Australia | Former Minister Milton Orkopoulos, repeat offender, gets 13 more years
«Calculated predatory and manipulative» sexual offenses against children
A former minister and repeat offender, Milton Orkopoulos, 66, sentenced to an additional 13 years in prison for drugging and raping 4 boys aged 10 to 15. While he was drugging and raping these vulnerable kids, this powerful man was married and had 3 children.
The old Labor Party member and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in New South Wales (8 million inhabitants, Sydney is the capital) appeared this 24.11 before the New South Wales court to know his sentence after being found guilty earlier in 2023 of having drugged and raped 3 boys and sexually assaulted another.
They were between 10 and 15 years old.
Orkopoulos had pleaded not guilty and continued to deny child rape.
The rapes were committed in the region of Lake Macquarie and the north coast of NSW between 1993 and 2003.
Judge Jane Culver concluded that he used his position of power in the community to groom his victims and drug them before raping them.
She sentenced him to a sentence of 20 years in prison, 13 of which are closed.
He wore a green prison tracksuit and remained impassive while listening to his sentence.
Judge Culver concluded that he had engaged in «opportunistic rape» by isolating four vulnerable boys in order to rape three and sexually assault another.
The first 3 received drugs, cigarettes and money in exchange for sexual activities, which often took place in his car or in his office.
He made one of his victims believe he could use his influence to build a skate park and manipulated him into believing he was trustworthy before raping him.
Another said he thought it was «pretty cool» to smoke cannabis with a politician, but was frightened and stunned when he was forced to perform oral sex on him.
He used to pick him up in a car, give him cannabis or heroin, then rape him. He told him not to tell anyone about it, emphasizing that no one would believe him if he did.
A third met him in his Swansea office, where he was given money and drugs and raped.
The court heard he continued to rape the boy, then prepubescent, while he cried in pain and begged him to stop.
The judge concluded that 3 of the boys had been subjected to «persistent» rapes» as part of a «general pattern of sexual exploitation against teenage males».
The judge observed his lack of remorse.
The boys said their entire lives had been disrupted by the rapes, causing them to become addicted to drugs and mentally ill.
One boy said «anger ruled his life» and spent most of his life in prison due to rape by ex-minister when he was 11.
The third boy was 10 years old and a «disturbed child» when Orkopoulos drugged and raped him several times. Now he suffers from anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I started to think that I was disgusting, that I was worthless and continued to have this shame inside me”
The judge recalled that Orkopoulos had already been imprisoned in 2008 for 13 years and 8 months for raping 3 other young boys during the «same long period».
“He continued to commit offenses after the rapes for which we are trying him”
Indeed, Orkopoulos was conditionally released in December 2019 after serving 11 ½ years, but was returned to prison months later and charged with these offenses.
The court heard he was seriously assaulted and sent to hospital by a fellow inmate in June 2023, probably because he is a paedo.
He will be 76 years old when he is first eligible for parole on June 13, 2033.