Bankstown man Vasilious “Bill” Kafataris, 57, has been sentenced to two years in jail after being found guilty of sexually grooming a child following a retrial in the NSW District Court.
Kafataris was placed on the NSW Child Protection Register after a jury last month convicted him of grooming a girl for unlawful sexual activity between January and April 2014.
He had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of sexually touching a person aged between 17 and 18 under his special care, after kissing a girl outside his apartment and later at Bankstown train station.
Judge Phillip Mahony rejected Kafataris’ claims that the incident was merely a friendly kiss, saying it was “not just a kiss hello and goodbye.”
Kafataris, a former high school teacher, was stood down by the NSW Education Department in 2021 and permanently banned from teaching. He has since been working part-time as a plumber.
The court heard he endured a lonely childhood and recent personal losses, but Judge Mahony found his offences serious and deliberate. Kafataris has already served six months in custody, which he described as “the worst period of my life.”
He will serve a non-parole period of 15 months, expiring on April 8, 2027, and received an additional 11-month community correction order for the sexual touching offences.
Source: Daily Telegraph.
