- Famous family tarnished by rapist son
Tom Silvagni, the son of Melbourne celebrity couple Stephen and Jo Silvagni, has been found guilty of raping a woman inside his family's multi-million dollar home.
Silvagni, 23, denied the two rape charges and took the case to trial in the Victorian County Court.
However, a jury returned guilty verdicts last Friday after less than two days of deliberation and Silvagni is now on remand, waiting for sentencing.
Opening the case, Crown prosecutor Jeremy McWilliams told jurors the rapes were carried out 'not through threats, not through force … but rather through deception,' with the accused impersonating his friend to trick the woman.
He said Silvagni, who looked forlorn as he appeared on remand in his jailhouse greens via videolink from the Melbourne Assessment Prison last Thursday, later engaged in 'even more deception' by falsifying an Uber receipt.
The court heard the victim arrived at the house shortly after midnight on January 14, 2024, after she was invited 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.
Prosecutor McWilliams said the complainant had consensual sex with Mr LoGuidice in an upstairs bedroom.
Convicted rapist Tom Silvagni (centre) leaves court with his famous mum Jo Silvagni and one of his barristers James Anderson
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
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.
Instead, Silvagni entered the darkened bedroom himself, climbed into the bed and impersonated Mr LoGuidice before digitally raping the woman twice.
Jurors found Silvagni slid in behind her and digitally penetrated her, causing the woman to say 'wait, stop' and pull away.
The victim told the jury she reached out and touched Silvagni's 'longer hair'.
Prosecutor McWilliams said she became 'very concerned' it was the accused in bed with her and asked: 'Are you Anthony?'
'Yeah, it's me, why wouldn't it be?' Silvagni replied.
The victim said she identified Silvagni as he 'ran' out of the room because 'light was coming in' from the hallway.
Tom Silvagni was found guilty of two counts of rape
The Silvagni family home in Balwyn North where the rape occured
Tom Silvagni's girlfriend, model Alannah Iaconis, has stuck by him
Silvagni, whose famous dad played 312 games for Carlton, returned shortly after, acting as though he was concerned.
'You OK, what's happened?' he asked.
She replied: 'You were just in here. I know it was you. You're the only guy in the house.'
At 2.15am the victim messaged Mr LoGuidice asking if he had left the property. He responded: 'I'm at home.'
Silvagni almost immediately went into damage control after he scampered from the room.
He asked Mr LoGuidice to send him a copy of his Uber receipt, which he altered to falsely show the friend had left at 2.37am instead of 1.58am.
Silvagni admitted forging the receipt but said he did so because he panicked after claiming he was being falsely accused of rape.
He sent the doctored version back to Mr LoGuidice via Snapchat along with a fabricated claim that 'something had happened' between his girlfriend and the victim.
Stephen Silvagni during his playing days for Carlton
Jo Silvagni found fame as a co-host on quiz show Sale of the Century. She is pictured above with host Glenn Ridge
'It wasn't to lie about my whereabouts on the night, but it was just to alleviate a bit of the stress from Alannah and myself,' Silvagni said.
'I panicked… I've never had someone accuse me of this before.'
He also texted Mr LoGuidice: 'Just say you came into her room when your Uber cancelled, I don't know what's going on, but I just want to make sure (her) lies don't f*** us up.'
Defence barrister David Hallowes SC argued his client was telling the truth and it was possible the woman's mind was playing tricks on her.
Mr Hallowes told the jury a central question in the trial was whether Mr LoGuidice went back into the bedroom before leaving in his Uber.
Mr LoGuidice insisted he left only once after the consensual encounter and did not remember returning.
However, both Silvagni and Ms Iaconis testified that they distinctly recalled Mr LoGuidice entering their bedroom to ask for a condom, contradicting his account.
But prosecutor McWilliams asked Ms Iaconis if she was still in a relationship with the man and whether she had 'tailored evidence'.
Stephen Silvagni leaves court followed by his son Tom
Ms Iaconis confirmed she was still in a relationship but denied she had misled the jury.
