Stephani Schliefert, 47, loses bid to appeal sexual assault of teen conviction

The woman, who had modelled her appearance after a comic book character, launched an appeal after she was found guilty of sexually assaulting a teen but acquitted of rape.

Schliefert’s appeal was heard by the Court of Appeals this week. Pictured, the Victorian Supreme Court building in Melbourne.

A homeless woman who was found guilty of sexually assaulting a runaway teen behind a church in Geelong’s CBD has lost a bid to appeal the verdict.

Stephani Schliefert, 47, previously known as Eddie, was found guilty at trial in February 2023 of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16, but was acquitted in the same trial on a count of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16.

At the time of the offending, Schliefert presented as a man and had modelled her appearance on actor Jared Leto’s Joker character from the film Suicide Squad, according to the judge’s sentencing remarks.

This included having green hair, wearing a purple suit and the word ‘damaged’ tattooed on her forehead, as the character does in the film.

Schliefert was born male but now identifies as female, according to the appeal judgment.

In June last year she was convicted and sentenced to 306 days imprisonment, reckoned as time served, by Judge Trevor Wraight and ordered to register as a sex offender for 15 years.

Schliefert sought to appeal the verdict at a hearing in the Court of Appeals on Monday.

Judges Geoffrey Priest, Lesley Taylor and Christopher Boyce rejected the bid and refused Schliefert leave to appeal, handing down their judgement on Thursday.

Jared Leto’s Joker, as seen in the film Suicide Squad (2016). Picture: supplied

During their six-hour deliberation the jurors indicated they were having difficulty in coming to a unanimous decision.

Judge Wraight provided directions and a verdict was reached the following day.

According to Judge Wraight, Schliefert had an upbringing marred by abuse and transience.

Her abusive father died in 2007 while serving a sentence for murder, Judge Wraight said last year, and she had a history of drug dependency and self-harm.

Schliefert was homeless and living on the streets of Geelong when the offending took place.

The assault occured in a tent behind Anglican Parish of Christ Church in Geelong’s CBD in October 2018.

The victim was a 15-year-old girl who had run away from home.

The prosecution alleged Schliefert digitally penetrated the girl, of which she was acquitted, and touched her breasts and buttocks, of which she was found guilty, before the girl kicked Schliefert in the stomach and fled.

According to Judges’ Priest, Taylor and Boyce, Schliefert’s defence argued the differing verdicts were illogical, unreasonable and inconsistent.

It was argued that no “reasonable jury” could have reached the verdicts they did, as convictions on either charge both relied upon the complainant’s evidence being accepted by the jury.

The prosecution argued that the jury did not have to accept everything the complainant claimed, as Schliefert was not on trial for one event but on “two specific offences”.

In their analysis, the judges said the “logical and reasonable basis” for the jury’s finding was clear.

“As the respondent argues, the applicant was tried for two separate and different offences rather than for a single transaction in the tent,” the justices wrote.

“That the jury acquitted the applicant on charge one says no more than that they were not satisfied to the criminal standard that sexual penetration had occurred.”

The judges concluded that the differing verdicts were “obviously explicable and not inconsistent”.

Originally published as Stephani Schliefert, 47, loses bid to appeal sexual assault of teen conviction