Cult rapist loses appeal

The Sydney Morning Herald
June 13, 2008

A self-styled seer and sect leader who sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl he claimed as his "mystical bride" on divine instructions from the Virgin Mary has lost a High Court appeal.
William Kamm, known to his followers as the "Little Pebble", was jailed in 2005 for at least three-and-a-half years for raping and assaulting the teenager in 1993.
Kamm, 57, claims he can communicate with the Virgin Mary, and established a commune for his believers, called the Order of St Charbel, at Cambewarra, on the NSW south coast.
He says he is the messiah of a new holy era, and will choose 12 queens and 72 princesses to help propagate an "immaculate race".
His victim was selected for "mystical marriage" as one of his dozen queens, and over a four-month period he sexually abused her.
Kamm unsuccessfully appealed against his conviction in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA).
His lawyer, Gabriel Wendler, argued his case today in the High Court before Justices Dyson Heydon and Susan Kiefel.
Mr Wendler said an amendment to one of the charges, made on the ninth day of the trial, constituted such a breach of judicial regulations that it resulted in a miscarriage of justice.
"There's been a significant and fundamental failure of criminal procedure by which the jury was allowed to be exposed to a large body of evidence which was not properly before them," Mr Wendler said.
He also claimed the jury had exhibited undue prejudice against one of the witnesses when it passed a note to the judge saying that a number of jurors had seen "a member from the public gallery coaching (a) witness".
"That is, mouthing the words that were then spoken by the witness," the note read.
Kamm's legal team applied to have the jury discharged after the note incident, but the judge declined, and instead gave strong directions about the matter in remarks two days later.
Mr Wendler submitted that there were real questions about whether the trial could have been fair if it proceeded on that basis.
The High Court found the CCA had not erred in rejecting Kamm's appeal, and dismissed his application for special leave to reopen his case.
Kamm has also been convicted of abusing another of his young female followers, a conviction he is also understood to be appealing.
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