An unremorseful rapist who exploited his partner's "state of unconsciousness" held "archaic and dangerous" views on consent, a court has found.
"[The offender was] driven by an entrenched sense of entitlement to engage in sexual intercourse with the victim as he wished, because he considered them to be in a relationship," Justice Louise Taylor said on Friday.
"This mindset reflects a deeply concerning approach to consent; one that must be challenged in order to guard against similar offending and one that elevates the need for specific deterrence."
The 52-year-old man will now spend six months behind bars for his crime of family violence as part of a two-year, partly suspended, jail sentence.
He is not named to protect the victim's identity.
Despite his previous plea of guilty to sexual intercourse without consent, Justice Taylor found the man had shown no genuine remorse for the "most intimate violation of bodily autonomy".
"The offender's inability to conceive of the harm caused to the victim speaks to the ongoing absence of insight into the criminality of his conduct," the ACT Supreme Court judge said in sentencing remarks.
The court found the man must have known his partner was asleep when the sexual assault began, when she could not have been consenting.
He told a pre-sentence report author "he believed that his relationship with the victim meant that she was consenting".
"And that he did not understand how this event was different, 'when every other time was fine'," Justice Taylor said.
The assault
The man stayed over at the victim's home after the pair had broken up but were making efforts to patch up their relationship.
That night, she awoke to him pushing her onto her side before having sex with her for up to 15 minutes.
"What are you doing?" the victim asked after the assault had started.
The man did not stop and instead responded: "Just relax."
On Friday, the judge said nothing in the agreed statement of facts would lead to an inference the man was operating on the basis that the victim was awake.
The victim told the court in an emotional impact statement in July, "Never in my most abhorrent nightmares would I have imagined that this would be the end of our love story."
"Now I am your rape victim."
Justice Taylor said: "The offending has clearly had an enduring emotional and psychological impact on the victim."
The man, who does not have any history of like-offending and has not spent any time behind bars for the crime, is set to be released from custody in March 2025.
- Support is available for those who may be distressed. Phone Lifeline 13 11 14; 1800-RESPECT 1800 737 732; Canberra Rape Crisis Centre 6247 2525; ACT Domestic Violence Crisis Service 6280 0900.
