The victims of a Sydney artist who used his “power” in the industry to sexually assault art students are urging council to take down a mural he painted in the Rocks.
Pierre Mol, 59, faced NSW District Court on Monday after pleading guilty to assaulting three women whom he hired as models and invited to his “professional art studio”.
The court heard how Mol blamed his actions on his “lifelong mission to understand the human figure” and believed that because the women were art students, they would also be “dedicated” to his “study”.
The court erupted on Monday afternoon when Mol attempted to make a “face-to-face apology” to victims from the dock.
Mol began by saying he “intensely apologised” and denied blaming the victims, which was soon shut down by those in attendance, with one woman yelling: “Shut up, you’re a piece of s**t Mol.”
The case comes after Mol was sentenced in 2015 for his behaviour towards three separate women whom he sexually assaulted after hiring on Gumtree for model work.
He was set to be eligible for parole next August 2025, however, he is now facing added years to his prison time after three more victims came forward to police.
He has pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual intercourse without consent and three charges of indecent assault to the recent victims. He will receive his final sentence in July.
The victims are now asking for a mural of Mol’s to be taken down for the Rocks, creating a petition on Change.org, which has been signed by more than 1500 people.
The mural was painted by Mol in 2006 and is called Brown Bear Lane, painted on the side wall of a shop along George Street.
The petition’s creator – one of Mol’s victims from the 2015 case – said she has contacted council to urge them to remove the mural.
However, little has been done.
Mol shot to fame in the industry in the early 2000s when he painted the largest mural in the southern hemisphere at the request of the Sultan of Brunei.
“It is not okay a serial rapist’s art is being celebrated in the city of Sydney,” she exclusively told news.com.au.
In the petition, she said the work was “an injustice to survivors of sexual assault”.
“Their art should not be celebrated or on public display,” she said.
In court on Monday, the statements of two of Mol’s victims were read out.
One of the victims was just 19 when the offending occurred.
She said she met Mol in the city before agreeing to the work and fell for his “professional act”.
She said that, as an art student, she avoided going to events in the industry afterwards and feared people finding out, as he was a lecturer at a neighbouring university.
The other victim who had her statement read out said she was in her 20s at the time and said her life was “irreversibly changed” after the assault, which occurred in 2013.
“He abused his status and power as a successful artist to lure and assault me,” she said.
The court heard how Mol began touching the women without their consent after they undressed, to which they told him to stop, with the artist showing a “complete disregard” for their opposition.
Mol’s lawyer, Peter Allport, argued in the sentence hearing that the models attended “voluntarily” and derobed “voluntarily” before the assaults occurred.
Judge Paul McGuire SC noted there was “age differences” and “power differences” at play during the offending.
The court also heard how Mol told one of his victims when they asked him to stop that “the right person for the job is willing to do what the job requires.”
His matter returns to court on July 5.