A 28-year-old Canberra man has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail in the ACT Supreme Court for sexually assaulting a former co-worker and friend.
Warning: this story contains content some readers may find distressing.
The man, whose name is suppressed by the court, was found guilty by a jury in February of one count of sexual intercourse without consent and another of committing an act of indecency without consent.
The court heard that the offender, who was 26 at the time, had laughed while assaulting his 18-year-old victim, who pretended to be asleep while he "felt her all over her body", in an attack spanning several hours.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said the offender had ignored "a clear statement of lack of consent" as the victim was, to his knowledge, asleep.
"I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the offender waited strategically until he thought the victim was asleep before committing each offence," she said.
The victim and offender had spent the day together before the offence, visiting the victim's mother where they discussed the victim's struggles with her mental health.
Later, the victim opened up to the offender about a previous assault.
The victim also told the offender that day that she had vaginal thrush and was in "a bit of pain," before heading to sleep in her own bed.
The offender then entered her room, got into her bed and began the assault, during which he digitally raped the victim, smelling his fingers as he went.
"The element of humiliation in the offender's bizarre act of sniffing his fingers after he had inserted them in the victim's vagina, after he had been told she was infected with thrush, is particularly disturbing," Chief Justice McCallum said.
"So too is his contemptuous act of "flicking" her in the buttocks, evidently for his own amusement.
"The seriousness of the offending is also aggravated by the fact that the offender had been made aware only that day of the victim's history of mental health challenges and sexual trauma."
'I was awake the whole f*cking time'
The day following the assault, the two exchanged messages using the social media app Snapchat, in which the offender acknowledged the event.
[Victim]: You know I was awake that whole fucking time right
[Offender]: What do you mean?
[Victim]: Last night
[Offender]: I'm sorry [victims name]
[Victim]: Are you?
[Offender]: I really am, that was really wrong of me and I don't know why I did it. I have no excuse though. I just shouldn't have done it. I'm so sorry to have made you feel uncomfortable. I'll leave your house right away. I really am sorry [victims name]
The victim contacted her workplace and a friend, and a week later she reported the assault to the police.
The offender's employer sent him an email informing him of an allegation of sexual harassment that had been levelled against him, suspending him from work.
He replied to the letter confessing his actions.
"First and foremost, the allegations and complaint raised against me are true and I do not deny them in any form," it read.
He later said he was only apologising for what he "knew had happened" and was not fully aware of the exact allegations.
Lack of remorse
The Chief Justice said the offender had not demonstrated any real remorse in his Snapchat messages, his email to his employer or in the evidence given.
"At times, he has purported to do so," she said.
"However, every time he has acknowledged responsibility for his offending conduct, he has later recanted.
"First, in his message to the victim the day after the sexual assault, the offender acknowledged what he did, accepted that it was 'really wrong' and said he was sorry but had no excuse and 'just shouldn't have done it'.
"Then, in his email to his employer, he offered a profuse apology for his 'vile' actions and their impact on the victim."
Although he claimed he admitted the allegations only because he did not know what they were, he denied any unlawful conduct upon arrest.
Throughout the trial, he maintained a plea of not guilty, but once the verdicts of guilty were returned, he stated in a letter to the court that he "accepted the verdicts" and felt remorse for the victim.
However, he said he still maintained his innocence.
Chief Justice McCallum described the offender's attitude as "cynical and self-serving just as it was shown to be by his laughter during his offending".
"I accept that he is a relatively young man with education, employment, social support, no substance issues and no criminal history," she said.
"I cannot be confident that the offender has good prospects of rehabilitation."
After the verdict was read out, one of the offender's supporters turned to face the victim in the courtroom and delivered an obscene insult.
The victim said in a statement that she was grateful for the verdict but felt for his family and her own that had "experienced such an awful last couple of years".
"No sentence will ever take away what has happened to me, but I am grateful and feel this verdict was fair and just," she said.
The man will be eligible for parole in August 2024.
