Brave victim wins battle to unmask sex predator cop
THE identity of a child rapist Victorian policeman can finally be revealed after one of his brave victims begged a court not to silence her and dozens of other children he attacked any longer.
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THE identity of a vile former Victorian policeman jailed for raping children can finally be revealed after one of his courageous victims fought to revoke a court order protecting him.
Robert Gommeson — one of the state’s worst paedophiles — had been protected by a suppression order, which stopped the media and his victims from publicly naming him.
But the gag order was finally lifted today thanks to Tracey May, who had never given up in her fight to expose the predator policeman who abused her multiple times over a decade of her childhood.
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Aged just 11, she fell pregnant with his baby, but later miscarried. In a heartfelt plea to Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg, Ms May asked him to not silence Gommeson’s dozens of victims any further.
“Robert Gommeson held a position within the Victoria Police department for 10 years as an officer,” Ms May said.
“He pleaded guilty to abusing myself and other children whilst he was in the force and it’s because of this reason I feel the public need to know his name.
“We are now all adults. We are no longer children. We now have voices.
“Our voices had been taken before, they should not be taken away again.”
Gommeson, now in his late 60s, was not charged until 2012, despite one parent complaining to police in 1979.
He pleaded guilty to 18 charges relating to the violation of nine boys and girls, aged 5 to 13, in the 1970s and 80s.
He lured one boy by asking if he wanted to see the police station, raping him on a bed in a room inside.
He also forced a young girl to perform oral sex on him in the back of a divisional police van after she attended the station in distress, looking for her mother she had lost at a festival.
Another victim detailed how he held a police-issued revolver to her head as he raped her.
In June 2016, he was sentenced to 19 years jail with a non-parole period of 15 years.
Ms May said she felt “shock, followed by anger and heartache” when told she and his other victims were unable to speak his name in public after he was sentenced because of the suppression order.
She said having the suppression order lifted would allow herself and other victims “closure”.
Mr Rozencwajg said he was “surprised” his 2012 order still existed. It was made before changes were introduced to the Open Courts Act making it compulsory for magistrates to put expiry dates on orders.
“I have no difficulty in revoking the suppression order,” he said.
Gommeson, a serving officer from 1968 to 1979, resigned from the force after the first complaint was made in the 70s.
He ran a hotel in the area, before moving to New South Wales where he went on to sexually abuse another seven children between January 2005 and December 2011.
In 2014, a Sydney judge jailed him for 17 years on the attacks on young boys, aged 9 to 16 years.
He plied some of his victims with alcohol before brutalising them, and gifted them with items including trail bikes, computer games, remote controlled cars, and phones, saying “don't tell anyone”.
Known to them as “Uncle Bob”, Gommeson even got his victims to fill out a questionnaire evaluating their time with him.
One questionnaire, found by police, contained criteria for recruitment, requesting his victims nominate other children aged “13 or 14” who “needs some money”, “doesn't have many toys” and “will want to have spa, drink Cruisers, watch porn”.
The earliest he is eligible for parole is 2024.