David Rayan given CCO after groping 17 women at Revolver Upstairs nightclub
A sex pest who told police that sexual contact with anyone but his wife would send him “to hell” brazenly groped 17 women at a popular nightclub as they embraced other men.
South East
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A former PwC associate who crept behind more than a dozen women and groped them at a popular Melbourne nightclub across three nights has avoided jail.
David Rayan, 35 of Cranbourne, preyed on 17 women across at Revolver Upstairs in Prahran and attempted to sexually assault another in 2023 despite believing sexual contact with anyone but his wife would send him “to hell”.
He was sentenced in the County Court on Monday to a community corrections order for two years, given his lack of priors, good prospects of rehabilitation and guilty pleas.
The father-of-one worked as an IT risk analyst for embattled firm PwC at the time and now works as a delivery driver.
His offending on September 23, October 14 and October 21 took place all over the Chapel St venue, including the bar, the couches, the dance floor and even the stairs.
He told police that flirting with or having sexual contact with anybody other than his wife was against his Christian religion.
“If I think in that way, I will be going to hell,” he said.
Rayan trailed his victims and mostly touched their buttocks while they were in the company of their partners and other family members.
The women were aged between 18 and 48.
In one incident, Rayan stood extremely close to a couple and as they kissed, he touched and rubbed the woman’s body and kissed her arm.
He was thrown out of the bar after staff noticed his behaviour.
On another occasion, Rayan approached two couples at the bar, lingered behind the women to touch their buttocks and even put his hand under one of their tops.
After a couple of minutes, one husband caught Rayan and pushd him away.
He also trailed a woman as she walked up the stairs, bent down and attempted to shove his “puckered lips” under her skirt.
One woman told police she felt so uncomfortable by Rayan’s behaviour she asked a stranger to pretend to be her boyfriend, but he touched her buttocks regardless.
Judge Peter Rozen said Rayan initially denied he sexually assaulted the women and claimed he may have “accidentally” touched them when he was arrested for he second time after police reviewed hours of CCTV footage.
“Your moral culpability for this offending is considerable. I consider that although you were affected by alcohol, your actions were deliberate and you knew what you were doing,” he said.
Judge Rozen said Rayan offended over many hours against a large number of women — women who were entitled to feel safe.
