Carlton Club assault: bouncer Abbas Rezai jailed for sexually assaulting young female patron
A bouncer at a popular city bar sexually assaulted a young woman, then denied any wrongdoing even after clear footage of his lewd act was played in court.
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A Carlton Club bouncer who preyed on and sexually assaulted a female patron as she was trying to leave the popular city venue has been jailed.
Abbas Rezai, 25, was sentenced in the County Court on December 12 to nine months’ prison after he was found guilty of sexual assault.
Rezai, who was found not guilty of rape, preyed on the young woman as she was leaving the Bourke St bar in late December, 2017.
The crowd controller, who had been at the venue for six months, passed his victim while she was walking down the stairs from the third floor just after 2am.
Rezai was captured on CCTV looking back at the woman as he walked past.
He waited for his victim to pass him on the second floor landing when put his hand up her dress and, in “swift motion”, sexually assaulted her.
Rezai, who was standing next to an open door, gestured his victim to enter a staff only area of the venue.
“Come and have some fun with me,” he said.
The woman, who pushed Rezai away, told her attacker she would report him.
Rezai panicked and shut the struggling victim out of the room.
He was then caught on camera smiling and laughing as he walked away.
The “extremely distressed and emotionally distraught victim” ran back upstairs and reported Rezai to another security guard who informed the venue manager.
She told her friends what happened and they accompanied her to a police station.
Rezai was arrested in January, 2018 but denied touching the woman.
He maintained his innocence throughout a trial, even though footage of him assaulting the woman was played to a jury.
Rezai testified he had just asked his victim if she was OK.
Judge Martine Marich said the jury “rejected” Rezai’s account and
it had been a “very distressing and traumatic event” for the victim.
In her the victim impact statement, the woman said the offending was “completely out of my control”.
“I will forever avoid stairwells in dark venues and find myself feeling unsafe whenever I am out or alone in public places at night,” she said.
“I had so many sleepless nights and my mental state at times resulted in me being physically sick.
“I have never felt more like I need to support and defend women and this can result in me getting offended easily.
“I find it hard to trust … I lost my spark.”
Judge Marich accepted a characterisation from Rezai’s defence counsel that the offending was a “momentary lapse of judgment” but said it was a serious example of sexual assault.
“You have not been able to acknowledge (what) is plainly shown in the CCTV footage and you have continued to maintain your innocence,” she said.
“You sir, were in a position of paid responsibility towards her and her general welfare but you took advantage her in a most intimate, embarrassing, traumatic and entitled way.
“She was an object for your gratification in that minute … she was not even given the opportunity to defend herself from your urge to touch her
“This is the type of incident that creates fear and disgust in women that they are never safe from opportunistic sexual violation.
“And it arouses disappointment and disgust in the rest of the community that no one is ever really safe from offending such as yours.”
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Judge Marich took into account Rezai’s traumatic childhood spent in a Taliban-controlled part of Afghanistan before he fled by boat.
He spent time in immigration detention on Christmas Island before he was granted refugee status in Australia.
Rezai, who may have his refugee status cancelled, will undertake a two-year community corrections order when released.