was interviewed by police at Kogarah but not charged and he was not reported to parole authorities who could have locked him up for breaching his parole.
Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy said an internal investigation would look at why nothing was done but he said no-one could have predicted what Sampieri would then go on to allegedly do.
Pending an internal inquiry the senior constable in charge of the investigation has been banned from interacting with the public.
“No-one can predict the future or the future action of any person,” Deputy Commissioner Loy said.
He described Sampieri as a “danger to the public” as he remains under guard in hospital suffering liver cancer and injuries caused when he was apprehended by two local heroes after the young girl’s ordeal.
He said he had spoken to the mother and father of the girl who was allegedly assaulted by Sampieri for half an hour in the toilet of Kogarah dance studio.
“The family are really brave people and they really want to get their lives back to normal,” he said.
“The little girl is doing well.”
The decision to stand the officer down on Wednesday comes after police returned to Kogarah to interview St George Hospital op shop workers about man acting strangely inside the shop hours before the shocking sex attack at the neighbouring dance studio.
It’s understood a “weird fellow” who was acting suspiciously went into the op shop and tried on clothes in the afternoon just hours before the sex attack which took place about 7.30pm last Thursday.
He returned at closing time and locked himself inside about 5pm.
Two elderly women, who help run the shop, confronted the man and he said: “I’ve lost my wallet, I’m just wondering if I lost it in here.”
The women threatened to call police and the man left.
Detectives returned to the op shop to ask the elderly women about this man today.
“They just wanted to know about the shop and what happened,” one woman said.
“They said had the other ladies reported it, which they had.”
Hours later, dentist Jeff Stack and father Nicola ‘Nick’ Gilio, rushed into the toilet and allegedly found parolee Anthony Sampieri molesting the girl.
They knocked him out and ended the alleged attack.
Dr Stack, an amateur boxer, said Sampieri had managed to “slip through the cracks” despite police coming to the attention of a series of alleged lewd calls to a woman last month.
“All I can say is that I think the police do a remarkable job trying to protect the public,” he said.
“Here’s another incident that they’ve had to try and look into and act accordingly.
“I’m sure they did all their investigative skills and again, this (guy) managed to slip through the cracks – he’s not going to do it again.”
Police Minister Troy Grant promised “swift action” after issues with the police investigation are substantiated.
“Victims should be able to have confidence that when they contact police their concerns will be taken seriously. The initial indications are that police could have done more, and if that is the case, I’ll expect swift action to be taken,” he said.
“The community rightly expects police to operate to the highest standards, and when that standard isn’t met their actions should be scrutinised.”
Mr Grant said he was “shocked” to learn what happened.
“As a father, I can’t imagine the horror they must be going through.”
Labor leader Michael Daley has called for “heads to roll” over the bungled parole of Sampieri.
“This poor little girl and her family have been through hell,” Mr Daley said.
“Something needs to happen, someone needs to be accountable, the Premier needs to make sure someone’s head rolls. This is a horrific failure of the justice system.”
Mr Daley said the “bucks stop” with Premier Gladys Berejiklian to hold someone to account.
“People need to have confidence in the justice system. How on earth could this man have been allowed to get anywhere near this poor little girl — I have no idea. What a failure. The Premier can’t just sit back now and say “I’ve asked for a report, let me just get out of parliament tomorrow night.”
Mr Daley pointed out that it had been six days since the alleged attack on the 7-year-old and there was still a lack of information.
He called for the brief received by the government on why Sampieri was granted parole to be tabled in parliament.
“The Premier wants to hide on this but the sexual assault of a little girl is something you cannot hide from,” he said.
The Daily Telegraph revealed on Monday that Sampieri was on parole for a sickening sex attack on a 60-year-old woman at the time of the attack on the young girl in Kogarah.
The Daily Telegraph also revealed on Monday that Corrective Services Minister David Elliott ordered an urgent briefing on why Sampieri was granted parole.
He said this morning that he was not “comfortable” with the decision to allow Sampieri into the community.
“I’m horrified parole was given to this offender,” he said.
“The parole board made the decision based on what they had in front of them at the time. I’m not comfortable with the decision, which is why I asked for an urgent briefing on it.”
Mr Elliott said Sampieri had “complied with everything” he had to do to be granted parole.
“There is probably a whole range of reasons why this incident occurred. I think that the parole board made the decisions based on what they had in front of them which clearly wasn’t, in my mind, adequate that information. And from the briefing I got he complied with everything he was obliged to do in jail.”
Mr Elliott has flagged his intention to beef-up parole rules in the wake of the Kogarah incident but said Sampieri needs to be charged by police for him to “address the decision making process”.
He said he didn’t believe a GPS monitoring ankle bracelet would have prevented the attack in Kogarah.
“From what I understand there was no reason for the parole board to give him that sort of ankle monitor. But that is a decision for the parole board I can’t instruct them to put an ankle monitor on him. And from the evidence I’ve seen I’m not convinced an ankle monitor would have stopped the offence. And ankle monitor just monitors where he is and his location and from what I understand there was no restriction on where he was,” he said.
Mr Elliott also said he was “very much open minded” to parole changes to include all sex offenders being ordered to stay away from children even if their crimes haven’t been against children.
WHY GIRL, 7, SHOULD NOT HAVE SUFFERED ‘SEX ATTACK’
A woman reported to police a series of crude phone calls allegedly made by a parolee one month before he attacked a young girl at a dance studio.
Anthony Sampieri, 54, who was out on parole after a previous sex attack in 2012, allegedly sexually assaulted the seven-year-old girl in Kogarah last week.
Police now say that a woman made a complaint to officers after receiving a series of offensive phone calls allegedly made by Sampieri to her at a business in Sydney’s south a month before the Kogarah incident in a dirty toilet cubicle.
Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy has contacted the parents of the seven-year-old girl to “advise them” of the phone call investigation, a police spokeswoman said.
He has also commissioned an internal investigation into the handling of the complaint “to ensure the highest standards of victim care were applied”.
Police would like to speak to anyone who may have been contacted by Sampieri.
He remains in hospital under corrective services guard and has not been charged over the incident at Kogarah.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian promised on Monday the government would not leave a “single stone unturned” during its investigation of why a man accused of a horrific attack at a Sydney dance school was allowed into the community on parole.
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