A YOUNG central Victorian woman who was digitally raped in her own home by a male friend says she no longer trusts men and views them through a “negative male stereotype”.
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Her rapist, a central Victorian man in his early 20s whose identity has been suppressed by the courts, pleaded guilty in the Bendigo County Court on Monday to rape and two other sexual assault charges.
The court heard the man visited the victim’s house in a central Victorian town and stayed the night after gaining approval from the victim’s mother. The victim, aged under 20 at the time, considered the man as a “friend”.
Despite being told he could sleep on the floor, the man instead climbed into a single bed where the victim was trying to sleep. He sexually assaulted and digitally raped her.
The victim repeatedly told him to stop and tried to move away.
The matter was reported to police several days later. In an interview with police, the man admitted to touching the victim sexually and agreed that she had told him to stop.
In a statement, the victim told the court the incident had dramatically changed her outlook on life.
She described it as an “enormous breach of trust” and that her skin was “constantly crawling” in the aftermath. She wrote that she now views men as a “negative male stereotype”.
Judge Mark Dean said the victim had shown strong insight into the offending that could not be ignored.
“The victim’s position, as she stated in her insightful victim impact statement, was that she now views males through a lens of male stereotypes and that’s a very acute observation I would have thought,” he said.
The court heard the man has an intellectual disability due to fetal alcohol syndrome. He has an estimated IQ of 65.
A psychologist’s report found he struggles with “actions and consequences” as a result.
Victorian law states that a person with a profound disability who commits rape must be jailed, but there were questions as to the level of the man’s disability.
Judge Dean said it was serious offending, and he would wait for the outcome of a pre-sentence report before deciding whether the man should be jailed.
He will be sentenced in the County Court in Melbourne on August 31.