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The Victorian Liberal leader, Jess Wilson, says the man who defeated Moria Deeming for the top spot on the party’s upper house ballot is “not welcome” on her team, after it was revealed he wrote a court character reference for a friend convicted of grooming a 15-year-old girl.

But Dinesh Gourisetty, who defeated Deeming on Sunday in a preselection vote for the party’s candidates for the western metropolitan region at the upcoming November election, has told the executive he won’t step down.

In a letter seen by Guardian Australia, Gourisetty wrote that he did not know Kashyap Patel would plead guilty to charges of grooming, sexually assaulting and transmitting indecent communication to a child under 16 at the time he wrote the character reference in 2024.

The charges related to the then 40-year-old married father of two’s grooming and assault of a 15-year-old girl in 2021. He was convicted and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge Peter Rozen found Patel was a “man of otherwise good character as set out in the three character references filed with the court”, including from Gourisetty, who was described as “a good friend of four years”.

Gourisetty said he had been “led to believe” Patel was “contesting the charges and maintaining his innocence” at the time he signed the letter, which he added was “drafted by a lawyer and reflected only my personal experience of him as a party member and volunteer”.

“I had no knowledge of the seriousness or full nature of the allegations. I acted in good faith, based on what I knew at the time,” the letter reads.

“Let me be absolutely clear – I strongly and unequivocally condemn the actions for which Mr Patel has now been convicted. Those actions are unacceptable, and I do not in any way support or excuse them.”

Gourisetty’s letter also notes it was not without precedent, citing former Tony Abbott and John Howard also having “provided character references or expressed personal support for individuals facing serious allegations, based on their own knowledge and belief at the time”.

Both former prime ministers wrote references for Cardinal George Pell after he was found guilty of five counts of child sexual abuse in 2019. Pell’s conviction was overturned by the high court in 2020.

“I respectfully ask that my actions also be viewed through the same lens of fairness and intent,” Gourisetty wrote.

He said he had worked “day and night” for the Liberals for 15 years and was heartbroken he was being “pushed towards withdrawing, and even advised to consider resigning from the party I have served with dedication for so many years”.

Gourisetty said he had indicated he might consider stepping aside in a “moment of distress” on Monday morning, but he had not formally withdrawn his candidacy and did not intend to.

His account varies with that of party president, Philip Davis, who in an email to the executive committee shortly before 11am said Gourisetty had “advised me this morning he has withdrawn as the candidate”.

It also puts him on a collision course with Wilson, who said in a statement on Monday: “Mr Gourisetty is not welcome on my team. I have made that clear to the party organisation this morning.”

Wilson had lobbied delegates to vote for Deeming at Sunday’s preselection convention.

According to several of Gourisetty’s supporters, he secured preselection with 39 votes, compared to Deeming’s 26, while Trung Luu, another Liberal MP representing the region, received three. Luu retained the second position on the ballot, after a separate vote which Deeming did not contest.

Gourisetty had previously failed to win preselection in 2022, in part due to breaches of the food safety act he pleaded guilty to in 2019.

This time, however, sources said he had the support of multiple branches in Melbourne’s western suburbs and within the party’s executive committee, which had skewed moderate under Davis.

A member of the executive committee, not aligned to Davis, emailed the rest of the executive committee on Monday, accusing the “the party’s factional left” of backing a “pedophile supporter”.

The member wrote that “ditching Moira was always going to be a disaster”, adding this was “before knowing about the court document I received”. They also questioned the vetting process, asking “wtf” the committee responsible for candidate selection was doing.

A senior Liberal source said there was “no way” Gourisetty would have been preselected if this information had been known and claimed the distribution of the material after the vote was designed to cause “maximum damage” to the moderate grouping on the executive committee.

Gourisetty has been contacted for comment.