By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Beaconsfield registered sex offender has been released on bail after being accused of failing to report contact with 11 early-teenagers over the past two years.
Father-of-two and self-employed concretor Mario Sanchez, 50, suffered a nose bleed during the bail hearing at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 3 July.
Among his 44 charges, Sanchez was accused with allegedly failing to report going on holiday with a young child.
He faced 33 other charges of allegedly failing to report child contact to the sex offenders’ registry and Victoria Police between 2021 and June 2024, as well as eight counts of unlicensed driving.
He also allegedly failured to report that he was driving any vehicle, and failed to disclose one of his businesses.
The court heard that an allegation of sexual assault against a child was being investigated by Queensland police.
Police had opposed the application, arguing Sanchez was an unacceptable risk to “vulnerable youth” as well as of ignoring reporting obligations and interfering with witnesses.
Sergeant Christopher Marlow told the court that Sanchez had been assessed as a high risk of reoffending.
The applicant had not previously shown a preference for the early-teen age group but had targeted victims known to him, Sgt Marlow said.
A defence lawyer argued that Sanchez had a prima facie right to bail and the reoffending risk could be reduced to an acceptable level.
Sanchez’s family depended on him as the sole bread-winner. He also helped in the extensive care of his son with cerebral palsy, the lawyer said.
A police prosecutor retorted that Sanchez would not be able to have contact with his son under a looming interim child-protection application.
Magistrate Nunzio La Rosa noted that Sanchez faced the real prospect of jail if he was found guilty of the Victorian charges.
He noted it was the “totality” of the offending – rather than the individual acts – which made it “serious” or “middle-to-upper-range”.
“Within this state he’s (allegedly) playing the proper parental guidance figure in circumstances when he was not entitled to do.”
Among a “20-page” criminal history, Sanchez was given a wholly-suspended jail term for indecent assault in 2004, had relevant priors of failing to meet his sex-offender reporting obligations and been registered as a sexual offender for life.
For about seven years, Sanchez complied with the obligations – which was in “stark contrast” to the alleged recent offending, Mr La Rosa noted.
Sanchez was “very close” to being denied bail, the magistrate said.
“If you breach bail conditions, I will have no difficulty in remanding you.”
This would put his family in great financial difficulty but “that’s a decision that you bring on them, not me”.
Sanchez, who had spent one night in remand custody, was bailed to appear at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 2 September.
He was bailed to an address outside of the family home, and required to report to police three times a week.
As part of his bail, Sanchez must not be within five metres of any children under 15 unless permitted by Child Protection authorities.
