A Buddhist monk who sexually abused six younger ladies at his Melbourne temple has been jailed for 13 years and two months, with a decide calling his crimes a “betrayal” of belief.
The monk’s victims seemed on with disgust as the person who violated them smiled and waved at supporters in court docket shortly after the sentence was handed down.
Naotunne Vijitha, 71, was the chief monk on the Dhamma Sarana temple in Melbourne’s south-east, a place that earned him huge respect among the many Sri Lankan Buddhist group.
Choose Pardeep Tiwana described Vijitha as a person who had “a darkish and disturbing aspect”.
“You preyed on younger, harmless ladies on your personal perverse sexual gratification,” he mentioned.
The monk should serve a minimal of 9 years and 4 months earlier than turning into eligible for parole.
Throughout a brief break after the sentence was handed Vijitha beamed at supporters, a few of whom approached the court docket dock and bowed in his route.
When indignant victims voiced their displeasure, court docket safety guards stopped the monk from chatting with others.
“That is ridiculous,” one sufferer mentioned out loud.
Vijitha, whose saffron-coloured robes had been changed with a gray jail tracksuit, was discovered responsible at trial final 12 months of 9 counts of sexual penetration of a kid and eight counts of committing an indecent act with a toddler.
His victims had been younger ladies who attended the temple in Springvale and Keysborough between 1994 and 2002.
Vijitha repeatedly lured the victims into his dwelling quarters and sexually abused them, the court docket heard, usually whereas their unknowing dad and mom had been in close by rooms.
The monk was charged in 2023 after the ladies got here ahead to police.
Choose Tiwana mentioned the monk’s crimes had haunted his victims for many years, leaving them burdened by disgrace and concern.
“To outlive, I needed to educate myself to not really feel,” one sufferer mentioned.
In a sufferer affect assertion, the lady detailed how the sight of saffron robes or the sounds of monks chanting brought about her psychological misery.
Choose Tiwana mentioned every sufferer who testified on the trial was “truthful, clever and articulate”.
Vijitha pleaded not responsible on the trial, along with his legal professionals arguing that the incidents didn’t occur and he didn’t keep in mind a number of the complainants.
He was born in Sri Lanka and have become ordained as a monk at 15, the court docket heard.
Vijitha later moved to Sweden and obtained citizenship, earlier than relocating to Melbourne in 1994 to tackle the chief monk place on the Dhamma Sarana temple.
Vijitha faces the prospect of deportation on the finish of his sentence and was prepared to return to Sweden, the court docket heard.
It was there he gained “profound respect” from the temple’s devotees, Choose Tiwana mentioned, a lot so that oldsters had “no issues” about youngsters being left alone in his firm.
“You betrayed this immense belief in essentially the most sudden and egregious method,” he mentioned.
Vijitha’s legal professionals beforehand submitted he was unwell and suffered from a spread of circumstances, together with dementia.
(ABC Information)
