Tom Silvagni has swapped his privileged life of comfort for the four walls of a jail cell after he was sentenced for raping his friend’s girlfriend.
Silvagni, 23, was sentenced in the Victorian County Court on Wednesday to a maximum six years and two months, with a non-parole period of three years and three months, after he was found guilty of two counts of rape.
The attack happened on January 14, 2024 in a bedroom at the Silvagnis’ mansion owned by his famous parents – football legend Stephen Silvagni and TV host Jo Silvagni.
The court heard the victim had arrived at the Balwyn North house shortly after midnight, after she was invited there by the accused’s girlfriend.
A drinking session had taken place earlier, but by 12.23am only Silvagni, his model girlfriend Alannah Iaconis and his former best friend, Anthony LoGuidice, with whom the victim was in a casual sexual relationship, were still present.
The jury heard the victim had consensual sex with Mr LoGuidice in an upstairs bedroom.
At 1.58am, Mr LoGuidice, a close relation of former Carlton president Mark LoGuidice, left in an Uber, arriving at his home at 2.09am.
Silvagni then deceived the woman, falsely claiming Mr LoGuidice’s Uber had been cancelled and that he would be returning upstairs.
Tom Silvagni has swapped his privileged life of comfort for the four walls of a jail cell after he was sentenced for raping his friend’s girlfriend
Jo Silvagni and Stephen arriving at the Country Court of Victoria on Wednesday
His victim had classed herself as a friend of Silvagni and had been seeing his mate.
Instead, Silvagni entered the darkened bedroom himself, climbed into the bed and impersonated Mr LoGuidice before digitally raping the woman twice.
Seated within the confines of the Melbourne Assessment Prison, Silvagni sat in his prison greens and stared as Judge Greg Lyon detailed the vileness of the rapes.
Last Friday, Silvagni listened as his victim poured out her heart, describing the pain she has suffered since the rapes.
Reading her victim impact statement directly to Silvagni, the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, described the premeditated and calculated nature of the attack and the devastating, lifelong consequences she has endured over the past two years.
‘You can continue denying for the rest of your life, but we both know that deep down, you are very much aware of what you did to me that night,’ she told him.
‘What you did was not a mistake. It was premeditated. You planned this in your head and came to the conclusion that it was a good idea and wanted to follow through with it.
‘Your actions that night have changed the way I trust, the way I sleep and the way I move through the world now.
Silvagni fought the charges at a trial
Silvagni, 23, was sentenced in the Victorian County Court on Wednesday to a maximum six years and two months jail term after he was found guilty of two counts of rape
‘It was an intentional deception that required planning, calculation and a willingness to violate another human being. Me … It’s actually terrifying that someone you thought you knew and trusted could do something so evil.’
Silvagni’s victim told the court she had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress as a direct result of the rape.
She spoke of waking from nightmares feeling Silvagni holding her down, of screaming and backing away when her own father tried to hug her, and of crying in the shower so no one would hear.
‘There’s been times I couldn’t even hug my own dad… because all I could feel was you touching me,’ she said.
She described recurring flashbacks that transport her back to the bedroom, the terror of a large man pinning her arms behind her back, and Silvagni’s whispered attempt to deceive her by saying, ‘Don’t worry, it’s me, Anthony.’
‘Every day of my life I am taken back to that vision. You holding my hands behind my back where you got some kind of deep satisfaction out of immobilising me and raping me,’ she said.
‘No matter how many times I told you to stop or tried to wriggle out of your grip.’
She said the ripple effects of Silvagni’s actions had been catastrophic, causing lost friendships, including the end of a 12-year best friendship ‘broken off over a matter related to your actions’.
