Delivery man rapist jailed for 18 months
A takeaway delivery driver who raped a woman after finding her asleep in her Sydney home has been jailed for at least 18 months.
In sentencing Amit Hamal on Wednesday in the NSW District Court, Judge Laura Wells said the 21-year-old had confessed he had a "wandering eye and was always on the lookout for sexual encounters".
The Nepalese, who was found guilty in June of sexual assault without consent, later told his victim, "I saw you sleeping there and I just had to have you."
Hamal had delivered an Indian meal to the couple's Rose Bay home in eastern Sydney in July 2010 when he committed the "unplanned and opportunistic" crime, the judge said.
When he arrived, the woman, 44, had put herself to bed and her husband was sleeping on the couch.
The woman said she felt her pants being removed, but being drowsy and in the darkness she assumed it was her husband.
Hamal had sex with her for up to three minutes and left.
The woman's husband denied it was he who had had sex with her, saying she must have had a vivid dream.
Her doubts were confirmed when Hamal rang their house, admitting he was the one who had been with her the night before.
"My name doesn't matter, you don't know me and it was too dark in the room for you to see my face," he told her, also suggesting she "might need more" in her relationship.
The woman described the call as "an irreversible nightmare" that haunted her to this day, and said she suffered constant panic and anxiety.
The judge said Hamal might have been phoning with a misplaced optimism that the woman might take up his offer.
Hamal was arrested at Sydney airport the next day with a one-way ticket to Kathmandu.
He was deliberately leaving the country because he knew police were looking for him, the judge found.
Hamal initially said he had tried to wake the husband by shouting and shaking him, and that the woman had tried to force him to have sex.
But he later admitted lying to police and his second version of events was inconsistent with the complainant's evidence.
The judge said little reliance could be placed on anything he said.
Hamal, who had arrived on a student visa 18 months earlier, had not recognised he was to blame.
Nor had he apologised to the woman, who the judge said was entitled to protection from violence in what should have been the sanctity of her own home.
Hamal had written that he felt sorry for the family but it might be that he was most sorry for jeopardising his own future in Australia and his own marriage, the judge said.
Taking into account Hamal's lack of prior offences, his difficult upbringing and the fact he was new to this country and culture, she sentenced him to a maximum of three years in jail.
With time already served in custody, he will be eligible for parole in February.
Credit:https://www.smh.com.au/national/delivery-man-rapist-jailed-for-18-months-20110831-1jls2.html
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