Melbourne sex offenders: Ben Heels, Ben Holman, Adam Aboughattas and more
A clown suit sicko former music teacher and his fiend boyfriend are among Melbourne’s depraved sex offenders. See the list.
Melbourne City
Don't miss out on the headlines from Melbourne City. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A disgraced former music teacher who dressed up in clown suits and Harry Potter onesies is among Melbourne’s depraved sex offenders.
He and his fiend boyfriend join a vile grub who “squirted” children at a shopping centre and a former army gunner who raped a female soldier at Puckapunyal.
See the full list.
CLOWN SUIT SICKO’S CHILD SEX CRIMES
A twisted former high school music teacher will sweat away most of summer behind bars while awaiting punishment for assaulting a child.
Ben Heels pleaded guilty in the County Court in September to 28 charges including sexual assault and sexual activity in the presence of a child.
Heels, a former Fountain Gate Secondary College music teacher, violated his victim multiple times at Pakenham between January 1 and May 14 last year.
Heels, a former southeast music director who worked on a community production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, also possessed and transmitted child abuse material in May last year.
Heels’ boyfriend Tristan Cullinan-Smayle also pleaded guilty to 23 charges, including procuring a child under 16 for sexual activity.
Cullinan-Smayle, who also pleaded guilty to possessing and transmitting child abuse material, committed his prolonged offending between December 2017 and May last year.
Some of Cullinan-Smayle’s offending occurred in Berwick.
Heels and Cullinan-Smayle will swelter in their cells through Christmas, New Year’s and most of summer until they even get close to learning their fates.
It’s understood Heels, whose Facebook profile page states he worked as an instrument music teacher at Fountain Gate Secondary College, helped at multiple performing arts groups based throughout Melbourne’s east and southeast.
The disgraced music director helped produce amateur plays and musicals.
Heels and Cullinan-Smayle, who appeared together via videolink from Hopkins Correctional, had enjoyed posting their dress-up photos to social media.
In some photos, Heels dressed himself up as a blood-spattered clown and showed off his Harry Potter onesie.
The now-unemployed pair will front court again on February 13.
PUCKAPUNYAL ARMY RAPIST
Puckapunyal soldier Jermaine Schmidt raped and sexually assaulted a female colleague who had been asleep in her bed at the central Victorian army barracks.
Schmidt was sentenced in the County Court in August to a minimum three-year jail term after he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault.
Schmidt violated his victim after she and some friends visited the base pub nicknamed ‘the boozer’ a few years ago.
The court heard Schmidt was one of only two soldiers at the base pub when the victim and her friends arrived.
The victim, who had never been “intimate” with the man, left the boozer shortly later.
Schmidt sent the victim two text messages after she had gone back to room and fallen asleep.
Schmidt wrote: “Be coooooooooool” and “What is the room number”.
The victim was woken shortly after by Schmidt and another soldier who were looking for cigarettes but she sent them on their way,
Shortly after, the victim woke again to find Schmidt in her room tapping her leg.
Schmidt asked the victim if he could stay in her room but she said “no”.
However, the degenerate grub “nagged” his victim for another 10 or 15 minutes pleading to stay in her room.
The victim “in defeat” allowed Schmidt to stay in the room but only if he “stayed on his side of the bed”.
Schmidt sexually assaulted the victim who woke up and asked him what he was doing.
The victim told Schmidt to stop so he said “sorry” and rolled over.
The court heard the victim wrapped herself in her quilt tighter and moved closer to the wall to “make it harder for (Schmidt) to touch her”.
The victim woke about an hour later to find her assailant touching her, kissing her neck and attempting to remove her pyjamas and underwear.
Schmidt then raped his victim.
The victim told Schmidt to stop but he didn’t.
Instead, Schmidt became more forceful and pinned the victim down.
The victim was able to get Schmidt off her so he said “sorry” again, rolled over and fell asleep.
The victim fled to a bathroom where she remained in an “upset state” for 30 minutes.
Schmidt was jailed for a maximum five years.
GRUB ‘SQUIRTED’ GIRLS AT SHOPPING CENTRE
A Melbourne grub who secretly sprayed numerous young women and girls with a white substance while he filmed them in public also made child abuse material using TikTok videos.
Benjamin ‘Ben’ Holman pleaded guilty in the County Court in September to 27 charges of sexual assault.
Holman, who pleaded guilty to 34 charges including solicit, transmit and possess child abuse material, conducted his depravity between September 2018 and May last year.
Holman “covertly sprayed” numerous young women and girls with a white substance at Springvale shopping centre while managing to remain undetected for almost three years.
Holman, who the court heard preferred females in leggings and tight shorts, violated some children who were with their parents and family.
The pervert also targeted some children in pairs.
Holman, a former mechanical fitter at Roto Pumps, used a syringe filled with a substance to assault his victims.
The court heard Holman worked with a “milky white lubricant” while employed at Roto Pumps.
Holman, who used a concealed GoPro to film his victims, later edited his sickening videos.
