James Robert Sbresni: Snapchat rapist fined $2500 for lying to authorities to get through WA lockdown borders

A man jailed for five-and-a-half years after raping a 14-year old Geraldton girl has been handed a $2500 fine for lying to get past lockdown borders, on the way to meet his victim. James Robert Sbresni had previously pleaded guilty to giving false or misleading information, after lying to police to enter WA in 2021 without a valid G2G pass. Sbresni had been grooming his victim, a Geraldton teenager, from Victoria via Snapchat before arriving in Perth on May 28, 2021. Upon arrival at Perth Domestic Airport, Sbresni told police he was a WA resident returning from Victoria who planned to live with family in Geraldton, when in reality he intended to find his victim. Sbresni was on bail in Victoria on charges related to grooming a child for sex when he travelled to WA. Following a stay in quarantine in Perth, Sbresni travelled to Geraldton via bus where he committed his sickening crimes, raping the girl in bushland at Seal Rock and then at the abandoned Batavia Motor Inne. Magistrate Angus Hockton said Sbresni had “put many people at risk” by breaching WA’s restrictions. “You were dishonest, not only in relations to one matter but to many,” he said. Sbresni had pleaded guilty at the earliest stage, reducing the severity of his punishment to a fine of $2500 from a maximum of $50,000. Sbresni was sentenced on Friday in Perth District Court for his other crimes, four counts of rape and one each of indecent dealing of a child and exposing a child to indecent matter. His victim told the court how Sbresni threatened her with a knife. “When I said ‘no’, he didn’t care. I didn’t scream as the knife was beside him, he eventually stopped,” she said. Judge Alan Troy said the risk of Sbresni reoffending was high, and that there was a brazenness to his actions. “He consciously left Victoria where he was on bail for other allegations. He acted purely to satisfy his sexual gratification,” Judge Troy said.