Just when you think you have heard it all whilst practicing criminal law for over 15 years, a story pops up to convince you otherwise.

Now some people may, although I am sure most people would not, realise that you don’t actually have to strike someone, to be guilty of assaulting them. Merely placing them in fear of being struck by way of your actions, may result in an assault conviction.

However, I am sure virtually no member of the general public outside of the legal fraternity, nor many within it, would be aware that you can sexually assault someone, without touching them.

It may sound impossible but a self professed holy man, Mr Tony Golossian, was convicted in the NSW District Court last week with sexually assaulting a woman, without laying a hand on her.

The man used his position as some sort of religious mentor to the woman, to convince her that she had to participate in a sexual threesome, otherwise terrible things would happen to both her and her family including contracting cancer. Unless she followed the instructions explicitly, instructions supposedly forwarded directly from angels, this curse would take her and her family.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald report, the Crown used an unusual legal principle to establish their case. “The ‘doctrine of innocent agency’ allows someone to be held liable for offences they facilitated, procured or encouraged through an unwitting participant, even if they did not commit the crime themselves”.

This 24 year old, married woman, fearing the curse would strike down her family and herself if she did not follow Mr Golossian’s instructions, arranged and participated in a threesome with a work colleague and a former partner of the work colleague.

The other two participants in the threesome were not charged in relation to their participation.

Mr Golossian and his co-accused, who were also charged with physically sexually assaulting this woman and another in almost identical circumstances, await sentencing.

As I said earlier, just when you thought you had heard it all………………