Anjan Shrestha who raped a woman he met on Facebook, jailed in Melbourne

Anjan stalked a woman he had met on Facebook and raped her outside a nightclub in Melbourne.

FAcebook stalker

Source: Public Domain

County Court has sentenced 29-year-old Melbourne resident Anjan Shrestha to six years in prison for stalking and raping a woman he met on Facebook, reports.

The court heard that Anjan had never met his victim in person before that fateful night but had stalked her on Facebook.

He was outside a nightclub in Berwick, spying on his girlfriend, when he saw the victim walk past his car.

He recognised her as his Facebook friend and followed her to a kebab shop, where she had gone to buy chips with a friend.

Her friend left her to buy chips and walked across the street to her house.

Shrestha saw this and parked his car. He waited "near where you knew she would go to follow [her] friends", Judge Geoffrey Chettle said.

Judge said, "[You] grabbed her, pushed her to the ground ... mounted her by straddling her, calling her name, saying you had her on Facebook."

Despite managing to push him off her, the man grabbed her, forced her to the ground and digitally penetrated her.

The woman punched and pushed him off her and ran to her friend's house, where they called the police.

PSYCHOLOGIST TELLS COURT HE INTENDED TO RAPE THE VICTIM

Psychologist Jeffrey Cummins, who had assessed the man, said he had a "sense of sexual entitlement" and was "very self-absorbed".

Mr Cummins also told the court he had effectively stalked the victim intending to rape her. 

SHRESTHA CLAIMS TO BE INNOCENT

Shrestha told the court that the victim had consented that night.

Maintaining his innocence, Shrestha claimed that the woman had approached him in his car that night, telling him he looked familiar.

reported that he claimed that she had kissed his neck and forced his hand to her underwear, "then for no reason said f--k off, f--k off," the judge said.

A jury convicted him of one charge of rape, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

JUDGE: "IN MY VIEW IT WOULD BE IN THE INTERESTS OF THE COMMUNITY IF YOU WERE DEPORTED"

Judge Chettle said that Shrestha posed a serious risk of reoffending and had "shattered the life" of the victim, who was injured in the attack and now suffered post-traumatic stress disorder.

Shrestha has been sentenced him to a non-parole period of four years in prison. The court has also ordered to place him on the sex offenders' register for eight years.

"Attacking women the way you did cannot be justified and must attract strong condemnation," the Judge said.

"You stalked, attacked and violated a young woman, you lied repeatedly about what occurred, you repeatedly falsely impugned the conduct of your victim," he said.

Shrestha is in Australia on a partner visa sponsored by his pregnant girlfriend.

The judge said: "In my view it would be in the interests of the community if you were deported" but said this was a decision for the immigration minister.



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3 min read
Published 14 September 2016 12:45pm
By Mosiqi Acharya
Source: Fairfax


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