Ex-NSW Police Officer Guilty of Sexually Touching Colleagues

A former police officer has been found guilty of sexually touching three colleagues without their consent before resigning from the force.

Matthew Stephen Cameron, 33, was a constable at Northern Beaches Police Area Command at the time of the alleged offences. A District Court jury found him guilty on Thursday of five counts of sexual touching without consent, and not guilty of another count of sexual touching without consent.

Charges and Verdict

The jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts of sexual touching without consent and one count of sexual assault. Each count of sexual touching carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail. Cameron was initially charged with nine counts of sexual touching without consent and one count of sexual assault against three male colleagues.

The trial, which lasted three weeks, previously heard Cameron touched his younger colleagues' genitals without their consent during or after social gatherings between December 2021 and April 2023. An official investigation into the allegations began in mid-2023. Cameron has since resigned from the NSW Police Force.

Court Background

The court heard Cameron was a constable at Northern Beaches Police Area Command (PAC) at the time, where he worked with the three alleged victims. The court heard all three complainants were probationary constables at the time of the alleged offences, and the Crown argued Cameron's position, being a more experienced officer of a higher rank, was an aggravating factor.

However, the jury found Cameron not guilty of the aggravated sexual touching charges, instead finding him guilty of the five alternate charges of sexual touching without consent.

Testimonies and Defence

The court previously heard Cameron was an openly gay man, who was acting as the gay liaison officer at the Northern Beaches PAC, while the alleged victims were heterosexual men. Defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC previously told the court her client "has a very different version of events" and maintained the sexual touching acts were "completely and quite enthusiastically consensual".

"There was no criminality in anything that took place at all," Ms Cunneen told the court. "Mr Cameron is a person of utterly unblemished character."

Cameron previously took the stand during his trial and denied the sexual assault, telling the court the allegation that he gave one of the victim's oral sex without his consent was false and the sexual act never happened.

Next Steps

He will remain free on bail until his sentencing hearing in December, while the prosecution decides whether to pursue another trial on the remaining charges.