Jailed cult leader William ‘Little Pebble’ Kamm has sentence backdated on legal technicality

William ‘Little Pebble’ Kamm could walk out of a Sydney prison two months ahead of schedule next year after a legal technicality saw an adjustment in his most recent jail sentence.

A legal technicality could see notorious cult leader and convicted pedophile William “Little Pebble” Kamm returned to the streets of Sydney almost two months ahead of schedule next year, despite failing to have his latest jail sentence reduced on appeal.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal Kamm fronted the NSW District Court last week from the confines of a western Sydney jail to appeal against a 13-month sentence for multiple breaches of his three-year extended supervision order.

His legal team, consisting of solicitor Omar Juweinat and barrister Peter Lange, asked Judge Warwick Hunt to reduce the sentence and release Kamm back into the community.

Cult leader William ‘Little Pebble’ Kamm, pictured at his commune in October 1998.

But Judge Hunt emphatically rejected the appeal - even going so far as to tell Kamm he probably would have handed out a much heftier penalty had the case come before him for sentencing.

Kamm had been due for release to parole on May 29 next year, however, in a surprise twist, the court heard the magistrate who imposed the original sentence miscalculated the start date, failing to take into account 51 days Kamm had spent in pre-sentence custody.

The legal technicality meant Judge Hunt had no option but to backdate Kamm’s sentence to begin almost two months earlier.

While Kamm does remain bail refused on a series of fresh child grooming charges, which are still at a preliminary stage before the court, the change to his most recent sentence means he is now eligible for parole on the current charges on April 8 next year.

Kamm is no stranger to the inside of a jail cell, having spent more than a decade behind bars between 2005 and 2016 for sexually assaulting two underage teens in the 1990s.

Kamm, pictured outside Sydney’s Downing Centre Court in 2005 while on bail during his child sexual assault trial. He was later found guilty and jailed for more than 10 years.

Kamm, pictured outside the same court in 2022, during a mention of a previous matter. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

At the time, Kamm ran a breakaway Catholic cult known as the Order of Saint Charbel at his sprawling property on the South Coast, where he labelled himself “the last Pope” and believed he was destined to repopulate a royal dynasty with 12 queens and 72 princesses.

The cult had more than half a million followers at its prime, spread across 160 countries, with Kamm’s victims among his devotees.

Kamm was paroled in 2016 but immediately placed on a five-year extended supervision order by the NSW Supreme Court after state prosecutors raised concerns about his “predation” on underage vulnerable females and his continued fanatical beliefs.

Under the order, which is designed to closely monitor the movements and social interactions of high-risk offenders, Kamm was required to wear an electronic ankle monitor, could not interact with children and had limited access to the internet, under strict conditions.

The court heard Kamm’s charges the subject of the appeal relate to breaches of a second extended supervision order put in place in 2021.

The entrance to Kamm’s property in Nowra, where he ran the cult. Picture: Simon Bullard

Kamm admitted he defied conditions prohibiting him from deleting his internet browsing history or looking at websites in incognito or private mode.

The court heard police also discovered email communication between Kamm and the man who runs the Little Pebble website, in which Kamm directed the follower to post certain content to the site, in breach of an express prohibition in the supervision order.

In rejecting Kamm’s appeal, Judge Hunt said he was “deeply unpersuaded” that the sentence should be reduced.

“It’s apparent to me Mr Kamm remains a high risk of reoffending,” he said.

The court heard the extended supervision order, which was put on hold while Kamm was in custody, will recommence once he is released.