Taipan:
Cult leader James Salerno wins retrial over alleged sexual abuse of teenage member
ABC.net.au
5 June 2020
Source
The leader of a cult that was once based in the Adelaide Hills has won an appeal and will face a second trial over allegations he sexually abused a teenage member of the group.
Key points:
- James Salerno was convicted and sentenced last year for abusing a girl in his cult
- He has won an appeal for a retrial
- The cult lived in a mansion in the Adelaide Hills
| |
|
|
abusing the girl over a two-and-a-half-year period
|
|
|
| |
James Gino Salerno was last year sentenced to 10 years' jail with a non-parole period of eight years for abusing the girl over a two-and-a-half-year period while the cult resided at a mansion at Aldgate.
He was found guilty at trial of eight counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a child.
But the 73-year-old - known as Taipan by his followers - appealed against his conviction in the Court of Criminal Appeal, which today overturned his conviction and ordered a retrial.
He was then released on bail.
yet to be made public
The reasons for allowing Salerno's appeal are yet to be made public.
The historic Albury Park mansion which the cult lived in from 2001 to 2008.
The cult lived in the historic Arbury Park mansion in Aldgate from 2001 until 2008.(ABC News)
After the sentence was handed down, the victim - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - told the ABC she felt "justice has been served".
During the trial, the court heard Salerno operated the cult from a historic mansion at Aldgate in the Adelaide Hills, before the group relocated to Queensland and later to Western Australia.
The group was based around Salerno's desire to create "the ideal human environment".
The mansion was the childhood home of former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer.
Disclaimer:This news page is about groups, organizations or movements, which may have been called "cults" and/or "cult-like" in some way, shape or form. But not all groups called either "cults" or "cult-like" are harmful. Instead, they may be benign and generally defined as simply people intensely devoted to a person, place or thing. Therefore, the discussion or mention of a group, organization or person on this page, is not necessarily meant pejoratively. Readers are encouraged to read widely on a topic before forming an opinion. Never accept information from a single source at face value. This website only holds a small amount of information and should not be relied on as a complete source. For example, if you find older information, this should be weighed up against newer information as circumstances can change.
| 