Gangland shooting victim Serkan Kala jailed for raping woman as she slept in her own home

An Albion thug who survived a Gangland-linked shooting hit has left a woman traumatised after raping the victim in her home.

Serkan Kala, 28, was jailed for raping a woman in her own home. Facebook.

A woman who was raped as she slept in her home has told a court she has been left feeling “cold” and suffering nightmares since the attack.

Serkan Kala, 28, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a minimum four years’ jail after pleading guilty to rape.

Kala preyed on his victim after a gathering at the woman’s property in January last year.

The court heard the woman had fallen asleep on her couch after her visitors left and woke to find Kala on top of her in the early hours of the morning.

“The victim yelled ‘get the f*** off me … She pushed (Kala) off her,” the prosecution said.

“She got off the bed and put on her pants, and went to the kitchen to get a knife to defend herself.”

Kala, who suffers from an intellectual disability, self-presented at Moonee Ponds Police Station about 10.45am and asked to speak with an officer in private.

The Albion man said he carried the woman to help her get to bed and that she was “moaning like she was awake the whole time”.

He took his pants off and they had sex before the woman “acted” like she woke up, he said.

He said he didn’t believe the woman was sleeping, claiming that he kissed her neck and ear and she was “loving it”.

He also admitted to smoking two points of ice.

In a victim impact the woman said she struggled to trust men and was left battling anxiety, depression and nightmares.

“I’m very rarely happy like I used to be … I miss the old me,” she said.

“If you walked into my home before this happened you would feel love, happiness, homeliness … now it feels empty with no love and no laughter … it feels cold.

“I can’t believe I was such a bad judge of character.”

Judge Chris Ryan said at an earlier hearing that Kala’s interviews indicated a “limited intellect”.

“He’s both accepting and not accepting responsibility … going to the police station, giving an account saying ‘I’ve done the wrong thing’ …(as well as saying) ‘she was fully awake and she was loving it’,” Mr Ryan said.

“It’s almost as if there’s a man with limited intellect battling the two versions of events that are available to him in his mind and he simply puts both forward.”

Kala’s lawyer said her client, who was shot by an associate of the stepdaughter of slain underworld figure Carl Williams in 2014, had been significantly impacted after his father was involved in a serious car accident when he was a child.

The disability support pensioner also felt like an “outsider” at special schooling due to his large physical size, the court heard.

He plans to buy a house in Turkey and start a new life overseas with his mother.

“He has a complex mental health history which has been exacerbated by drug use,” the defence said.

Kala, who had spent 365 days in custody, was jailed for a maximum six years.

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