Geelong Powercor fiend Raymond Nimmo pleads guilty to sexually assaulting Melbourne woman

A Geelong IT professional who sexually assaulted a sleeping woman initially claimed he and the victim had been “heavy petting”.

Raymond Nimmo pleaded guilty to sexual assault.

A Powercor Geelong IT employee who sexually assaulted a woman in her own bed after meeting the victim at a city bar has not been made a registered sex offender.

Raymond Nimmo, 35, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a 12-month community correction order after pleading guilty to two sexual assault charges.

Nimmo met his victim at Daha Bar in late-2019.

The pair talked, visited another pub ‘The Irish Times’, then caught an Uber back to the woman’s home.

The victim told Nimmo “nothing sexual was going to happen tonight as they were too drunk”.

However, Nimmo sexually assaulted the victim after she fell asleep.

Nimmo continued his lewd offending despite the victim waking up and telling him “don’t”.

The victim then told Nimmo to leave but grabbed his phone number so she could “identify” him.

The victim later rang a friend.

“Something bad has happened,” she said.

“I think I’ve been raped.”

The victim also said she told Nimmo to “stop” and she “played it cool” to get his phone number.

The victim, who knew Nimmo as ‘Ray’, then referred the matter to police.

Nimmo, who was interviewed in July 2020, admitted meeting his victim at the bar but denied offending.

“I just remember occasionally seeing her at the bar and we got into chatting about

something, flirting, banter,” Nimmo told police.

“We both had a drink (at the second bar), yeah, we were … we were all dancing.

“Yeah, as I said there was some dancing and we kissed a few times …

“I remember we got an Uber back to hers, we did kiss a few more times in the

Uber.

“When we got back to her place there was some more kissing a bit of heavy petting and stuff …

“I think she ended up wanting to sleep and then I ended up lying on the bed with her and that’s when I decided I needed to get home.

“She started to feel sleepy, and she definitely seemed like she wasn’t up for it which is,

you know, we were both completely smashed so I can understand that.

“I remember going up to her room with her.

“It’s highly possible I was touching all of the … possibly genitals but I don’t, I don’t

remember I don’t want to say that I was because … I’m saying I don’t recall that happening at all.”

The victim, in a statement read to the court, said Nimmo “stripped me of my dignity”.

“(Nimmo) shattered any feeling of safety (and) stole years of my life … am I off course for good …

“I’m often afraid to fall asleep … (I) relive the night … you crawled into my bed … ‘mum, help, stop, no!’ …

“I’ve been screaming and begging for help … it’s been disturbing for me … I’m so fearful of being assaulted again …

“The panic attacks are relentless … I’m scared of men … the toll this has taken on me is inhumane … I am unable to trust … you stole that trust from me.

“(I have) painful memories… I will never forget the fear you instilled in me that night … you will never silence me.

The matter was set down for trial but was resolved after Nimmo accepted a sentence indication for pleading guilty to sexual assault.

Nimmo also wrote the victim an “apology letter” which she accepted.

The defence, which submitted Nimmo’s offending was “out of character”, said Nimmo had started drinking at a work Christmas party earlier in the day.

“(It was a) drunken bad decision,” the defence submitted.

The court heard Nimmo was a good student who did some volunteer work when he was young.

Nimmo also has a “strong work history” which includes his current stint as an “IT professional” at CitiPower Powercor Geelong, the court was told.

Judge Anne Hassan said Nimmo committed a “cruel crime”.

“Your actions have consequences,” she said.

Nimmo was convicted but not made a registered sex offender.

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