Billboard rapist: Arsalan Amin, 20, too small for adult jail, will serve time at youth justice centre
A 20-year-old student and former Saudi cricketer raped a drunk Year 12 girl and filmed his vile attack, leaving her deeply traumatised. But a judge will allow him to serve time in a youth justice centre, because an unavoidable physical trait made him “very vulnerable” in jail.
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A 20-year-old international student who filmed himself raping a young woman he took from a city nightclub has used his “small stature” to avoid doing time in an adult prison.
The County Court on October 28 heard Arsalan Amin, of Saudi Arabia, pounced on his 18-year-old victim as she celebrated at Billboard nightclub in October 2018.
He plied her with drinks and offered to drive her home about 3am, then took her to his student accommodation instead, where he raped her and filmed the attack on his phone.
But Amin, who pleaded guilty to rape and sexual assault, will serve his three year and six month sentence at a youth justice centre after Judge Michael O’Connell agreed with a case worker who argued Amin’s size would make him vulnerable in an adult prison.
“You are a young offender with no prior convictions who was brought up in a relatively sheltered environment,” Judge O’Connell said.
“You are small in stature, you were particularly immature, impressionable and likely to be very vulnerable in an adult prison.”
The court heard a concerned friend of the girl told police she was so drunk she was “unable to maintain eye contact”.
The victim told investigators she felt strange compared to other times she had consumed as much alcohol and her recollection was “hazy”.
She said she couldn’t recall getting from Amin’s loungeroom to his bed and had woken to find Amin raping her, then passed out again.
After she woke again she discovered her pants were missing and she started to cry.
Amin told her to stop it and then drove her home.
Police arrested Amin later that evening after they found used condoms and the girl’s underwear at his home.
Investigators discovered four videos on Amin’s phone of him raping and sexually assaulting his victim.
Detectives who viewed the 45 minutes of footage said she was “unresponsive” throughout the ordeal.
But Amin said “she was really enjoying it”.
“She didn’t even try to stop me once,” he said.
In her victim impact statement, the girl said her memory of the night was “never having felt so alone and violated”.
“It was a life-changing moment,” she said.
The girl said she was “more prone to being upset” and suffers “intrusive thoughts”.
Her Year 12 results also suffered as she had to sit exams after the rape.
Amin grew up in Saudi Arabia and came to Melbourne to study a bachelor of sports management at Victoria University in July, 2018.
He played in the Saudi Arabian national under 19 cricket before joining Sunshine Cricket Club.
It was tendered at his plea that Amin had hoped to play cricket at the “highest level”.
Judge O’Connell said Amin’s offending was “inherently serious”.
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“Here the exploitation and violation of a young woman whom you knew to be extremely vulnerable whilst filming her without her knowledge or consent necessarily requires a stern response,” he said.
“Nor, in sentencing you, can I lose sight of the fact that your offending changed a young woman’s life very much for the worse.”
Judge O’Connell also took into account Amin’s lack of priors, his early guilty plea and his “genuine remorse” when sentencing.
Amin, who spent 270 days in immigration detention, will be deported after his release.