Aidan Creed Kelly jailed for raping sleeping woman after night out in Crookwell

Shocking details can now be revealed about the night a 21-year-old chippie raped a sleeping woman after a night at the pub and then showed “no remorse or empathy” afterwards.

A 21-year-old carpenter has been jailed for raping a sleeping woman in Crookwell after a court heard he showed “no remorse or empathy”.

Aidan Creed Kelly, 21, appeared in Goulburn District Court on Thursday after a jury found him guilty of sexual intercourse without consent and knowing the victim did not consent.

The court heard the victim was at a local pub in Crookwell with some friends on the night of November 22, 2019, when they met Kelly (then 19), who none of them had previously met. Judge Julia Baly told the court CCTV from the hotel showed Kelly positioning himself near the victim throughout the night, despite her clear disinterest in him.

“It is abundantly clear she was not sexually or otherwise interested in him but he persistently pursued her,” she said.

Local man Aidan Creed Kelly sexually assaulted a woman in Crookwell in 2019 after a night out. Picture: Google

When the victim and her friends left the hotel and went to a home to keep drinking, the court heard Kelly tagged along.

At the house, Judge Baly said “(t)he offender was clearly intoxicated. At one point, he removed his clothing and referred to his penis as a ‘grower’. He also said he was going to ‘smash’ the victim.”

The court heard the victim went to sleep in the spare room with a male friend while Kelly slept on the sofa. In the morning of November 23, the court heard the two friends left early while Kelly was asleep on the sofa and the victim was still asleep in the spare room, a closed door between them.

The court heard the victim was woken by Kelly having sex with her. For a moment, the court heard she believed it was her male friend with whom she’d had consensual sex the night before but then Kelly said “wake up, wake up” and she knew it wasn’t him.

The court heard she pushed him off her, exclaiming “what the f***” as she scrambled away from him, while he said “let me finish you off”.

She went to another room and texted her friend, saying she’d been raped. The friend called the police and the ambulance on her way to look after the victim.

Kelly tried to say the victim had cried rape because she was annoyed he couldn’t maintain an erection to have sex with her – a feeble lie labelled “plainly untrue” by Judge Baly.

“The fact is that the offender decided he was going to have intercourse with the victim and set about that course,” she said.

“The offender displayed a sense of entitlement by which he assumed he could do whatever he wanted.”

Aidan Creed Kelly was sentenced to jail at Goulburn District Court on October 28. Picture: James Lane

Judge Baly told the court Kelly knew the victim didn’t consent because she was asleep at the time he penetrated her vagina without protection.

“Mr Kelly’s conduct was contemptuous and presumptuous of the victim’s personal rights and bodily integrity,” she said.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the victim said her repeated attempts to show her disinterest in the offender were ignored. The victim said, after the attack, she was afraid to interact with men for fear of “giving them the wrong idea”.

The victim said she’d been afraid to leave the house after the sexual assault and didn’t think people would believe her.

“It took me weeks to go back out in public. I didn’t know what to do or where to go,” she wrote.

“I‘m still confused, vulnerable, not able to trust anyone, and – even after all these years - I have this sense of disbelief.”

The victim said she was unable to sleep and developed an eating disorder as a result of the sexual assault, during which she felt “like my body was no longer mine”.

Crown prosecutor Christopher Todd said Kelly showed “no remorse or empathy” for his offending.

“Mr Kelly doesn’t accept in the face of evidence that his actions were wrong,” he said.

The court heard a sentencing assessment report had judged Kelly’s risk of committing another sexual offence to be ‘above average’.

The victim made a statement about the sexual assault at Crookwell Police Station in 2019.

However, his lawyer Cara Feiner said the court should take into account Kelly’s difficult childhood, mental health issues, and youth.

“He’s not a child but he’s certainly not too far out of childhood,” she said.

Judge Baly agreed youth and the lack of criminal history were mitigating factors, but said Kelly committed an offence of “extreme violence”.

“The offence of sexual intercourse without consent is a crime which the community is rightly concerned about,” she said. “Unfortunately it is prevalent.”

She sentenced Kelly to a total of five years and nine months imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and nine months. He will be eligible for release on May 5, 2025.

The court heard Kelly continues to maintain his innocence and has lodged an appeal.