GRAPHIC WARNING
A fake TV executive who used selfies with singers Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Jack Vidgen to con people has been sentenced to two years jail after making hundreds of harassing phone calls, telling one mother he would “rape her daughter and cut her into pieces”.
Gerard Cecil Vamadevan, 56, was sentenced in the NSW District Court on Monday after previously pleading guilty to one count of using a false identification to commit fraud and multiple counts of using a carriage service to harass.
The charges involved 19 separate victims between January 1, 2018 and January 22, 2022.
The court heard how multiple victims first met Vamadevan after he pretended to be “a talent scout for Channel 7” or an “agent for actors” before sharing their number.
Channel 7 has previously confirmed they have no affiliation with Vamadevan.
Vamadevan would then later make several anonymous “degrading, vulgar and sexually explicit” phone calls to them, telling multiple victims he was going to “rape” them.
One of the victims contacted police after she began receiving calls from Vamadevan, who had found her number on an online profile she had made for her daughter, who was an aspiring singer.
Between September 2020 and January 2021, Vamadevan made multiple “highly sexualised” anonymous calls to the victim using the first name of her daughter, saying the girl was a “sl*t” and a “dirty bitch”.
On another occasion, Vamadevan had coffee in Sydney’s south with one of the victims who he messaged on Facebook, telling her he was a talent scout. He showed her photos of him with multiple celebrities before later calling her and telling her she was “an ugly faced bitch”.
Vamadevan’s social media profiles are filled with photos of Australian celebrities. business leaders and politicians, including the likes of Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Jack Vidgen, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey.
The people photographed with Vamadevan have been approached for comment, however, there is no suggestion they had any knowledge of or involvement in his offending behaviour.
The court also heard on January 20, 2022, Vamadevan made a phone call to another victim, saying he was going to sexually assault her and her daughter before cutting the girl up “into pieces”.
Vamadevan was charged after multiple of the calls were intercepted by police.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Paul McGuire SC said the fact Vamadevan would use the first names of his victims during the calls added to the menacing nature of the offending.
“It was persistent, pervasive, offensive, harassing, menacing and cowardly,” he said during his sentencing.
“Women are entitled to go about their lives without fear of being harassed and sexually intimidated by men, particularly one hiding behind the anonymity of mobile telephone calls.”
Judge McGuire also said Vamadevan had failed to change his ways after he was charged in 2019 for harassing the family of a teen with whom he approached at a fast food outlet and told her he could make her “a star”.
“He did not learn his lesson when dealt with by the local court,” Judge McGuire said.
The court heard how Vamadevan had written an apology letter in February, saying he was “truly sorry” for his actions and words. He blamed his actions on a “long history of alcohol dependence” and said he often made the calls after drinking “a bottle of scotch”.
However, Judge McGuire said he did not accept Vamadevan was “inebriated” during all the offending, as he sometimes met the victims face-to-face.
The court heard how Vamadevan suffered from PTSD and had fled Sri Lanka at age 13 with his family to Australia due to the civil war.
He then completed a double degree of computer science and arts at the University of Wollongong, working at Telstra for 15 years before becoming the Head of Development at UNICEF.
He was hired in June 2023 by commercial company Australian Rain Technologies.
Judge McGuire also noted how Vamadevan had an 18-year-old daughter and a wife, who was “standing by him”, saying she was aware of her husband’s drinking since the early days of their marriage.
He also noted Vamadevan was the sole income earner for the family.
He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, however, can be released after one year and three months on good behaviour. His prison sentence was backdated after spending 29 days in custody after his arrest.
He will be eligible for release on June 30, 2025.