An Indian immigrant has admitted sexually assaulting more than a dozen women on three separate nights at a Melbourne nightclub while working as an IT analyst for Big Four accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
David Maria Anthony Rayan, 34, made a late guilty plea in the County Court on Monday over the sex attack spree which took place at Revolver Upstairs in Prahran on September 23, October 14 and October 21 in 2023.
Rayan whispered “there was no intention” after pleading guilty to 17 counts of sexual assault and one count attempted sexual assault, and could be deported if given a long enough jail sentence on May 5, the Herald Sun reported.
CCTV footage from the nightclub showed Rayan, who has permanent residency, mainly targeting women who were with other men, and Judge Peter Rozen said he was lucky not to have been slapped by any of the women or their partners, describing the offending as “brazen” and “most unusual”.
Prosecutor Nicholas Donaghy told the court Rayan first denied allegations from two women and lied in police interviews, saying he may have “accidentally” touched them, but CCTV footage then revealed another 16 victims.
“He insisted that flirting with or having sexual contact with anybody other than his wife was against his Christian religion,” Mr Donaghy said.
Rayan’s defence barrister Alexander Patton told the court his client now works as a delivery driver after losing his PwC job and is no longer able to see his three-year-old daughter.
Mr Patton said Rayan had not explained his offending, but said his client was “craving social interaction” after his marriage broke down, and suggested the former IT worker may have been seeking sexual gratification.
He argued that as his client had no criminal history he should be given a community corrections order, and Mr Donaghy agreed that was within the sentencing range.
But one of Rayan’s victims, now 25, said outside court he should be jailed and that she feared he would offend again.
“It seemed to me it was very premeditated … I don’t think a community corrections order is going to be enough to stop him from reoffending. I think he not only deserves, but needs, imprisonment,” she said.
“I didn’t get any sense of remorse from him, I think he felt ashamed, but not remorse” she told 7 News.
Another wrote in her victim impact statement: “This crime has changed me, altered the way I see the world. The idea of going out to nightclubs and bars … now feels me with dread.”
Last year it was revealed that magistrates in Victoria are being trained to give immigrants jail sentences of under 12 months in order to avoid triggering federal deportation laws which require the cancellation of visas of non-citizen criminals who have been sentenced to a year or more in prison.
And in 2019 Victoria’s Sentencing Advisory Council looked at how deportation could be used justify lower sentences, finding that deportation may be treated as an additional form of punishment, may cause offenders anxiety, and may reduce prospects of offenders being granted parole.
Header image: Left, right, David Rayan (7 News).
