Colin Charles, Deepak Joseph and Shams Rehman front court over BDSM gang rape accusations

An alleged rapist will be allowed to travel overseas to see his family while on bail despite facing eight charges over the alleged BDSM-style gang orgy rape of a woman.

Joseph Deepak (left), Colin Charles (centre) and Sham Rehman (right) who are charged over an alleged BDSM gang rape of a woman have returned to court for a committal hearing.

A man who was part of an alleged gang rape of a woman who was tied up and gagged will be able to travel to India on his new bail conditions.

Colin Charles, 36, Sham Rehman, 64, and Deepak Joseph, 40, fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on December 18, each facing eight rape charges relating to the alleged gang attack of a woman in Bentleigh East in April 2022.

The court was closed on Monday and Tuesday while the alleged victim gave evidence about the incident.

In August, the woman told a Melbourne court she had been tied up, completely gagged, blindfolded and had noise cancelling headphones put in her ears.

The woman has alleged she was bound, gagged, blindfolded and had noise cancelling earbud put into her ears prior to the alleged gang rape.

She told the court she didn’t know there were other people present and had not consented to group sex.

The Herald Sun reported the trio had argued they were “not reckless in assuming consent”, saying it was “highly unlikely” the alleged victim didn’t know there were multiple men present.

Despite being gagged, the men said her “words” and actions had no “objections whatsoever”.

Further, the men alleged the complainant smiled when her blindfold was taken off and saw other people in the room, before Mr Charles allegedly said “welcome to your gang bang”.

The complainant said she had given consent for bondage to Mr Charles, but denied giving implied consent for group sex, saying she did not know other men would be involved.

Colin Charles

The court heard the woman had met Mr Charles on Adult Matchmaker – an online platform – where she’d previously met Mr Rehman, who she knew as “Mike”.

Mr Rehman told police he had functioned as an “organiser” for 15 years, where he would organise “rendezvous” for three to four people who were interested in sexual experimentation or swinging.

In text messages read to the court, an exchange between Mr Rehman and Mr Charles discussed the alleged victim’s sexual boundaries, where Mr Charles said “she won’t freak out, she would really enjoy it”.

“No boundaries with this one, she is very wild,” the court heard.

Mr Charles – of Bentleigh East – allegedly brought Mr Deepak and Mr Rehman into his bedroom where they allegedly engaged in multiple sexual acts with the woman against her will.

Mr Joseph, 40, will be able to travel to India while on bail for the alleged gang rape.

On Wednesday, the third alleged offender Mr Joseph asked for a bail variation to be allowed to travel to India if his father were to become unwell or pass away.

Despite strong opposition from the prosecution, Magistrate Tim Schocker granted the bail variation, saying he “was entitled to the presumption of innocence”.

Mr Joseph will have to inform police and the courts of his plans to travel to India within a 48 hour period and is only permitted to leave for 14 days.

He will have to provide evidence of a return ticket and an address of residence in India.

This comes after Mr Charles was ordered to surrender his Indian passport to the consulate in August.

The committal hearing was adjourned for further disclosure of evidence from the prosecution, and will continue as a special mention on February 12 in 2025.