A Sri Lankan immigrant doctor formed his own religious cult in the suburbs of Melbourne and raped two of his followers’ prepubescent children.
Dr Pradeep Dissanayake, 52, pleaded guilty to five charges of sexual penetration of a child under 16 years, two of sexual assault of a child under 16 years, one of grooming for sexual conduct with a child under the age of 16 years, two of intentionally damaging property, and one of common law assault.
In April 2023 he was sentenced to eight years in jail with a five-year non-parole period in the County Court of Victoria, but the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed the sentence, and the Court of Appeal on December 18 increased it to 10 years and 10 months, with an eight-year non-parole period.
The appeals court heard that Dissanayake, who founded the Melbourne Medical Skin Clinic, was allowed to come to Australia in 2006 and in 2015 developed a strong interest in Buddhism and started preaching a mixture of Buddhism and Christianity to families, eventually forming a sect with him as its leader.
Both of his victims were 12-year-old girls and children of members of the sect, who were forced to kneel when their paedophile leader entered their homes, give him money for being “God”, and send him hourly messages of praise.
Followers were also required to ask him for permission to leave their homes and shower, and follow strict daily timetables. Men and women were required to live separately, and were forced to relinquish the parenting of their biological children and parent their co-habitants’ children instead.
Dissanayake raped his first victim in his car after taking her to Bunnings while members of the cult were painting a property in Melton to prepare it for a sale in December 2021. Later that month he took her to a hotel and raped her again, and then raped her three more times at hotels between then and March 2022.
In March 2022 he raped her again in his car, and then took her to his medical clinic where he asked if she had had her first period yet. When she said she had not, he told her this meant he did not need to use a condom.
In May 2021 he took his second victim to Bunnings before driving to a quiet street and kissing her in the back seat. A week later he did the same. He then took her to a motel, promising to buy her a mobile phone if she came with him, and undressed her, but she began to cry.
In March 2022 he again booked a hotel room, took the second victim there, and sexually assaulted her while she attempted to push him away. He later took her phone away and would not let her eat.
After he was arrested and charged Dissanayake voluntarily attended and paid for 10 therapy sessions with clinical and forensic psychologist Dr Angela Sorotos, a clinical and forensic psychologist, who found he had a “narcissistic personality structure” and “reported the respondent’s professed desire to ‘fix’ his victims by showing them love”.
“Dr Sorotos reported that the respondent engaged in several problematic ‘sexual scripts’, including the belief that ‘sexual happiness is the number one marker of happiness overall’, that ‘whatever [he] did, [he] did with love’, and that ‘if it was distressing for [the first complainant], she would have told [him]’,” the court found.
He was also assessed by Dr Tiffany Lewis, a forensic psychologist, who reported that he claimed that “his attention and sexual favour was ‘a reward for hard work and devotion’, as the complainants were the most devout members of his religious group. The respondent also reported that when he kissed the second complainant it was out of thanks, as opposed to any sexual intent”.
The original sentencing judge decided to give Dissanayake sentences that were less than the standard, after accepting that he has expressed “genuine” remorse.
“My sentences for the standard sentence offences in this case are less than the standard sentence in each instance. They are less because of the combination of factors including the timing and effect of your guilty pleas, your prospects of rehabilitation and the effect of your offending upon the complainants and their families and upon yourself through your career and the alienation of your immediate family,” Judge Lauritsen said in sentencing.
But the Court of Appeal judges said Dissanayake’s expressions of remorse, which he made on the day of sentencing, were “too little too late”, and ruled that the sentences were less than standard despite the offending being well above the middle of the range of seriousness for offending of that kind.
“Apart from the significant age difference between the respondent and the complainants and the obvious power imbalance between him and them, the respondent was able to emotionally manipulate them due to his godlike status as the leader of the sect,” the judges found.
“The proposition advanced by the respondent to the psychologists that he raped and assaulted these young girls in order to teach them how to ‘respect the lord’ and that he did not derive any sexual satisfaction from it is both delusional and chilling.
“The complainants were vulnerable young girls whose families were in the thrall of the respondent. He used his position and influence to facilitate access to the complainants and exert influence over them to commit the crimes. The offending was predatory offending of a disgusting and shameless kind.”
Dissanayake’s licence to practice medicine was suspended in April 2022 after he was charged.
He will be on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life, but is unlikely to be deported because he was given Australian citizenship.
