A St George police officer has been charged in relation to his dealings with a convicted rapist who then allegedly went on to sexually assault a seven-year-old girl in a Kogarah dance studio toilet.
9news.com.au reports that the 31-year-old leading senior constable was charged on Wednesday with four counts of neglecting his duties, following Anthony Sampieri's alleged 15-minute attack on a girl at the Derby Street dance studio in November last year.
Mr Sampieri, 55, had allegedly breached his parole in the lead up to the attack.
The policeman is based at Kogarah police station, in the St George Police Area Command. He remains suspended from duty with pay.
At the time NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian apologised to the girl allegedly assaulted by Mr Sampieri and the NSW Police Commissioner, Mick Fuller, admitted the organisation had likely "failed" to act on complaints weeks earlier that the man had breached the conditions of his parole.
Commissioner Fuller previously said an investigation into the police response prior to the November 15 assault had "highlighted some errors".
During the assault of the girl, two men confronted and detained the alleged offender, one of whom was stabbed several times in the ensuing struggle.
Mr Sampieri was charged with 11 offences related to the alleged incident in November. In January, an additional 87 charges of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend were laid against him.
After investigations into the events leading up to incident were launched by Strike Force Olsson, it was revealed that in the weeks prior to the Kogarah assault police had interviewed Mr Sampieri over a woman's complaint that he had made harassing phone calls to her.
An internal investigation was launched into the handling of that complaint by Kogarah police and an officer was stood down pending the completion of that investigation.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Jeff Loy said at the time of launching the internal probe that he understood police officers "took no action" against Mr Sampieri despite being aware he was on parole for sexual assault.
Commissioner Fuller said in November that it would be his personal goal to ensure that Mr Sampieri spends the rest of his life behind bars.
"My number one priority is making sure that Sampieri dies in jail," he said.
"I will make sure that the investigation, that all of the evidence that goes before the court, sees him never back on our streets again."
Mr Sampieri is back in court on May 2. The police officer is due to face court on June 6.
