Dressed in all white with her hands shaking, Tom Silvagni’s rape victim stood at a lectern in the County Court to tell her story publicly for the first time.
“Tom Silvagni, you raped me not once but twice. You know this, I know this, and now so does everyone else,” she said.
Tom Silvagni (left) and barrister David Hallowes, SC, outside the County Court on November 24.Credit: Nine News
“You were my friend, somebody I thought I could trust.
“Today you don’t get to interrupt me, you don’t get to interrupt my words.”
The young woman, who cannot be named due to legal restrictions, spoke of the ongoing impact of the night of January 13, 2024, of losing a version of herself and of having to navigate a minefield of lies, gaslighting and trauma she said she would have to carry for the rest of her life.
She said she’d had to relive the night over and over, crying in the shower so no one could hear.
Jo and Stephen Silvagni outside the County Court on Friday. Their son, Tom, was found guilty of rape last week.Credit: Joe Armao
“People think the worst part of this was the night you hurt me, but it’s … having to live with the aftermath every day since,” she said.
“Do you know how scary it is to have a big strong man hold hands behind your back so you can’t escape his grip?
“Your actions that night have changed the way I trust, the way I sleep and the way I move through the world now.”
The young woman said every day she grieves the person she used to be and the friends she’d lost along the way.
She also questioned how she could ever trust another man again, knowing Silvagni could do something so evil.
“I’ve finally got the justice I deserve. I stand here knowing you don’t have power over my life any more,” she said.
Silvagni sat unmoving with no reaction on a video link from Melbourne Assessment Prison, where he is being held. He was on December 5 found guilty on two counts of rape after a trial. He had pleaded not guilty.
Tom is the youngest son of Carlton great Stephen Silvagni and wife Jo, a former television host, and the grandson of Blues Hall of Famer Sergio. Tom’s older brother, Jack, followed in the family footsteps to start an AFL career at the Blues before switching to St Kilda for the 2026 season.
On Friday, Stephen and Jo Silvagni remained outside the courtroom as the young woman spoke, and only entered as defence barrister David Hallowes, SC, began addressing the court.
Inside the packed courtroom, more than half a dozen friends and family members of the victim sat shoulder to shoulder across the first two rows.
Stephen and Jo Silvagni outside court on December 5 after the guilty verdict.Credit: Joe Armao
Tom Silvagni was named on Thursday after the lifting of a suppression order that had prevented the media reporting his name.
His lawyers had argued that naming their client would damage the Silvagni family name, which was something that had played on the 23-year-old’s mind. His lawyers had pressed for the suppression order to continue because of their client’s mental ill-health.
The gag order was lifted on Thursday when County Court Judge Andrew Palmer noted Tom Silvagni’s name had become common knowledge despite the suppression order.
During Tom’s trial, jurors were told that the victim visited the Silvagni family home on January 13, 2024. Stephen and Jo Silvagni were away in Noosa, and Tom’s girlfriend invited the victim.
Tom Silvagni, his girlfriend, their male friend and the victim gathered at the home.
When the four went to bed, Silvagni and his girlfriend went to one bedroom, and the victim and the male friend to another. The victim had consensual sex with Silvagni’s friend, who left her in the bedroom, called an Uber and left just after 2am.
The court heard Silvagni then entered the victim’s room in the dark, where he pretended to be his friend, and said the Uber ride was cancelled and he was unable to get another one.
He then raped the woman twice, despite her telling Silvagni to stop and that she suspected it was him.
The jury was told Silvagni tried to cover up his crimes by obtaining a copy of his friend’s Uber receipt and altering the time of the journey to suggest the man did not leave until 2.37am.
Silvagni, who was taken into custody on the return of the jury’s verdicts, will be sentenced at a later date. The maximum jail term for rape is 25 years, with an average of seven to 10 years.
The pre-sentence hearing continues.
Support is available from the National Domestic Family and Sexual Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) and Victims of Crime Helpline (1800 819 817).
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