Man with history of abusing alcohol sexually assaulted school girl

Kevin O’Rafferty, 42, and co-offender Jason Dodd, 40 were found guilty last month by an ACT Supreme Court jury of sexually assaulting the girl after she had passed out drunk at a Stuart Flats unit last year.

A sentencing hearing on Friday heard O'Rafferty had grown up in western NSW amid alcohol abuse and domestic violence.

A pre-sentence report, tendered in court, said the defendant’s father would lock him in a shed to stop his mother leaving and the patriarch twice murdered his pet dogs, once in front of him.

The report said O’Rafferty began drinking at 13, had a habit of “drinking til I drop” and had frequent “blackouts” while intoxicated.

The report author said much of the defendant’s life had been shaped and defined by his abuse of alcohol.

O'Rafferty's barrister, James Lawton, told the hearing his client had no recollection of the offence at all.

Mr Lawton said O’Rafferty accepted jail time was inevitable and asked the court to allow the opportunity for rehabilitation in the sentence.

Dodd was also found guilty of two charges of the same offence, including one of penetration.

During the trial, jurors heard the 16-year-old victim had gone to Dodd's unit with a friend on May 17 after a night drinking in Woden.

She passed out on the couch, only to wake to find she had been stripped semi-naked and Dodd, O'Rafferty and a third man, who was never found by police, were sexually assaulting her.

She was in shock, couldn't speak, and passed out again.

The victim awoke the next morning alone in a bed in a spare room and reported the incident to police.

The jury deliberated for about eight hours before finding the pair guilty of the attack.

Prosecutor Sara Gul said the charges were on the mid-to-upper range on a scale of seriousness.

Ms Gul said the victim had been extremely vulnerable and trusted both men.

Justice John Nield will sentence the men later this month.