Mine supervisor jailed over rape at Middlemount

A woman woke to find a mining colleague on top of her after she had fallen asleep in her bed with prosecutors calling for a jail term given the significant impact it had on the victim. WARNING: Confronting details

A mine worker has been jailed after he digitally raped his drunk friend while she was asleep in her bed.

A rapist tried to offer his victim $4000 compensation for sexually assaulting her after she fell asleep drunk in her bed.

The woman who knew the man when the pair worked at a Middlemount mine, albeit in different roles.

In early 2022 they had been out drinking and had gone back to her place to crash, she had gone to sleep in her bed alone.

At some point he had gone into her room.

Mackay District Court heard the woman woke to find George Normal Maskovich, then 36, on top of her, digitally raping her.

“You violated a woman... who was sleeping in her own bed,” Judge Suzanne Sheridan said.

Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton pushed for 2.5 years with Maskovich to serve 10 months behind bars arguing the offending “has had a profound impact on her”.

The court heard Maskovich had offered to pay the victim $4000 compensation.

Mr Sutton said he had told the woman about the offer and “she wasn’t supportive of it”.

Barrister Stephen Zillman said Maskovich, who was currently employed as a supervisor at a Northern Territory mine, had made the compensation offer before he had been aware of any victim impact statement.

“It demonstrates very strongly in my submission, his remorse,” Mr Zillman said, adding that his client’s letter of apology reflected “a man who is so deeply troubled and ashamed of his behaviour”.

Mr Zillman argued a jail term of up to five years could be wholly suspended and that “sentences have been imposed of that level”.

Maskovich pleaded guilty to one count of rape, which Mr Zillman said was a very early plea.

“You had digitally raped your friend while she was intoxicated and asleep,” Judge Sheridan said, accepting it had a significant physical, emotional, financial and social impact on her.

Judge Sheridan accepted the offending was out of character for Maskovich.

He was jailed for two years to be suspended after serving three months. The remainder will hang over his head for two years.

A conviction was recorded.