Aaron Sweet: Ashfield cafe owner jailed for sexually touching woman
A sex predator has been sentenced for touching a woman nearly half his age after plying her with cheap wine. The court heard he had previously sexually assaulted two other women.
Inner West
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A convicted sex predator will be released from prison in November after he was sentenced for molesting a woman nearly half his age.
Aaron Troy Sweet, 45, appeared in Downing Centre Court on Friday where he was jailed for 21 months, backdated to his arrest in December 2020.
The court heard Sweet “breached the trust” of the young woman and was “deceptive” throughout the ordeal, even telling her mother she was safe and on her way home.
Sweet, a father of one, invited the woman to his Ashfield home for a “wine tasting experience” which would involve drinking a $400 bottle.
But instead, it was only a $4 bottle of wine and he sexually touched her after she fell asleep or was unconscious.
Sweet pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of intentionally sexually touching the woman without consent on the third day of his trial of sexual assault last week.
In agreed facts read to the court, the then 42-year-old man repeatedly asked the woman to “go for a wine”.
She made excuses because she did not want to go but she eventually agreed because she “felt bad about saying no so many times”.
The woman organised for her mother to call her about 11.30pm so she could make an excuse to leave.
Sweet picked up the woman, drove her to his home and she drank two glasses of the cheap wine before he showed her his alcohol collection and poured her a glass of strawberry liqueur.
The woman answered a phone call, said she needed to go home and that was the last thing she remembered.
The woman’s frantic and panicked mother spoke with her daughter who was slurring her words and did not make sense.
She spoke to Sweet who reassured her the woman would be put into an Uber and would get home.
The mother demanded to know his address so she could collect her daughter. He lied multiple times saying she had left, was sitting outside and that he put her into the spare room and “it is okay”.
Sweet removed the woman’s clothing and touched her on the vagina while he knew she was unresponsive and did not consent.
The Crown could not prove beyond reasonable doubt any more sexual activity occurred, nor that he had put a stupefying substance in the woman’s drink, or that he had removed her tampon, the court heard.
The next morning the woman woke up confused with no clothes on with Sweet next to her touching her back before she returned home and went to hospital.
In December, the woman called Sweet, while police were recording the conversation, and asked him to recount the night where he claimed “we didn’t have sex”.
Sweet was arrested and charged in December and has been in custody since.
The court heard a victim impact statement from the woman where she spoke of distrusting people, modifying her social behaviour and the ordeal affecting her relationship with her mother.
Judge Jane Culver said the offence was serious because the victim was “particularly vulnerable” being unresponsive, there was a large age gap and breach of trust.
Judge Culver noted there were serious “acts of deception” throughout the night towards the victim and her mother that made the offending more serious.
The court heard Sweet had previously been jailed for a total six years, serving four, for two counts of sexual assault in 2016 against two victims.
The court heard Sweet was “extremely sorry for what he did to the victim and her family” but had previously made similar remarks to his other two victims. Judge Culver noted.
She was concerned about Sweet reoffending given his criminal history and took into account his time in custody being onerous because of Covid.
Sweet was sentenced to 21 months in prison making him eligible for release on November 24, 2022.
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