Ricardo Audish sentenced to 13 years prison over rape of 18-year-old at south Sydney pizzeria

A man who took part in an alleged gang rape of a vulnerable woman out the back of a south Sydney pizzeria has been sentenced.

A man who raped a teenager at a south Sydney pizzeria will be in prison until at least 2028 for the “degrading” sexual abuse he inflicted on the young woman.

Ricardo Audish, 42, was sentenced on Friday to 13 years in prison with a non-parole period of eight years over his role in an alleged gang rape at a Lugarno restaurant in October 2016.

Prosecutors alleged at trial the 18-year-old woman was raped by Audish, who was 37 at the time, and two boys, aged 17 and 15, after she went to the pizzeria with her 17-year-old boyfriend.

District Court Judge David Arnott said on Friday the “despicable” act involved the young woman being effectively “passed from hand to hand” while she was intoxicated and unable to consent.

The three teenagers have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the alleged gang rape and are awaiting trial.

Ricardo Audish will be in prison until at least 2028. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Audish, appearing over video link from Parklea maximum security prison, stared at the floor as Judge Arnott set out what happened that night.

After arriving at the pizzeria, the 18-year-old had consensual sex in the women’s toilet with her boyfriend, the court was told.

After they finished he said to her, “All the other boys want to have sex with you now”, and she replied, “Hell no”.

The court was told that soon after, the other 17-year-old offered the woman a bong, which after two hits left her feeling like she got “hit in the head” and “everything was spinning”.

The woman described her memory as going “black” after that, the judge said, with patchy recall of people having sex with her.

Semen found on the floor in various parts of the pizzeria was matched to Audish and the two boys, the court was told.

Audish pleaded not guilty and contended at trial the sex had been consensual.

He was convicted of three counts of sexual intercourse without consent in company, one of the charges relating to his own rape of the woman and the other two over his presence when she was allegedly raped by the teenagers.

Judge Arnott said the crimes had a “devastating” effect on the young woman, who now experiences depression, panic attacks and PTSD.

She attempted suicide in the wake of being assaulted and was hospitalised for a month, the court was told.

Audish had demonstrated no remorse, the court was told.

The married father of four was born in Baghdad in 1979, his childhood unfolding against the backdrop of the Iraq-Iran war.

Judge Arnott accepted the trauma Audish experienced in the years before his family fled to Greece in the late 1990s had left him with PTSD.

But the judge found the disorder had not caused a significant cognitive decline that could be linked to his criminal offending.

The history was not irrelevant, Judge Arnott said, but it did not cause Audish to commit rape, nor make his actions more understandable.

After he immigrated to Australia in about 2003, Audish struggled with the English language and finding work.

He felt “victimised” as an Iraqi-Australian, believing Australians were racist towards him and did not accept him, Judge Arnott said.

The judge found Audish’s traumatic history, heart condition and the Covid-19 pandemic would make his time in custody more difficult.

He will be eligible for parole on December 24, 2028.

Originally published as Ricardo Audish sentenced to 13 years prison over rape of 18-year-old at south Sydney pizzeria