A serial rapist will spend decades behind bars for spiking the drinks of female colleagues, sexually abusing them while they were passed out, and posting images of the attacks online.
Xiaodong "Frank" Hu, a Melbourne-based immigration agent, committed dozens of rapes and sexual assaults against seven women between February 2016 and April 2019.
His offending, which resulted in several victims being hospitalised for drug overdoses, was described as "terrifying and extremely serious" by County Court judge Trevor Wraight QC.
One woman whose drink was laced with a cocktail of sedatives and tranquillisers suffered a cardiac arrest and required a three-day stay in intensive care.
Many of the women he hired were on student visas, working as administration staff, accountants and translators.
In sentencing today, Justice Wraight said the offending was worsened by this power imbalance and Hu's decision to film and share his acts.
"Your conduct was cold, calculated and repetitive," he said.
"Once you had rendered your victims unconscious, you then meticulously documented the incident by photographing the respective victim.
"Your offending involved considerable planning, multiple victims and extended over a number of years."
He was handed a total sentence of 29 years in prison.
Attacks often followed similar pattern
Hu, now 38, took thousands of photos and videos of his attacks, uploading the material to a website featuring unconscious women being raped.
Metadata from Hu's photos linked the offending to 365 Little Collins Street, where he leased offices to run his businesses Lakenest, H&Q Finance and Infinity Education.
Court documents reveal Hu's attacks often followed a similar pattern.
He would offer victims hot chocolate, juice or water, and they would wake up hours later in a daze, regaining consciousness in toilets or in hospital after being transported by Hu.
Hu, an Australian citizen who also holds a Chinese passport, came under suspicion when Border Force officials seized his phone at the Melbourne Airport in 2018 and found a stash of photos and videos.
Border Force referred the matter to Victoria Police, but the investigation stalled because authorities were unable to identify any victims.
Later in 2018 and 2019, women came forward to police saying they believed they had been drugged by Hu, including one who passed out in the office.
"I'm feeling dizzy and I don't know why," she texted her boyfriend shortly after being drugged.
The woman suffered a cardiac arrest, with a toxicologist finding the drugs Scopolamine, Midazolam, Lignocaine and Atropine in her system.
After Hu was arrested, police found videos of the woman "in a very distressed and almost unconscious state" being sexually assaulted by her boss.
During a police interview in 2019, Hu denied drugging the women but acknowledged several had fallen sick in his presence. He agreed one woman had passed out during sex but told officers: "When she fall asleep it doesn't mean stop".
However, after Hu was charged, he agreed to plead guilty before the case went to trial.
On Friday, the married father was jailed for eight charges of rape, three charges of sexual assault, four charges of intentionally cause injury and one count of recklessly causing serious injury.
Some of the "rolled up" charges included multiple instances of offending.
Sex acts 'opened wrong door in my brain'
In sentencing, the court heard material from a psychiatric report where a consulting specialist said Mr Hu's behaviour was consistent with somnophilia – a sexual interest in people who are sleeping or unconscious – that Hu reportedly struggled to control.
According to the report, Hu said his first act of sedating a woman for sex "opened up the wrong door in my brain".
"It is a low act for my sexual pleasure and I disregarded their safety," he was quoted as saying.
Drawing from four victim impact statements, Justice Wraight told the court the effect of Hu's offending was profound.
The judge said one of Hu's victims could not share the experience with her traditional Chinese family, lost trust in those around her and continues to suffer from tormenting dreams.
Another victim said she only wanted to work with other women, making it difficult to get employment, while a third woman suffers from isolation from her family overseas.
Justice Wraight said Hu's early guilty plea and his lack of a criminal history were mitigating factors in his sentencing.
Hu was handed sentences ranging from three to 14 years across his 16 charges, with some to be served cumulatively.
The 38-year-old will be eligible for parole after 22 years.
