Matthew Bilotta learns fate for assault at Camden home, armed robbery at Parramatta

DNA linked a young dad who assaulted a resident in an alleged home invasion to the robbery of a man attacked with a bedpost while on a night-time walk.

Onslow Ave. Picture: Google

A young father who hit one man in the face and kneed another in the groin during a “senseless” home invasion in southwest Sydney has learnt his fate.

Matthew Bilotta, 26, fronted Campbelltown District Court for sentencing over a common assault and doing an act intending to pervert the course of justice in February 2022.

He was also sentenced for an armed robbery in July 2018 after DNA testing linked him to the crime.

On July 15, 2018, a man and his wife were walking along the banks of the Parramatta River when Bilotta and an unknown offender grabbed the man from behind.

Bilotta was holding a bed leg, which to the victim looked like a police baton, and the pair ordered him to hand everything over.

“Give me everything you have. Money. Money. Money,” Bilotta said, according to the police facts.

Bilotta hit him numerous times, while the victim’s wife said they did not have anything apart from a pack of cigarettes, which the offenders took.

Campbelltown Courthouse. Picture: AAP Image / Angelo Velardo

The man reported the incident to the police, but only in March 2022 did DNA lifted from the victim link Bilotta to the crime.

The victims of the alleged attack in 2022 were Jamie Geelan and Jack Roberson, who had been housemates at home in Camden for about six months.

According to court documents, the pair knew Grace and Lara Buttriss but did not know Matthew Bilotta, who was on parole at the time of the offence.

On February 5, Geelan and Bilotta argued over social media, but it seemed resolved.

Later that night, Geelan and Roberson were at home at Onslow Ave, Camden, when the trio arrived and allegedly banged on the door.

The court documents state Grace allegedly said Geelan had hit her, and then Bilotta got involved by leaning over her, swinging at Geelan, and striking him in the face.

Geelan pulled him into the house and grabbed onto Bilotta in self-defence after being hit when Roberson came in and said, “you can’t f-----g hit him in the head. He has epilepsy.“

Roberson grabbed Bilotta and tried to defend his housemate before Bilotta kneed Geelan in the groin and punched him in the ribs.

Grace and Lara Buttriss don matching outfits while hiding behind an umbrella exiting Picton Courthouse on August 19, 2022. Picture: Annie Lewis

Court documents stated recordings from a phone show Bilotta speaking to an unknown man after the incident, claiming the victims had made threats and he “bashed the f--k out of them”.

Bilotta asked the man to intimidate the victims into retracting their statements.

During sentencing on Tuesday, Judge Julia Baly said evidence had shown Bilotta suffered from a “disadvantaged and deprived childhood”, and his moral culpability was reduced due to the trauma he had suffered.

She described the February 2022 offences as a “convoluted and senseless event triggered by Facebook exchanges and petty conduct”.

“The offender is at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Judge Baly said.

“Nevertheless, he involved himself in the incident and repeatedly struck the victim.”

Judge Baly said Bilotta had shown remorse and insight into his offending and entered early guilty pleas.

“I have determined on balance that the offender has good prospects of rehabilitation and a low likelihood of reoffending,” she said.

Bilotta was sentenced to four years imprisonment, with a non-parole of two years and six months. He will be eligible for parole from October 6, 2024.

Grace Buttriss has pleaded not guilty to aggravated break and enter to commit a serious indictable offence. Lara has pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The pair will face trial in August 2023.