A judge has hit out at the notion of a man in emotional turmoil relieving his anguish by sexually assaulting an innocent and vulnerable young woman.
Judge Liz Gaynor made the remarks in a pre-sentence hearing for Abdouslam Alsharif, whose own lawyer described his conduct as disgraceful, predatory and grievously unconscionable.
The father of five in his 50s has admitted the rape and sexual assault of a then-22-year-old woman who thought she was getting into a rideshare car after leaving a birthday celebration in Melbourne’s inner north.
She got in the front passenger seat and Alsharif locked the door.
He drove the car around the block before raping and sexually assaulting her.
She sent her location to a friend and when the friend couldn’t reach her they called emergency services.
The woman was picked up by police and taken to hospital.
Alsharif, a rideshare driver who couldn’t recall the woman, was identified using DNA and CCTV footage.
Alsharif had a difficult history in the decade before his 2021 offending, including becoming persona non grata in his native Libya after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, during which he and his family had been well looked after and cared for.
His barrister Luke Barker said the offending was serious and deserved to be punished justly, but highlighted that the crime was situational and not premeditated.
He was a vulnerable man who had experience a great deal of psychological distress, the court heard.
But Judge Gaynor said that was no excuse – despite it being something she sees often in the courts.
“It is not for men, such as your client, to take out their own emotional anguish and difficulties by the sexual assault of a young woman,” she said.
Some men see women as an object to assist them, or something to help themselves to in a time of personal difficulty.
“(There is) this notion of a man in turmoil – something clicks over in his head and the way to relieve that is by sexually assaulting a woman,” she said.
“Men cannot and must not, and if they do there will be very strong consequences.”
Judge Gaynor praised the young woman for her courage in speaking in court about the assault and its impact on her.
The young woman said she had read comments online about what happened to her, including people joking about the assault and blaming her.
She was also the subject of a cruel meme.
“It’s extraordinary – I cannot believe people can be so hideously cruel,” Judge Gaynor said.
Alsharif, who has a PhD in marine biology, will be sentenced on Friday.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028