ACT Supreme Court sentences man who raped co-worker to full-time jail

The 28-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on Friday sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court to three-and-a-half years in jail.

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum imposed a non-parole period of 15 months.

A jury in February found the man guilty of sexual intercourse without consent and committing an act of indecency without consent.

The charges related to a sexual assault which occurred over a period of some hours.

"There can be no doubt that the offender knew she was not consenting to have her body used for his sexual gratification," Chief Justice McCallum said on Friday.

In a statement following the decision, the victim said she felt for both families involved after they 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 incident took place at the victim's home on June 17, 2021, when the woman was 18 and the pair were friends and co-workers.

Chief Justice McCallum said she was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt the man had "waited strategically until he thought the victim was asleep" to assault her, laughing in parts.

"[The victim] said her bodily response was that she 'froze in shock', a phenomenon that is becoming better understood as a common reaction to unwanted sexual contact," the judge said.

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He told her to "go back to sleep" when she sat up to cough about 4am or 5am.

The judge said a lack of consent was established prior to the pair going to bed, when the woman said she didn't want to engage in any sexual activity due to being tired and in pain due to vaginal thrush.

"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," she said.

The victim also disclosed earlier that day how she had been previously sexually assaulted "and how much it had broken her".

The offender's visibly distraught supporters hugged each other and cried in the public gallery following the sentencing on Friday.

One of those supporters turned around to the victim, who had sat several rows behind the group, and uttered an expletive in her direction.

As she had done previously, Chief Justice McCallum expressed concern on Friday about the offender's lack of remorse as he continued to maintain his innocence.

A Snapchat conversation from the morning after the incident recorded him apologising to the victim.

"You know I was awake the whole f---ing time, right," she said in a message.

He responded: "I'm sorry ... that was really wrong of me and I don't know why I did it."

He was also apologetic, seemingly about the incident, in an email sent to his workplace after they suspended his employment due to the allegations.

"I am not attempting to come up with any excused for my behaviour, as I believe you cannot justify reasons and attempt to make amends for something so vile," his email said.

He would later tell police, in what Chief Justice McCallum described as an "implausible explanation", that he only admitted the allegations because he did not know what they were.

He later agreed with the prosecution's case and admitted he "felt horrible" for the offending during pre-sentence proceedings.

In what the judge described as an "extraordinary backflip", he then recanted and said he only admitted to the crimes because he felt he had to.

"His attitude now is cynical and self-serving, just as it was shown to be by his laughter during his offending," she said.

The court previously heard how the woman, whom the judge described as "an intelligent, careful, powerful and articulate witness", had been affected by the assault.

"Vile is too gentle of a word to describe what you did to me," she said in a victim impact statement.

"The things you did to my resting body is absolutely sickening."

The man will be eligible for parole in August 2024.

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