Latest news with #RichardSackelariou
The Advertiser
30-05-2025
- The Advertiser
'Sugar daddy' plastic surgeon jailed for abusing girls
A 'sugar daddy' plastic surgeon who preyed on girls as young as 13 for sex has been jailed for six years. Richard Sackelariou, 70, became obsessed with young girls after joining sugar daddy websites and never stopped wanting to have sex with them even when told their real ages, Judge Timothy Gartelmann said on Friday. The judge told Newcastle District Court victim impact statements from the girls showed they still suffered fear and anxiety over what Sackelariou had done to them. Two of the girls had been at school when Sackelariou asked them to send explicit photos to him in return for money. Sackelariou asked one girl, 14, if she was on birth control after they had sex and when she said no, he offered to give her $100 to buy a morning-after pill. He paid one girl, aged 15, more than $22,000 over about a year for sex and explicit photos and videos. Another girl, 14, was paid about $7600. "They (the victims) have lost their sense of trust in others and their self-confidence. They continue to suffer with guilt and shame over it," Judge Gartelmann said when jailing Sackelariou for six years with a minimum of four years. "The harm to all the victims must be recognised in sentencing the offender. "Offences involving sexual exploitation of children invariably cause them harm. This makes them inherently serious." The judge said the six victims, aged between 13 and 15, had been vulnerable to exploitation and while there was no evidence Sackelariou used force or coercion against any unwilling victim, this did not excuse his crimes. Sackelariou, who had practices in Sydney and Melbourne and was married with two children, paid the girls he had mostly met through the sugar daddy sites as well as on social media, including SnapChat, to join him in hotel rooms in Sydney, Newcastle and Queensland, between September 2021 and October 2022. He pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including causing a child aged between 14 and 18 to do an act of prostitution, using a carriage service to procure someone under the age of 16 for sexual activity, possessing child abuse material and causing a child aged 14 or over to make child abuse material. Sackelariou began using sugar daddy websites after major surgery in 2017 meant he had to wear a colostomy bag for five years. His wife no longer wanted to have sex with him. Judge Gartelmann accepted Sackelariou was ashamed and embarrassed by his offending and his wife had since divorced him and his two sons refused to speak to him. The judge believed there was little chance of Sackelariou re-offending given his previous good character. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25) A 'sugar daddy' plastic surgeon who preyed on girls as young as 13 for sex has been jailed for six years. Richard Sackelariou, 70, became obsessed with young girls after joining sugar daddy websites and never stopped wanting to have sex with them even when told their real ages, Judge Timothy Gartelmann said on Friday. The judge told Newcastle District Court victim impact statements from the girls showed they still suffered fear and anxiety over what Sackelariou had done to them. Two of the girls had been at school when Sackelariou asked them to send explicit photos to him in return for money. Sackelariou asked one girl, 14, if she was on birth control after they had sex and when she said no, he offered to give her $100 to buy a morning-after pill. He paid one girl, aged 15, more than $22,000 over about a year for sex and explicit photos and videos. Another girl, 14, was paid about $7600. "They (the victims) have lost their sense of trust in others and their self-confidence. They continue to suffer with guilt and shame over it," Judge Gartelmann said when jailing Sackelariou for six years with a minimum of four years. "The harm to all the victims must be recognised in sentencing the offender. "Offences involving sexual exploitation of children invariably cause them harm. This makes them inherently serious." The judge said the six victims, aged between 13 and 15, had been vulnerable to exploitation and while there was no evidence Sackelariou used force or coercion against any unwilling victim, this did not excuse his crimes. Sackelariou, who had practices in Sydney and Melbourne and was married with two children, paid the girls he had mostly met through the sugar daddy sites as well as on social media, including SnapChat, to join him in hotel rooms in Sydney, Newcastle and Queensland, between September 2021 and October 2022. He pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including causing a child aged between 14 and 18 to do an act of prostitution, using a carriage service to procure someone under the age of 16 for sexual activity, possessing child abuse material and causing a child aged 14 or over to make child abuse material. Sackelariou began using sugar daddy websites after major surgery in 2017 meant he had to wear a colostomy bag for five years. His wife no longer wanted to have sex with him. Judge Gartelmann accepted Sackelariou was ashamed and embarrassed by his offending and his wife had since divorced him and his two sons refused to speak to him. The judge believed there was little chance of Sackelariou re-offending given his previous good character. