Former Queensland cop ordered to pay compensation over assault

A QUEENSLAND policeman who strangled a woman in her own bed and called her a c*** has been sentenced in court today with the judge saying ‘it must have been a terrifying experience for her’.

Former policeman Kurt Nesterowich at the Brisbane District Court in Brisbane earlier this year.

A QUEENSLAND policeman who strangled a woman in her own bed and called her a ‘c---” has been ordered to pay $5,000 in compensation.

Kurt Alexander Nesterowich, 25, was this morning sentenced in the Brisbane District Court for the common assault of a woman in her Brisbane home in April 2016.

The assault involved choking the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in her own bed three times and telling her she “looked like a girl who liked to be choked in bed” and that she was a “c---”.

Crown Prosecutor Matthew Hynes told the court the assault was “not playful and scary”.

Nesterowich was charged with two counts of rape and sexual assault relating to the same incident but was acquitted of two of the charges in May.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions later withdrew the second count of rape.

Despite this, Judge Michael Shanahan said he accepted the victim’s version of events that Nesterowich had digitally raped and choked the 29-year-old woman as she lay in bed with him around 2am the day he met her.

The pair had met on the dating website Plenty of Fish.

The woman had told Nesterowich via text message she wasn’t interested in sex or any “booty” calls and said: “If you try and initiate more I’m throwing you out on your arse” before inviting him to her home two years ago.

She had agreed Nesterowich could come to her home and “cuddle” after he had been out drinking with his mates.

Judge Shanhan found the jury had acquitted of the rape and sexual assault because they could not exclude the fact the man had mistakenly believed she was consenting to the sex.

“You arrived in the early hours of the morning … she let you in, she took you to her bed, she allowed you to cuddle her. At some stage you asked her if you could take your pants off… You the proceeded to touch her and sexually assault her,” he said.

“In my view, the complainant’s evidence should be accepted in its entirety as to what occurred.

“The jury obviously rejected your account that this was all consensual contact, however they were of the view the crown could not exclude honest and reasonable mistake of fact in relation to consent...

“In my view, that explains the acquittal.

“I am of the view, after considering the evidence; the complainant’s evidence should be accepted.”

Mr Shanhan said it was aggravating feature that he was a serving police officer at the time and that the offences occurred in the woman’s home.

“It must have been a terrifying experience for her,” he said.

The court heard Nesterowich, who previously worked as a police officer in Cairns, had been suspended when charged with rape but was dismissed from the service before the trial after being convicted of public nuisance.

He is now working as a water-meter inspector, the court was told.

Nesterowich did not have a conviction recorded and was ordered to pay $5000 to the victim as compensation for assaulting her.