Tom Silvagni can now be identified as the man from a high-profile Victorian family found guilty of raping a woman last year.
Warning: This story contains content that may be distressing to some readers.
The County Court of Victoria lifted a suppression order on identifying the son and brother of well known AFL identities on Thursday afternoon, allowing media to report his name.
Tom Silvagni, 23, is the son of Stephen Silvagni, a star player for the Carlton Football Club between 1985 and 2001, and younger brother of Jack Silvagni who has played in the AFL since 2016 for Carlton and now St Kilda.
His grandfather Sergio was also a two-time premiership player for the Blues, while his mother Jo is a television personality.
Last Friday, a jury concluded Tom Silvagni was guilty of rape.
A court heard he went into a woman’s dark bedroom, climbed into her bed and digitally raped her in January 2024.
He was on bail until the guilty verdict. He has since been taken into custody and is now awaiting sentencing.
The court on Thursday reviewed the order put in place to prevent media from publishing Silvagni’s name or any details about his well-known family.
The order has been in place since charges were laid in mid-2024.
Silvagni’s lawyer David Hallowes SC argued for his client’s identity to remain suppressed, citing evidence previously aired in court about his mental health, and that media publicity could make him extremely distressed.
If this story raises issues for you:
Mr Hallowes cited psychiatric evidence that there was “substantial and imminent risk of psychiatric harm including suicide”.
“He’s not just concerned about his own name but how that impacts on his family,” Mr Hallowes told the court.
Mr Hallowes said social media “chatter” identifying Tom Silvagni as the individual at the centre of the rape case was very different to his name and image being disseminated by mainstream media, as well as footage of his family outside court.
Judge Andrew Palmer said now that Silvagni had been convicted and was in custody, suppression of his identity was no longer justified.
He said prison officers could monitor the young man’s mental state and ensure he didn’t self harm, and that the need to do this in prisons was not rare.
“Eventually the suppression order will have to be lifted, it will not go on forever,” the judge said.
“At some point he will have to reconcile himself to the reality that he has committed these offences and there’s a media interest in them and there are consequences.”
The judge also said Silvagni’s identity as the individual responsible for the rape was common knowledge via social media and he’d even noticed it in his own conversations with people who weren’t aware of his connection to the case.
Silvagni attended the hearing via video link from prison dressed in a jumper with messy hair. He looked stressed and at times rubbed his face with his hands.
Crown prosecutor Elizabeth Ruddle KC argued that continuing the restriction on media reporting would make the court look like it was giving Silvagni special treatment because of his high-profile family and that this could bring the court into “disrepute”.
Judge Palmer adjourned Thursday’s hearing briefly to consider his decision, then came back and ruled the suppression order be lifted.
Court heard Silvagni pretended to be victim’s boyfriend during rape
The trial of Silvagni centred around the events of January 14, 2024 when after a night of drinking he went to bed with his girlfriend while another couple, who were their friends, had consensual sex in another room.
The woman in that other room gave evidence that when her boyfriend was gone, Silvagni went into the room and digitally penetrated her without her consent. The girl told him to stop, but the court heard Silvagni pretended to be her boyfriend.
During the trial, the prosecution described his actions as a rape “through deception”.
Prosecutors then alleged he took steps to cover his tracks which Judge Greg Lyon described as “deliberate conduct” adding to the seriousness of the offending.
The jury delivered guilty verdicts on two rape charges after a day of deliberations.
In Victoria, the maximum penalty for rape is 25 years, with the charge carrying a standard sentence of 10 years.
Silvagni is scheduled to appear at court again via video link tomorrow for a pre-sentence hearing.