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25) A 'sugar daddy' plastic surgeon who preyed on girls as young as 13 for sex has been jailed for six years. Richard Sackelariou, 70, became obsessed with young girls after joining sugar daddy websites and never stopped wanting to have sex with them even when told their real ages, Judge Timothy Gartelmann said on Friday. The judge told Newcastle District Court victim impact statements from the girls showed they still suffered fear and anxiety over what Sackelariou had done to them. Two of the girls had been at school when Sackelariou asked them to send explicit photos to him in return for money. Sackelariou asked one girl, 14, if she was on birth control after they had sex and when she said no, he offered to give her $100 to buy a morning-after pill. He paid one girl, aged 15, more than $22,000 over about a year for sex and explicit photos and videos. Another girl, 14, was paid about $7600. "They (the victims) have lost their sense of trust in others and their self-confidence. They continue to suffer with guilt and shame over it," Judge Gartelmann said when jailing Sackelariou for six years with a minimum of four years. "The harm to all the victims must be recognised in sentencing the offender. "Offences involving sexual exploitation of children invariably cause them harm. This makes them inherently serious." The judge said the six victims, aged between 13 and 15, had been vulnerable to exploitation and while there was no evidence Sackelariou used force or coercion against any unwilling victim, this did not excuse his crimes. Sackelariou, who had practices in Sydney and Melbourne and was married with two children, paid the girls he had mostly met through the sugar daddy sites as well as on social media, including SnapChat, to join him in hotel rooms in Sydney, Newcastle and Queensland, between September 2021 and October 2022. He pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including causing a child aged between 14 and 18 to do an act of prostitution, using a carriage service to procure someone under the age of 16 for sexual activity, possessing child abuse material and causing a child aged 14 or over to make child abuse material. Sackelariou began using sugar daddy websites after major surgery in 2017 meant he had to wear a colostomy bag for five years. His wife no longer wanted to have sex with him. Judge Gartelmann accepted Sackelariou was ashamed and embarrassed by his offending and his wife had since divorced him and his two sons refused to speak to him. The judge believed there was little chance of Sackelariou re-offending given his previous good character. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25) A 'sugar daddy' plastic surgeon who preyed on girls as young as 13 for sex has been jailed for six years. Richard Sackelariou, 70, became obsessed with young girls after joining sugar daddy websites and never stopped wanting to have sex with them even when told their real ages, Judge Timothy Gartelmann said on Friday. The judge told Newcastle District Court victim impact statements from the girls showed they still suffered fear and anxiety over what Sackelariou had done to them. Two of the girls had been at school when Sackelariou asked them to send explicit photos to him in return for money. Sackelariou asked one girl, 14, if she was on birth control after they had sex and when she said no, he offered to give her $100 to buy a morning-after pill. He paid one girl, aged 15, more than $22,000 over about a year for sex and explicit photos and videos. Another girl, 14, was paid about $7600. "They (the victims) have lost their sense of trust in others and their self-confidence. They continue to suffer with guilt and shame over it," Judge Gartelmann said when jailing Sackelariou for six years with a minimum of four years. "The harm to all the victims must be recognised in sentencing the offender. "Offences involving sexual exploitation of children invariably cause them harm. This makes them inherently serious." The judge said the six victims, aged between 13 and 15, had been vulnerable to exploitation and while there was no evidence Sackelariou used force or coercion against any unwilling victim, this did not excuse his crimes. Sackelariou, who had practices in Sydney and Melbourne and was married with two children, paid the girls he had mostly met through the sugar daddy sites as well as on social media, including SnapChat, to join him in hotel rooms in Sydney, Newcastle and Queensland, between September 2021 and October 2022. He pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including causing a child aged between 14 and 18 to do an act of prostitution, using a carriage service to procure someone under the age of 16 for sexual activity, possessing child abuse material and causing a child aged 14 or over to make child abuse material. Sackelariou began using sugar daddy websites after major surgery in 2017 meant he had to wear a colostomy bag for five years. His wife no longer wanted to have sex with him. Judge Gartelmann accepted Sackelariou was ashamed and embarrassed by his offending and his wife had since divorced him and his two sons refused to speak to him. The judge believed there was little chance of Sackelariou re-offending given his previous good character. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)
ABC News