Holman under the handle ‘legginsluver’ also shared images to graphic and lewd online site.
The images were of two pre-pubescent girls which had been “covertly” taken at Bunnings Cranbourne.
Holman also made sickening comments on photographs which depicted young girls in school uniforms.
Holman also produced his own sordid collection of child abuse material using photos and videos of children sourced from social media including TikTok and Instagram.
He superimposed naked images of himself onto the child’s image.
Holman depicted himself committing lewd acts on the children.
Holman, a father, also spliced TikTok videos with adult pornography.
An undercover cop posing as a sicko befriended Holman online in March last year.
Holman, who communicated with the cop via encrypted messaging app Telegram, sent the operative an image of himself having sex with a female.
More Coverage
Holman, who will be made a registered sex offender for life, will be sentenced at a later date.
BANKING GURU SEX FIEND
Disgraced Melbourne banking guru Adam Aboughattas admitted driving a schoolgirl to a Bayside beach where he sexually violated her in his car as people walked by.
Aboughattas was sentenced in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in May to a two-year community correction order after pleading guilty to a rolled-up indecent act with a child under 16 charge.
Aboughattas indecently assaulted his victim after telling the then primary schoolgirl he studied podiatry and massage and he needed “help” with an upcoming exam.
He told his victim to close her eyes and “not watch” before placing her feet on his crotch.
Aboughattas unzipped his pants and performed a vile act on the child.
The lewd offending occurred in Cheltenham almost 10 years ago.
The victim recalled her torment when Aboughattas violated her again, this time in his car which was parked on Beach Rd at the time.
Aboughattas had earlier picked up the victim — who was wearing her school uniform — from school and drove her to the beach.
The victim feared she would be hurt if she escaped or yelled for help, the court was told.
Magistrate Ros Porter said Aboughattas, a former Commonwealth Bank home lending specialist, was asked by his CBA manager to resign after his deviant offending was exposed by the Herald Sun.
Aboughattas, a former graphic designer and photographer, was convicted and made a registered sex offender for eight years.
DISABILITY SUPPORT WORKER SICKO
Depraved former disability support worker Rick Antrobus committed vile child sexual offending.
Antrobus pleaded guilty in the County Court in October to sexual penetration of a child and produce, access and possess child abuse material.
Antrobus, formerly of Pakenham, committed a vile sexual act on a child at Cranbourne in September last year.
Dandenong Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team members received intelligence Antrobus had accessed child abuse material via the internet.
The court heard Antrobus accessed the child abuse material via multiple social media sites under the username ‘rockfid’.
Police raided Antrobus’ home and seized a hard drive and multiple devices including a PS4 on July 27 last year.
Investigators analysed Antrobus’ Samsung Galaxy S21 which contained multiple vile child abuse material images and files of “unidentified children”.
Antrobus was later arrested and interviewed on September 8 but the fiend was released on summons.
Police analysed Antrobus’ other devices which revealed the grub had accessed child abuse material on multiple occasions.
The titles of the child abuse material accessed by Antrobus are too vile to be published.
Police arrested Antrobus again on November 27
Antrobus, who also pleaded guilty to intentionally sexually touching a child under 16 and sexual activity in the presence of a child, was caught with more child abuse material.
Antrobus will be sentenced at a later date.
FIEND TEACHER ABUSED BOYS
Depraved former Mazenod College teacher Catherine Young sexually violated two underage male students and taught a victim how to perform sexual acts.
Catherine Young was sentenced in the County Court in March to a three-year suspended jail term after pleading guilty to multiple sexual penetration of a child under 16 charges.
Young violated her victims while she taught at Mazenod’s Mulgrave campus under the name Catherine Waters in the mid to late 1990s.
The court heard Young taught Japanese, coached the junior volleyball team and supervised at school camps among other duties during her tenure.
Young violated the two male students at the school, at her Templestowe home, in the Monash University carpark and at a victim’s home.
The fiend former teacher, who left Mazenod in 1998, drove a victim to her Templestowe home where they engaged in sexual acts.
The court was told Young got upset after hearing INXS frontman Michael Hutchence had died before she changed into black lacy underwear.
Young then sexually assaulted the victim.
After the lewd offending Young cuddled her victim and asked if he was “OK”.
The victim later told a friend he had sex with Young.
Young met a victim in a Monash University carpark and a Mazenod changeroom.
Young also visited a victim at his home during her lunch break where she sexually violated him.
The victim told Young to run out the back door after a family member unexpectedly returned home early.
Young later taught the victim how to place a condom on before having sex.
Young drove a victim to the Police Paddocks carpark but they were left the area after a police car drove pass.
Young had sex with a victim in the Mazenod sick bay during a school sleepover for a week-long sports event.
The court heard the victim told his friends he was having sex with Young so they covered for him when he left his bed to sleep in the sick bay.
The victim hid under Young’s bed when a teacher knocked on the sick bay door.
