Ex-Liberal MP disputes boy's age in toilet 'hook-up'

Explicit images did not reveal a teen's true age before they kissed and had sex in a communal car park bathroom, a former Liberal MP has testified.

Rory Amon, 36, returned to the witness box on Monday to defend a slew of child sex charges relating to the teen in 2017.

The boy, who was 13 years old at the time, met the future politician through a gay dating app before the alleged rape and sexual abuse took place.

Amon says he drove to the teen's Sydney apartment on July 22, 2017, believing the youth was aged 17.

This claim was tested under sometimes-heated questioning by crown prosecutor Meaghan Fleeton on Monday.

"He told you, in fact, he was 15 and he told you possibly his real age even later?" she asked.

"No," Amon replied.

He denied photographs, sometimes explicit, sent by the teen on Snapchat showed his true age.

Amon admitted using fake names on Grindr and to register the phone he installed the gay dating app on.

The names were there to prevent his sexuality coming out, derailing his political career and affecting his private life, he told the NSW Supreme Court jury.

"You would agree that private life involved secretly having sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old," Ms Fleeton asked.

"No," he responded.

He rebuffed crown suggestions he had tailored his evidence.

Amon claimed to remember talking about ages while being vague around other aspects of the alleged meet-ups, Ms Fleeton said

The complainant - who can't legally be named - says he first chatted to Amon on another hook-up website, Squirt.

The former MP said he agreed to meet the boy outside a Sydney unit complex before being led to the underground car park's bathroom.

He was hazy on the details about what happened next but said he likely would have asked for a kiss.

"My usual approach would be to ask someone if I could kiss them before I kissed them," he said.

His barrister, Matthew Johnston SC, repeated evidence the now 22-year-old complainant gave earlier in the trial about what happened between the pair.

The man said Amon had guided his hand to his genitals before they went on to have oral sex.

"I don't dispute that," the former MP said on Monday.

However, Amon denied allegations he visited the teen's home a second time where the then-boy says further sexual acts took place.

On this occasion, Amon allegedly brought a towel which he placed on the floor of the bathroom.

At the time of contacting the youth, Amon was working full-time for the federal MP for Mackellar, Jason Falinski.

He would go on to serve two terms on the Northern Beaches Council before being elected as the Liberal MP for the state seat of Pittwater in 2023.

In 2022, he reconnected with the alleged victim on Grindr, sending him a number of messages including a photograph of himself wearing volunteer firefighter attire.

The former MP has pleaded not guilty to 10 charges including five counts of having sexual intercourse with a child and two counts of attempted sexual intercourse with a child.

He also denies indecent assault charges.

The trial continues.

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