Former Gladys Berejiklian political adviser’s sex abuse acts with children

A former political staffer to then premier Gladys Berejiklian has admitted to sexually abusing children when he was a teenager.

A former Liberal Party and Gladys Berejiklian staffer has been spared jail after he admitted to sexually abusing two children when he was a teenager.

The political adviser, who cannot be named as he was a teenager at the time, on Tuesday faced the NSW District Court, where Judge John Pickering sentenced him to a community corrections order for two years.

The court was told the man was arrested in 2020 after police spent four years investigating allegations made by a man and woman who said they had been abused as children in the mid-1990s.

Judge Pickering told the court the six offences of aggravating indecent assault occurred between 1993-1996.

The staffer was just 14 to 16 years old at the time but is now over 40 years of age and held a job as a staffer for Ms Berejiklian.

A former staffer of Gladys Berejiklian was arrested while working for her in 2020. Picture: NCA Newswire / Gaye Gerard

The court was told the children were aged between eight and 12 and lived across the road to the offender, who would regularly babysit them.

Judge Pickering told the court the abuse occurred to the children under the guise of playing “games”.

“He would play a tickling game with victims where they would tickle each other and the person being tickled had to be still,” Judge Pickering said.

“It started with clothes on, then it went further to touch each other’s genitals.

“The person being touched kept eyes closed or blindfolded.”

The court was told the children never “felt forced” to play the games.

One of the charges related to a game where the children would lie naked on top of each other and another related to a game of truth and dare.

During 1994 or 1995, the court was told the male child chose “punishment” as his dare and the offender held an ice cube to his scrotum until it melted.

The staffer faced the Downing Centre District Court on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Another game of truth or dare was played when the “punishment” was to hit the male child on the penis and testicles, the court was told.

“It started with a light tapping and increased until it hurt,” Judge Pickering told the court.

The court was told the staffer offered to show the male child a “trick in the shower”, where he put a washcloth on the shower head and held it under his penis.

Judge Pickering told the court the staffer and the male child stripped naked and discussed wanting to try anal sex.

The children did not tell anyone about the sexual abuse until years later, well into their adulthood.

Police began investigating in 2016 when the male went to police.

“There’s no real explanation why there was such a slow investigation and it was nearly a period of four years before he was arrested,” Judge Pickering told the court.

“For whatever reason, it is not uncommon at all … as children do not start talking about it until they get into adulthood.”

Judge Pickering told the court the offences had a “lasting impact on the victims” due to the man abusing a position of trust.

“He was older by a significant amount, he was their carer, he was their babysitter. He wasn’t their friend or in their age group or their colleague,” the judge said.

“One of the first persons they started to trust in life … older than them, took advantage of them.”

However, he also conceded the staffer had lived a successful life, finishing school and gaining a tertiary degree before working in Ms Berejiklian’s office.

Judge Pickering did not put him on the child sex offender register.

There is no suggestion Ms Berejiklian or anyone else knew about the man’s crimes, which took place long before his career in politics.

The staffer pleaded guilty to six charges before he was due to face a trial earlier this year.

Originally published as Former Gladys Berejiklian political adviser’s sex abuse acts with children