The attack had happened on January 14 last year in a bedroom at the Silvagnis’ mansion owned by famous parents – football legend Stephen Silvagni and TV host Jo Silvagni
Tom (centre) with his brothers Ben (left) and Jack (right)
Stephen and Jo Silvagni (nee Bailey). The couple are famous in Melbourne thanks to Stephen’s long AFL career with Carlton, and Jo’s TV roles on Sale of the Century and Chemist Warehouse
The woman told the court the two-year legal process had prolonged her trauma, forcing her to relive the assault repeatedly, including listening again to the pretext phone call in which Silvagni continued to lie.
‘So the first six months after the rape, while the investigation was taking place, were the most nerve-wracking, anxious days of my life,’ she said.
‘I had to wake up every day, praying today was the day I’ll get the call from police saying that they will or won’t be able to press charges.
‘I had no estimate as to how long the investigation was going to take.’
The woman said she carried the burden of feeling responsible for the consequences Silvagni’s actions have had on his career and relationships
‘You took months of my life from the confusion and gaslighting that took place not only throughout the assault itself, but in the days and weeks after,’ she said.
‘The denial of your own actions stretched my suffering even further. Every deflection, every excuse made healing even harder.
‘You literally tried to (gaslight) me in the middle of the assault to convince me the person in the room with me wasn’t you.
‘That is going to affect me for the rest of my life in many ways. You lied directly into the confusion you created.
Silvagni’s girlfriend Alannah Iaconis has stood by her boyfriend
‘The fear you caused me didn’t just come from the assault. It came from you telling me not to trust myself. For a moment, you made me doubt things I knew were absolutely true.
‘You didn’t just violate my body that night. You violated my trust.’
Judge Greg Lyons said Silvagni used ‘cunning, planning and strategy’ to deceive the victim once the ‘opportunity’ to rape her had ‘arisen’.
You committed the second rape over her protests…,’ Judge Lyon said.
‘You tried to encourage your friend Anthony to take responsibility… your conduct towards the victim was egregious.
Judge Lyon also said Silvagni hadn’t shown remorse and said his treatment of his lifelong friend Anthony LoGuidice was ‘utterly appalling’.
Silvagni blamed his mental health issues on stress caused by being charged with rape and the Covid lockdowns.
Silvagni also said he felt ‘hopeless’ and ‘suicidal’ when comparing his football talent to his dad and his two brothers, especially Jack who played for Carlton before joining St Kilda at the end of the 2025 season.
Tom Silvagni also blamed the Covid pandemic for curtailing his dreams of playing in the AFL but a local footballer told the Daily Mail he was never good enough to make the big time.
Silvagni also claimed he has suffered more because his parents are famous.
Silvagni also said he felt ‘hopeless’ and ‘suicidal’ when comparing his football talent to his dad and his two brothers, especially Jack (pictured), who played for Carlton before joining St Kilda at the end of the 2025 season
Judge Lyon also praised widespread media reporting of Silvagni’s case as ‘objective’ and ‘accurate’.
His famous parents were notably absent from Friday’s packed pre-sentence courtroom as the victim ‘eloquently’ told of her suffering.
Whether they watched the young woman’s delivery on a videolink from a nearby room remains unclear.
But when Mrs Silvagni finally entered the courtroom, just as the woman finished her powerful statement to the court, the mother appeared to glare at her son’s rape victim.
Walking to the front of the court and taking a seat about two metres away from the young woman, Mrs Silvagni stared at her.
Had she been in court, Mrs Silvagni would have heard how her son had held his victim’s hands behind her back and repeatedly raped her.
But his family continued to stand by their son as they left the court, and vowed to appeal his conviction.
‘Jo and I, together with our family members and friends, are so disappointed with the outcome,’ Stephen Silvagni said before breaking down in tears.
With his wife’s arm around him, he continued to question the credibility of the victim.
‘We all love and support our son Tom. Our son continues to maintain his innocence and we stand firmly behind him,’ he said.
‘We will be considering our options to appeal and shall not be making any further comments on this case. Our goal is to clear his name and bring him home.’
Silvagni was jailed for a maximum six years and two months with a non-parole period of three years and three months.