Young asked the student if he was “OK” then sexually violated him after the teacher left, the court heard.
Young’s offending was referred to police in February 2018.
Young’s immediate jail term was wholly suspended for two years and she was declared a serious sexual offender.
FINANCE FIEND VIOLATED CHILD
Sicko Melbourne businessman David Ruthenberg paid his teenage girl sex victim more than $4000 after saving her Instagram photos to “gratify” himself.
Ruthenberg fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in May after pleading guilty to sexual assault.
Ruthenberg sexually assaulted his then 17-year-old victim in Middle Park in November 2019.
The court heard Ruthenberg previously took the victim on a holiday to the Gold Coast where he “spooned” the victim on her bed.
The victim, who felt “uncomfortable”, pretended to go to the toilet to get herself out of the unwanted situation.
Ruthenberg had earlier bought the girl a $1700 Apple Watch and convinced her to move in with him after she left home following a fight with her mother.
The victim later discovered photos of herself stored on Ruthenberg’s phone in a “private folder”.
The photos were “taken from behind”, cropped and zoomed into the girl’s body, the court was told.
The victim also found videos of herself walking a dog with the camera focused on her buttocks.
The victim, who was unaware the images and videos had been taken, also found photos of herself bent over in a crop top.
The court heard the crop top images had been taken while the pair were at the Gold Coast.
The victim also found a further 20 images on Ruthenberg’s laptop.
In a later incident, Ruthenberg told his victim he wanted to spend “more quality time” with her and “cuddle her on the couch at home”.
Ruthenberg, who also pleaded guilty to stalking, sexually assaulted the girl the next day.
The victim froze and pretended to be asleep during the assault.
Ruthenberg also licked the victim’s neck up to her ear and sucked her earlobe.
He later told the victim he “used” the photos of her because he was “lonely”.
Ruthenberg paid the victim $4032 in “expenses” in the month following the sexual assault, the court was told.
Police raided Ruthenberg’s home and seized his iPhone and laptop on March 20, 2020.
Ruthenberg admitted to police he took photos of the victim without her knowledge and ripped her Instagram pics which he “hid”.
He said he used victim’s photos to masturbate.
“I was sexually frustrated …,” Ruthenberg told police.
“I would take some photos of her to gratify myself in private … I’ve been single for quite a while … she was bleeding me for money (after discovering the photos) … I felt responsible and wanted to do the right thing.”
The court heard Ruthenberg, of Middle Park, had been employed in financial services for 32 years.
Ruthenberg, who worked for some “large banks”, started Venture Finance and Advisory in 2008.
Ruthenberg became founder and shareholder of Venture Wealth Management after his business acquired another operation in 2020.
The court heard Ruthenberg is involved in community work and assists charities based in Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Ruthenberg, who falls to be a registered sex offender for eight years, will be sentenced at a later date.
GRUB RESTAURANT BOSS
Armadale Indian restaurateur Rajen Bhatia offered to buy a restaurant for a waitress to run on her own after he sexually assaulted her.
Bhatia fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in May after pleading guilty to intentionally sexually touching without consent charges.
Bhatia, of Rowville, sexually assaulted the 22-year-old victim at his High St eatery Junoon Indian Restaurant in early 2020.
Bhatia approached the young woman and grabbed his victim’s hand and “gently” stroked it, the court was told.
The fiend then pulled the victim close and rubbed his head up against her neck.
The victim attempted to pull away but Bhatia, in Hindi, said “come here”.
Bhatia touched his victim, kissed her neck and bit her shoulder.
The victim, who attempted to move away, repeatedly said “no” to the unwanted conduct but Bhatia carried on unabated.
“Why didn’t you come to this planet 20 years before,” Bhatia said.
The court heard Bhatia then placed his teeth on the victim’s shoulder and “bit down”.
The victim recalled she was “frozen in fear”.
“Come here I won’t do anything to you,” Bhatia said.
Bhatia “stopped what he was doing” and dropped the victim’s hand after an employee called out from the kitchen.
Bhatia grabbed the victim’s hand again and apologised, the court heard.
The victim told her housemate Bhatia had “forced himself upon her”.
The housemate recalled the victim appeared “shaken and upset” while disclosing the sexual assault.
The victim later recorded a phone conversation between she and the boss.
Bhatia said it was “100 per cent my fault”.
“I want to buy a restaurant and I want you to manage it yourself … you won’t even see me,” he said.
“I am feeling very very unwell … what a bloody nightmare I am finding myself in … I’m begging you … I am really sorry for that but please don’t spoil it for yourself …
“I am feeling so yuck inside, I know you would be going through the same.”
Police later raided Junoon and arrested Bhatia.
Bhatia was placed on a diversion plan without conviction.
Train delays after truck goes into bridge
Commuters taking a busy train line in Melbourne’s southeast are facing major disruptions after a truck smashed into a bridge.
Meet your City of Yarra council candidates
Yarra council candidates are pitching directly to you, in videos arguing why you should vote for them. See what they had to say.