Cameron, appearing by videolink in prison greens and with white hair, cried as he described an abused childhood and drug-addled early years. He said he had tried Christianity but could not grasp it, and became a Buddhist to understand where he came from and to avoid returning to what he was.
In a letter read to the court by his barrister, Cameron wrote: "I perpetrated some of society's most heinous crimes." He said he wished he could explain his actions to bring closure but could not. He acknowledged many would say he was only sorry because he was caught, but insisted that was not true for him.
"I knew deep down that morally I should have gone to the police and present myself, but the truth is I was a coward and afraid of the ramifications not only on myself and my family but also for my victims," he said.
The court heard Cameron approached women in Surry Hills, Moore Park and the inner west, claiming to be a police officer or an art student looking for a model. He would then hold a knife to them and force them into alleyways.
The investigation went cold in 1993 despite DNA being collected from the skirt of the first victim. The case was reopened in 2022 and the DNA was run through a national database, producing a familial match to one of Cameron's children. Police tracked him to a funeral home in Alice Springs where he worked as a director. They watched him drink a schooner at Sydney Airport and seized the glass for DNA testing, then raided his hotel room and found a match.
Cameron said he often thought about coming forward but feared the ramifications for his family and worried that victims might want the past kept secret. He said he hoped his arrest would bring them some closure. The sentence hearing continues.