A former disability support worker in Victoria, Australia, has been sentenced to nine months in prison followed by a two-year community corrections order after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two cognitively impaired women he was hired to care for, the County Court of Victoria confirmed this Wednesday.
Adam Mason, 31, entered the disability support sector in 2022, and by October of that year, he began working with his first victim. Court documents outline that the relationship quickly crossed professional boundaries within just a few appointments: Mason admitted to the woman he had strong romantic feelings, began giving her unauthorised gifts and hugs, and shared his first kiss with her that December. By January 2023, the pair had engaged in sexual intercourse, after which Mason stepped down as the woman’s official carer. Even after a new support worker was assigned, Mason continued meeting the first victim in secret, with two more sexual encounters occurring before the abuse came to light.
In March 2023, the first victim disclosed the inappropriate relationship to a replacement support worker during a dispute, raising concern that Mason was also involved with another of his clients. Shortly after Mason was suspended from his role, the second victim came forward to report that Mason had also kissed her – an experience that left her deeply distressed, the court confirmed. When interviewed by police the following year, Mason admitted his actions were wrong, framing the kiss with the second victim as a “moment of weakness” and telling investigators he believed he had fallen in love with the first victim.
Mason pleaded guilty to five total criminal charges: three counts of sexual penetration of a person with a cognitive impairment or mental disorder, and two counts of sexual assault against the same protected class of people. In her sentencing remarks, Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis emphasized the inherent gravity of Mason’s offences, noting that the crimes represented a profound breach of the public trust placed in disability care workers.
“You breached the trust placed in you and offended against two vulnerable women,” the judge stated in court. She added that while there were no allegations of force or coercion in Mason’s interactions with the victims, Australian criminal law specifically criminalizes sexual relationships between care workers and disabled clients under their supervision to protect vulnerable people from exploitation of their power imbalance.
Both victims provided impact statements to the court, detailing the lasting harm inflicted by Mason’s actions. The first victim explained that the abuse left her unable to trust others with her personal care and deeply suspicious of support system workers similar to Mason. For the second victim, the incident resurfaced unresolved past trauma and left her with persistent fear and distrust of all male disability support workers.
The court acknowledged that Mason has expressed remorse for his crimes, has strong ongoing support from his family, and has generally favourable prospects for rehabilitation. It was also revealed that Mason has received post-offending diagnoses of ADHD, borderline personality disorder, and depression. Prior to his sentencing, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Quality and Safeguards Commission permanently banned Mason from working as a disability support worker in December 2023.
Under the terms of his sentence, Mason will serve nine months of imprisonment before being released to serve the remaining sentence under a two-year community corrections order. As part of this order, he will be required to complete targeted rehabilitative treatment and 80 hours of unpaid community service.