This report concerns child sexual abuse.
A Sri Lankan Buddhist monk who was chief monk at a Melbourne temple has been jailed for sexually abusing six girls in his care, in a case that has divided the Sri Lankan Buddhist community in Victoria.
Naotunne Vijitha, 71, was sentenced in Victoria’s County Court on Thursday. He led the Dhamma Sarana temple in Melbourne’s south-east, a position that, as the Daily Mirror reported, “earned him enormous respect among the Sri Lankan Buddhist community.”
The offences and the sentence
Vijitha was found guilty at trial last year of nine counts of sexual penetration of a child and eight counts of committing an indecent act with a child — 17 of the 19 charges he faced, with acquittals on two indecent act counts, according to the ABC, whose report the Daily Mirror carried.
The victims were girls who attended the temple at Springvale and Keysborough between 1994 and 2002. They were aged between four and 12 at the time and are now in their thirties.
He must serve a minimum of nine years and four months before becoming eligible for parole.
Judge Pardeep Tiwana described Vijitha as a man with “a dark and disturbing side”. “You preyed on young, innocent girls for your own perverse sexual gratification,” the judge said, adding that he had taken away their innocence “in a place of worship where they were entitled to feel safe.”
In the courtroom
The Daily Mirror’s account describes the scene after sentencing. Vijitha, whose saffron robes had been replaced with a grey prison tracksuit, “beamed at supporters” during a short break, some of whom approached the dock and bowed towards him. His victims “looked on with disgust as the man who violated them smiled and waved at supporters”. Court security stopped him speaking with others when the victims voiced their displeasure.
A discrepancy in the term
The two accounts differ slightly on the sentence. The Daily Mirror’s headline and the ABC’s both say 13 years; the ABC’s text gives the term as 13 years and two months. The non-parole period of nine years and four months is the same in both. The longer figure appears to be the precise term and the shorter one a rounding in the headline, but neither report addresses the difference.
Sourcing note
The Daily Mirror’s filing is a reprint of the ABC’s report, carried in its international section and dated 8 October. The ABC is the originating newsroom and is linked above as the primary. At the time of writing this desk could not find an independent filing on the sentencing from any other verified Sri Lankan newsroom; Colombo Gazette covered the trial in October 2025, but not this week’s sentencing. The case is therefore reported here on a single verified Sri Lankan source together with the Australian original.
Not reported
Neither account says whether Vijitha remains ordained or whether any Sri Lankan or Australian monastic authority has acted on his status, nor whether the Dhamma Sarana temple or its governing body has responded to the conviction. Neither reports whether an appeal is contemplated, whether time already served counts towards the term, or whether any civil claims have been brought. The victims’ impact statements are not quoted.
