Wonthaggi cricketer Alex Hamilton jailed for assaulting a child under 16

A Wonthaggi cricket stalwart, dad and apprentice carpenter has learnt his fate after admitting he assaulted teen girl.

Wonthaggi’s Alex Hamilton has been jailed.

A Wonthaggi cricketer who sexually violated a 15-year-old girl, while holding her down after she said no, has been jailed.

Alex Hamilton, 26, was sentenced to a minimum of 14 months’ jail before the County Court on Tuesday, having pleaded guilty to a rolled-up charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16.

Hamilton sexually assaulted his victim after he convinced the girl to watch a movie at his house.

The fiend touched the girl but the victim flatly refused Hamilton’s advances.

“No … It’s not happening,” the victim said.

Hamilton then grabbed the girl’s wrists, pulled down her pants and sexually violated the girl.

Hamilton stopped after several minutes, turned his victim over and violated her again, the court was told.

Hamilton stopped after his victim asked him to stop but he prevented the girl from leaving.

The victim later told her mum and a friend she had been raped, the court was told.

Hamilton told a friend that “she wanted it”.

He told police he “recalled the night in question” but denied being “drunk at the time”.

He also denied “forcing himself “on the victim or “anything like that”.

Hamilton said the “sexual intercourse ceased” when the victim said “stop” but believed the girl was a “bit nervous”.

“I think she was, like, 16 at the time, or something like that,” Hamilton told police.

“Like I was pretty old … right now I couldn’t tell you how old she is.

“I think probably year 10 or year 9. That would make her 15 wouldn’t it …

“If she was (15) it’s a big f*** up, but yeah, she probably could have been.”

At his plea hearing earlier this month the victim read her impact statement to the court as her assailant sat silently in the dock just metres away.

“I remember arriving home and sitting in the shower in silence sobbing and scrubbing my skin so hard that I had a rash for weeks,” she said.

“I was beyond terrified, I believe a better choice of word would be mortified, and even then, I don’t believe that is even strong enough …

“I still am in absolute disbelief and shock that this ever happened to me.

“I was unable to sleep properly for weeks, out of fear that I would relive it all in my dreams, and I did, every single night for months, and I still do …

“I felt as though it was my own fault, looking back now I know that there was no way that any fault lies on my 15-year-old self.

“Frankly I wanted the world to swallow me up … I will never be the same person I was before.

“I have lost countless hours’ sleep, cried countless tears and spent what seems to be a relentless amount of time in waves of depression.

“I also know that if I don’t do this, to not only protect myself and in hopes to one day be able to not struggle through each day, but to protect other young vulnerable girls.

“Not one day has gone by that I have not been consumed with fear, flashbacks and other effects of trauma.

“The only thing I feel is deserved is for Alex to feel as alone as I have, and as alone as I will forever feel.”

It was heard Hamilton had pleaded guilty to the charge after receiving a sentence indication that he would go to jail.

The court heard Hamilton, who grew up in Wonthaggi, worked several jobs after dropping out of high school.

Judge Carolene Gwynn noted that numerous character references given to the court, including from his fiance, to whom he has a two-year-old, described him as a family man and hard worker.

The court was told Hamilton’s employer was “holding” his apprentice carpenter position.

At the plea, it was submitted Hamilton has played cricket in Wonthaggi since he was 9 and the sport remains a “big part of his life” both as player and clubman.

Judge Gwynn said she had taken into account Hamilton’s “excellent” rehabilitation prospects and the benefit of his plea, as well as the fact he had used force on his victim and had not used protection.

Hamilton, who sat with head in his hands for most of the hearing, was sentenced to a maximum of two years’ and two months’ jail.

He will be made a registered sex offender for 15 years.

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