Within a year, a former police officer who encouraged a 14-year-old girl to move to France with him so they could be together will be released from prison.
Mario Didulica, 51, was sentenced to a minimum of 16 months in prison on Friday after a Victorian jury found him guilty of twice sexually assaulting a minor under the age of 16.
After delays brought on by police and prosecutors, the case was finally concluded after 13 years.
When he first met the girl in 2009, Didulica was a police officer. After assisting with a security issue at her place of employment, he started messaging her.
The youngster was upset with her parents when Didulica approached her and handed her a passport application in November of that year.
He offered to look after her and suggested that they go to France, where their relationship would be legal.
From there, their connection progressed, and Didulica twice had sex with the minor.
He gave her cell phones and SIM cards, and encouraged her to delete their messages as they exchanged more than 30,000 SMS.
Didulica warned her that if anybody learned of their relationship, he would have to resign from the Victoria Police and his conditions in jail would deteriorate.
To entice her to leave with him, he provided her two more passport applications.
He once texted her to make a proposal, and she threw the ring he had given her into the Barwon River.
Didulica was not apprehended until he was residing in Europe eight years after the crime was reported to the authorities in 2010, even though it had occurred.
He had left the police force and was travelling abroad to follow his son’s football career.
He was promised by the police in May 2011 that he wouldn’t hear from them again, but the probe dragged on.
After two INTERPOL red warnings were issued by Australian authorities seeking his arrest, he was apprehended in October 2018 as he crossed the Bosnian-Croatian border.
Didulica was imprisoned in one of the worst prisons in the world, a Bosnian jail, for 99 days.
After inmates learned through media reports that he was an ex-cop accused with child sexual charges, he continued to endure brutality there.
Despite being granted bail and deported to Victoria in January 2019, his court case was further delayed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Didulica received additional punishment as a result of his stay in the Bosnian prison and the protracted delays in the resolution of his case, according to County Court Judge Liz Gaynor.
She said, “You have received exceptionally harsh extra-curial punishment, which is punishment administered outside of a court, and you may experience psychological ramifications from it for the rest of your life.
She gave him a sentence that was “significantly less than would otherwise be the case” and could last up to three years in prison.
Prior to requesting parole, he must complete 16 months in prison after serving six months already.
Didulica will be permanently listed as a sex offender.
