Sayer Alenezi Sydney rape victim speaks of distress

A young girl has told of her emotional distress and impact the ‘callous behaviour’ of an Iraqi refugee has had on her life after he raped her in a laneway in Sydney’s CBD.

An Iraqi refugee who pleaded guilty to raping a woman in a dark Sydney alleyway has had to listen to his victim say she had never felt so “ashamed and scared”, a court has heard.

Sayer Hamood Jaber Alenezi, 39, was arrested in November 2019 after police made a public appeal to find him after he targeted an intoxicated woman and raped her in a laneway in Sydney’s CBD.

Alenezi faced the NSW District Court on Friday for sentence over a charge of sexual intercourse without consent relating to a horror late-night 2019 incident in Woolloomooloo.

Sayer Alenezi captured on CCTV footage on Oxford Street, Sydney. Picture: NSW Police

The court heard he sexually assaulted the 22-year-old woman in a laneway after she left a bar on Oxford St at Surry Hills earlier in the night.

He was residing in Australia on a bridging visa at the time.

Defence lawyer AJ Karim told the court that the offending was “low-range” and “opportunistic as there was no element of planning.”

“In my submission, this is at the lowest end of the scale and is below mid- range,” Mr Karim said.

“He did not know the possibility of her not consenting, there is nothing to say that it wasn’t consentual.”

Crown prosecutors told the court despite Alenezi’s defence claiming it was at the lower end of the scale of offending, the victim had been “significantly” impacted.

“Alenezi left the victim in a gutter in a dark alleyway in Sydney’s CBD, he left her unclothed, heavily intoxicated and vulnerable to further danger,” the prosecutor said.

“To add to the disregard, his final act was throwing the victim’s wallet at her, and then running away, demonstrating a callousness to the offenders behaviour.”

A victim impact statement was read during sentencing on Friday, saying Alenezi should be punished for what he did.

“He should be punished accordingly for the choice he made, not only for the impact that it has had on me for the rest of my life, but for the safety of others,” the victim said.

The victim described the moment she realised what had happened to her.

“As I started to sober up and realise the severity of what happened to me, I felt completely numb and in total shock,” she said.

“I never felt so scared, ashamed and alone in my life, I was stripped of my clothes because they were taken for evidence.”

The court heard the victim went into a downward spiral, causing three months of self-destruction.

She said she lost respect for herself, “felt worthless, hopeless” and lost all value in her identity.

The victim said she turned to drugs and alcohol to help “escape”.

“I was in a state of constant fear and slipped into a major depression, blaming myself for what had happened,” she said.

“I felt it was my fault.”

The court heard the victim attempted to take her own life multiple times.

“The feeling of shame led to multiple suicide attempts, one ending in a high-range DUI and a written off car, which I am lucky to have walked away from,” the victim impact statement said.

Alenezi is currently in custody at Sydney’s Long Bay correctional centre and faces up to 14 years’ imprisonment for the crime.

He is likely to be deported at the conclusion of a jail sentence.

Judge James Bennett adjourned Alenezi’s sentencing to October 8.