A former champion boxer who once went toe-to-toe with Anthony Mundine has been jailed for at least a year and a half over the sexual assault of a drunk teenage girl who was passed out on a bed.
Marc Bargero was on Friday afternoon led away in handcuffs inside Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court after he was jailed over the June 2020 assault.
He fought the allegations at trial but was found guilty of performing an oral sex act on the then 15-year-old and kissing her stomach.
He was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a person under 16 years and intentionally sexually touching a child, and was facing a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail.
The incident occurred on Sydney’s northern beaches when the victim went to her friend’s mother’s house, where Bargero was drinking.
At some point during the night, the victim, who was drinking alcohol, felt sick and fell asleep on the floor.
Bargero carried the girl upstairs, noticing she was “comatose” and the house was becoming “rowdy”.
The court heard that he had performed the acts in an attempt to relive his first sexual experiences in which he would get under the table and “sniff” a woman.
The victim reported waking up feeling “paralysed” with her underwear pulled down and Bargero kneeling down at her feet.
The court heard that Bargero had kissed the victim’s stomach and performed an oral sex act on her which lasted about three seconds.
The girl woke in shock, pulled up her pants and fled downstairs, crying and saying: “I just woke up and he was just eating me out.”
“The disparity in their ages was substantial,” Judge Gartelmann said during sentencing proceedings on Friday afternoon.
“This made her more vulnerable.
“She was intoxicated at the time; this made her more vulnerable. He knew this. This was the reason he took her to the room. He took advantage of this in committing the offences.”
Police were called to the house after the girl raised the alarm.
The court heard he had denied the offences but admitted to officers he may not have been able to remember what had happened because he was drunk at the time.
Judge Gartelmann said the offence was only brief, but that was only because the victim woke up.
“There was no threat or coercion, but there was no need as she was asleep.”
Judge Gartelmann found there was no other option than for him to be sentenced to full-time imprisonment.
Bargero was sentenced to three years in prison, with a non-parole period of one year and six months.
He will be eligible for release in February 2024.
In a professional career spanning 1994 to 2010, Bargero had 42 wins from 61 fights.
Nicknamed “Working Class Man”, Bargero collected the Australian light heavyweight, Australian middleweight and Asia Pacific light heavyweight titles, with the highlight of his career being a 2001 bout with Anthony Mundine.
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