Tim Mathieson has been convicted for sexually assaulting a woman sleeping in her own home.
Pleading guilty to one count of sexual assault in a Melbourne court on Thursday, Mathieson has been fined $7,000 and avoided jail time for the offense.
The 67-year-old admitted to sucking on the female victim’s nipple and latching onto her breast after she tried to push him away– an act that left the woman feeling so unsafe and violated that she moved interstate within the weeks following.
“A serious example of sexual assault,” is what Magistrate Belinda Franjic called the offense, adding that it was “particularly egregious” considering it occurred in the victim’s own home as they were “vulnerable by virtue of being asleep”.
“When the victim woke up and pushed him away, he kept trying to get his mouth back on her breast,” said Franjic. “That aggravates the seriousness of the offending in my view”.
In March last year, the woman invited Mathieson to her apartment where the pair drank wine and ate a meal before watching a Whitney Houston documentary. The court heard that the woman fell asleep on the couch before waking up to him sucking her nipple and cupping her right breast. When she told him “don’t do that”, he continued to assault her.
According to court documents, Mathieson denied the sexual assault allegation when interviewed by police. However, he agreed to the version of events read out by the prosecutor when in court.
In her victim impact statement read to the court, the woman– who is three decades younger than Mathieson– said the assault resulted in her suffering anxiety, depression and bulimia.
“I considered the offender to be my friend and this completely confused and put my reality into question,” said the woman.
“I was in a state of confusion, anger and feeling completely disrespected.”
Mathieson’s lawyer has said “he’s sorry for the impact of the offending”.
The prosecutor has reported the female victim moved to New South Wales after the assault and has now relocated overseas to have familial support and to “feel safer”.
The maximum penalty for Mathieson’s offence is 10 years jail but the magistrate took into consideration that this is his first criminal record and that he has a long history of charitable and philanthropic work. She also considered Mathieson’s early guilty plea, which spared the victim from having to testify at a trial.
A former hairdresser, Mathieson first entered the public spotlight when he began dating then-Labor deputy leader Julia Gillard in 2006. Australia knew him as “First Bloke” when he moved into the Lodge as Gillard became Prime Minister in 2010.
Mathieson committed his sexual assault offense just weeks before Gillard publicly confirmed the pair had split.
Lawyers have confirmed he’s currently enrolled in a men’s behavioural program due to start early next year.