Melbourne Magistrates’ Court: Andrew Brandan Anis guilty of sexual assault at Clyde North home

A drunken grub got into bed with a sleeping woman and sexually assaulted her before he fell from the bed, waking the victim’s brother.

Andrew Brandan Anis, 31 pleaded guilty to sexual assault in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on September 19. Picture: Nilsson Jones

A drunk father who sexually assaulted a sleeping woman in the same room as family members was told he would have been jailed if not for significant delays in the case.

Andrew Brandan Anis pleaded guilty to sexual assault in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday more than four years after the incident inside a Clyde North home.

The court heard that 2019 Anis hosted a party when a woman, who was not known to him, went to sleep about midnight before a heavily intoxicated Anis, a PNG national, slid into the bed and began sexually touching the sleeping woman.

Magistrate Andrew Sim was told Anis removed the woman's underwear and continued to touch her despite her waking, pushing him away and repeatedly telling him to stop.

Anis then stood up and fell to the floor, making a loud noise that woke the woman’s brother.

The court heard the next morning party guests learned of the assault and confronted Anis, telling him to apologise, but he refused.

The woman attended a police station and made a statement within about a week, althoughAnis was not arrested and interviewed until almost two and a half years later.

Magistrate Sim noted the great degree of anxiety and stress caused to the victim, as well as the accused – who faced the prospect of prison – due to delays in the proceedings that could not be attributed to Covid.

Mr Sim said Anis had a relevant history for stalking and trespassing that although was not sexual assault, had a “sexual aspect”.

Defence lawyer Josephine McColl said her client made significant efforts to address his alcohol abuse and was “quite a different man now”.

Ms McColl said Anis suffered a prejudiced childhood in his birthplace of PNG, where he was deprived of food, had absent parents and had to process the murder of his grandparents who raised him.

She said Anis’ ex-wife had moved with their two children to Queensland and told him if he wished to stay involved in their life he would need to follow, which he did.

The court heard he was living in Dandenong before working interstate but had to resign and move back because of his impending sentence.

Mr Sim said there was evidence he had taken serious steps to address his alcohol abuse and change his life and if he was sentencing him much earlier the only option would have been prison.

Anis was convicted and placed on an 18-month CCO and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work.