A man has been charged with the abuse of six young girls, aged between four and twelve, within his Buddhist temple living quarters, a prayer room, and during Sunday school sessions.
According to prosecutors, the abuse began when Vijitha relocated to Melbourne from another country in 1994 to assume the role of head monk at the Dhamma Sarana Buddhist temple located in Springvale.
The misconduct reportedly continued after the temple’s relocation to Keysborough in 2000.
The victims, now adults, provided testimonies during the trial, supported by evidence from their family members and friends.
Vijitha’s defense attorney, Nick Papas KC, urged the jury to remain impartial and consider that the allegations stemmed from incidents occurring 25 to 30 years ago, which could affect their reliability and accuracy.
Despite these appeals, the jury deemed most of the testimonies credible and, after a week of deliberations, delivered guilty verdicts on 17 out of 19 charges.
They were deadlocked on a single charge of indecent act with a child aged under 16 so Judge Pardeep Tiwana advised them to continue deliberating.
They returned a majority not-guilty verdict on that remaining charge this morning.
Vijitha was also acquitted of a separate offence of indecent act with a child aged under 16.
After the jury left the room, Judge Tiwana told Papas he had believed the case against Vijitha was strong and the witnesses had been compelling.
He remanded Vijitha into custody ahead of a pre-sentence hearing in December, where a number of victim impact statements are expected to be read to the court.