Prosecutor McWilliams urged the jury to ignore the man's denials and instead believe the victim, who had given clear, consistent, and convincing evidence.
The victim gave evidence Silvagni had led her around upstairs showing her various bedrooms she could use if she didn't want to be with Mr LoGuidice.
Silvagni also 'insisted' the victim give him a hug, the jury heard.
Prosecutor McWilliams told the jury Silvagni told a series of lies to try and deflect blame.
Silvagni also admitted he 'lied in the course of the pretext call', the jury was told.
'In the course of that pretext call you are encouraging [the victim] to variously move on, put this episode behind her, not to take it further, telling her that she doesn't have enough information to understand what happened,' Mr McWilliams asked Silvagni.
Tom Silvagni also 'insisted' the victim give him a hug, the jury heard
'Do you agree that you said all of those types of comments to her?'
'Yes, some of those, yes,' Silvagni admitted.
'And what I want to suggest is you said those things because you knew that you had sexually assaulted [the victim] in the way that she's described and you were concerned, as of late January 2024, that she was going to take that matter formally and you'd be held accountable for what you've done and you were encouraging her to not do that, do you agree?,' Mr McWilliams pressed.
'No, I never would have entered that room and that did not happen,' Silvagni claimed.
Mr McWilliams also put it to Silvagni that he threw his mate under the bus and attempted to have him take the fall for what happened.
'You needed an explanation that someone else must have done those things because otherwise it was you, do you agree with that?,' Mr McWilliams asked.
'No,' Silvagni replied.
Stephen and Jo in happier times
'You kept lying as well, didn't you? You kept lying throughout the course of the [day]?,' Mr McWilliams asked.
'There are a few other lies that I owned up to previously, yes,' Silvagni replied.
'And you lied again or implored Mr LoGuidice to lie for you the next day as well…,' the prosecutor pressed.
'Yes, I believe so,' Silvagni replied.
Prosecutor McWilliams put to him directly: 'It was you who penetrated her vagina with your fingers on two occasions.'
'That's incorrect, that never happened,' the accused replied.
Prosecutor McWilliams suggested: 'Your behaviour, lies, forging the Uber receipt - were all done because you knew what you had done.'
'No,' the accused said.
Tom's brother Jack (pictured) played 128 games for Carlton before he was traded to St Kilda at the end of the 2025 season
A friend of the victim said the woman 'couldn't comprehend' what had happened to her and was in tears after the rape.
The victim called her mother, who drove a long distance to be with her.
The jury retired to begin deliberations at 3pm on December 3 after hearing seven days of evidence and legal argument.The 12 jurors returned their guilty verdicts shortly after midday last Friday but a court ordered suppression blocking publication of Silvagni's name and link to the AFL wasn't lifted until Thursday afternoon.
Silvagni slumped in his seat with his head in his hands as the verdicts were delivered, while his mother cried in court.
Mrs Silvagni is perhaps best known as the model presenter on Sale of the Century in the 1990s before her high-profile marriage to Carlton legend Stephen Silvagni.
She forged a TV career and is now the face of Chemist Warehouse on TV.
Stephen retired from playing football at the end of 2001 after a 312-game career with Carlton which included the 1987 and 1995 premierships.
Stephen publicly fell out with former Carlton president Mark LoGuidice after the former departed the club in his role as list manager at the end of 2019.
Tom's brother Jack played 128 games for Carlton before he was traded to St Kilda at the end of the 2025 season.
Tom Silvagni had harboured hopes of playing the AFL but never made the cut while one local footballer said he wasn't very good as he languished in suburban reserve leagues.
Mr and Mrs Silvagni, and Ms Iaconis, a recent Miss Universe Australia contestant, all made appearances supporting Silvagni at court during the trial.
Silvagni was allowed to say goodbye to tearful family members before Judge Greg Lyon remanded the convicted rapist in custody.
Silvagni faces a pre-sentence hearing on Friday as he prepares to spend Christmas behind bars.
