Jonathan Wemyss loses bid to appeal sentences for sexual assault convictions

A disgraced myotherapist who was convicted of sexually assaulting his patients launched the appeal bid four years later, asking a judge to reconsider the sentences he received.

Jonathan Wemyss arriving at Geelong Court in 2020.

A disgraced former myotherapist who sexually assaulted patients has lost an appeal bid, despite an error made by the sentencing magistrate.

Jonathan Nicholas Wemyss, 56, appeared in the County Court in Geelong, to appeal two sentences imposed by the Geelong Magistrates Court in 2020.

The first was a second attempt at an earlier appeal, and the second a fresh appeal.

He was refused leave to appeal after Judge Gerard Mullaly, who heard the applications, was not swayed by the arguments put forward by Wemyss’ counsel, barrister Gordon Chisholm.

Wemyss was a myotherapist and assaults took place against patients of his at his Body Balance Myotherapy clinic on Barrabool Rd in Highton in 2018 and 2019.

Wemyss was convicted in the Geelong Magistrates Court in January 2020 of two counts of sexual assault, each against a separate victim, and one count of directing sexual activity towards a person.

After pleading guilty, Wemyss was convicted and sentenced to a 24-month community corrections order (CCO), which included 100 hours of community work.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for five years, however this was an error by the magistrate and the period should have been 15 years.

A correction was made at a hearing in June, 2020.

Wemyss launched an appeal against the sentence in April that year, however the appeal was later abandoned and struck out prior to the correction being made.

Wemyss was sentenced in July 2020 on a further charge of sexual assault by compelling sexual touching, and placed on a 17-month CCO, with another 100 hours of community work on top of the first order.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

No fresh appeal was made against the two orders until April 2024.

However, on Monday Wemyss sought to re-open his appeal against the initial order and start an appeal against the second.

Mr Chisholm argued on Wemyss’ behalf that as the sentence was changed in June 2020, the previously abandoned appeal did not count against the updated order, and thus the current appeal was fresh.

Judge Mullaly told the court he wasn’t swayed by this argument, stating it may have had merit in different circumstances, but Wemyss’ application was, in effect “an attempt to reverse or reinstate the abandoned order”.

Judge Mullaly was also not convinced Wemyss had proven any exceptional circumstances.

He concluded that, regardless, the matter did not “move the dial” or meet the threshold that would support an appeal four years after the fact.

While he did note the error made in the Magistrates Court “could have and should have been corrected then and there”, he said the mistake was not sufficient grounds for an appeal.

“In my view … (the circumstances) do not amount to unusual or exceptional,” he said.

Judge Mullaly said there was no basis for the court to reinstate the first appeal, and the test of exceptional circumstances was not satisfied for the second.

Originally published as Jonathan Wemyss loses bid to appeal sentences for sexual assault convictions