30-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Prominent Sydney plastic surgeon sentenced to six years' jail for engaging in child prostitution
Prominent Sydney plastic surgeon Richard Sackelariou has been sentenced to six years in jail, with a four-year non-parole period for engaging in child prostitution. The District Court has heard Sackelariou lured six girls into hotel rooms for sex, grooming them with large sums of money. In December last year, Sackelariou, aged 70, pleaded guilty to 10 charges involving girls in Sydney, Queensland and Newcastle in 2021 and 2022. Agreed police facts tendered in Newcastle District Court showed Sackelariou met his first victim, a 15-year-old girl, at a hotel in the Sydney suburb of Chatswood. The documents said he paid her $22,000 for sex between September 2021 and September 2022. In September 2022, Sackelariou also made online contact with one of four girls from Newcastle. Agreed facts tendered to the court stated that he met the then 14-year-old at an apartment in Sydney. He paid her cash in a white envelope and said he would give her extra money for the morning-after pill. That girl's friends learnt she had met up with the doctor for sex and contacted him separately, asking to meet in Newcastle. The police facts said two hotel rooms were booked in Newcastle on October 7, 2022. Several girls turned up, aged 13 to 15. Police said he paid three Newcastle victims a total just shy of $4,000. There was also a victim in Queensland, who he started communicating with in December 2021 when she was 14. They met several times and, between their first online chat and October 2022, he paid her a total of $7,622. Sackelariou told his sentencing hearing he was "ashamed" of the offences he had committed. "I'm appalled," he said. "I created such harm and such damage." The court heard Sackelariou understood the psychological damage his victims had suffered, and said his actions also affected his now ex-wife and children. "I've shamed them, embarrassed them. My sons don't wish to talk to me," he said. "I betrayed my wife." Due to time already served, Sackelariou will be eligible for parole in November 2026. More to come.
Daily Mail
13-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Inside the dramatic downfall of 'sugar daddy' plastic surgeon who lost his career, reputation and marriage
A former leading plastic surgeon who used sugar daddy websites to contact and pay girls as young as 13 for sex has had 'a spectacular fall from grace'. Defence barrister Philip Strickland told Newcastle District Court how Richard Sackelariou, 70, had lost everything after his life changed dramatically in 2017 when he had major surgery and was required to wear a colostomy bag for five years. Mr Strickland said Sackelariou, who had practices in Sydney and Melbourne and was married with two children, started using pornography before visiting sugar daddy websites after his wife no longer wanted to have sex following the surgery. Sackelariou's initial preference on the sugar daddy sites was for women aged 18-24 but even when he knew his victims were under 18, he continued to have sex with them. He paid six girls aged between 13 to 15 he had mostly met through the sites to join him in hotel rooms in Sydney, Newcastle and Queensland, between September 2021 and October 2022. He pleaded guilty to 10 charges, including five counts of causing a child aged between 14 and 18 to do an act of prostitution, one count of using a carriage service to procure someone under the age of 16 for sexual activity and one count of causing a child aged 14 or over to make child abuse material. Sackelariou agreed to plead guilty to the ten charges after the Crown dropped 30 other charges, including eight counts of having sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14. Mr Strickland told a sentence hearing on Tuesday that Sackelariou had been well-respected in the community before his arrest. 'Family, friends, career, reputation, gone. It's a spectacular fall from grace for this man.' Sackelariou told the court he was ashamed. 'I'm appalled at that person... that I created such harm and damage,' he said. 'I interposed myself during their sexual development, corrupted their normal sexual development.' Sackelariou said statements read out in a closed court from two of his victims had been horrific for him to hear. He said his wife, who is suffering from liver cancer, had been very upset and angry with him after his arrest and had since divorced him. His two sons refused to talk to him. Questioned by prosecutor Kristy Mulley, Sackelariou admitted he never thought about how his crimes would affect his victims and their families. Ms Mulley said: 'Even when you find out these girls are under 18, you continued to pursue them.' Sackelariou replied: 'With these individuals, that is what happened. I pursued them after I learnt they weren't the age they stated they were.' Sackelariou would offer to pay the girls for naked photos before arranging to meet at various hotel rooms. He would always hand over the cash in a white envelope. He offered one 15-year-old girl from Sydney $1000 for sex but when she refused, he increased the offer to $3500 for 30 minutes and they met at the Chatswood Quest apartments. Sackelariou will be sentenced on Friday. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged five to 25) Sackeleriou will learn his fate when he is sentenced at Newcastle District Court on Friday
