By Belinda Nolan
A SUNSHINE man who molested three children in less than a week could be released to serve his sentence in the community.
Sivakumar Chidanbaram will be assessed for a community-based order after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting three girls aged between 5 and 10 years old during a series of sex attacks in the West last year.
The sex offender also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography after more than 50 images, including graphic depictions of child rape, were discovered on his laptop computer.
Chidanbaram admitted to inappropriately touching the girls aged 5, 7 and 10, after meeting them through religious groups.
He assaulted two sisters in September during lunch at a pastor’s home, asking them to sit on his lap before inappropriately touching them.
Less than a week later, Chidanbaram molested another victim, after meeting her and her mother on a bus trip.
The computer programmer offered to look after the five-year-old girl while her mother shopped at Highpoint Shopping Centre.
He took her to his home and inappropriately touched her during the journey.
Police later found the girl in Chidanbaram’s bed.
A devout Hindu, the 40-year-old appeared in the Victorian County Court last Thursday, arriving in the dock with a shaved head.
A psychiatrist’s report tendered to the court estimated Chidanbaram remained a “moderate risk” to the community.
Crown prosecutor Helen Fatouros said despite pleading guilty, Chidanbaram had shown no remorse or true understanding of his crimes.
The court heard that while admitting the attacks, Chidanbaram made excuses for them, claiming the molestations were a “misunderstanding.”
But defence counsel David Drake told Judge Damian Murphy his client was ashamed by his crimes and had difficulty looking others in the eye.
Ms Fatouros said Chidanbaram had kept 54 images of child pornography in hidden files on his computer and asked that his laptop be forfeited to the Crown.
Judge Murphy ordered Chidanbaram to be assessed for a community-based order.
He will be sentenced on Thursday.
