WARNING: Graphic
Ex-Australian boxing champion Marc Bargero has been found guilty of raping a Sydney schoolgirl while she slept.
Bargero confessed to “sniffing” the girl in a drunken attempt to relive a sexual memory from his youth; however, the NSW District Court was told on Thursday that he could not remember licking the 15-year-old’s vagina.
After pleading not guilty to charges of sexual intercourse without consent and intentional sexual touching, Bargero, 53, faced a judge-alone trial.
The court was told that Bargero was visiting a woman at her home on Sydney’s northern beaches when the girl arrived with a group of other youths known to the woman.
When the girl became unwell and passed out after drinking alcohol, Bargero took her upstairs and placed her on a bed.
After leaving the room, the court was told that he returned a short time later, moved the girl towards the edge of the bed, pulled her pants down, got on his knees, kissed her stomach and licked her vagina.
The girl woke and fled downstairs, crying and saying: “I just woke up and he was just eating me out.”
In an interview with police, the court was told that Bargero said he wanted to relive his first sexual experience where he would get under a table and “sniff” an older woman.
“I had my head down there but I was just sniffin it,” Bargero told police.
“I got carried away in the moment, I got a bit too drunk.”
When asked if he touched the girl’s vagina, Bargero said: “I don’t think so … I just sniffed.”
In conversations with friends after the rape, the court was told that Bargero said “something snapped” in his head.
“I f**ked up big time,” Bargero told one friend.
“On my mother’s grave … it was just the sniffing of the vagina, there’s none of this licking,” he told another friend.
Judge Tim Gartelmann said the girl gave “compelling” evidence during the trial as she recounted unwanted intimate events to strangers.
“She appeared calm, quiet and sad,” he said.
“She gave her account in plain and simple terms. She did not seek to provide a narrative but responded to questions.
“There is no basis to conclude that the complainant’s intoxication with alcohol resulted in a false memory of the perception of feeling the accused kiss her belly and lick her vagina.”
Judge Gartelmann said Bargero expressed shame and regret in his interview with police after he admitted to engaging in sexual activity with the girl.
“His intoxication was such that he acknowledged he did not remember all he did,” Judge Gartelmann told the court.
“His account leaves open that he may have done the act but not remember it.
“The accused acknowledged in interview that he did not consider consent at the time. He knew she did not consent.”
Bargero was found guilty of sexual intercourse without consent and intentionally sexually touching the girl.
In his prime Bargero was one of Australia’s most talented fighters who took on the likes of Anthony Mundine in domestic and international venues.
Nickxjmtzywnamed “Working Class Man”, Bargero received numerous accolades, including the Australian light heavyweight, Australian middleweight and Asia Pacific light heavyweight titles.
He is based on the NSW Central Coast where he owns a gym and runs a concreting business.
Despite the guilty verdict, Bargero was granted bail and will return to court for sentencing in June.
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