Former aged care worker jailed for sexual assault of woman at Dandenong park
A former aged care worker sexually assaulted a woman at a Dandenong park after he was placed on the sex offender register for a prior offence.
South East
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A former aged care worker sexually assaulted a woman at a Dandenong park after he was placed on the sex offender register for a prior offence.
Joseph Lukudu, 40, was sentenced at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after he was found guilty of sexual assault and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
The court heard a woman was sitting on a bench at Dandenong Pioneer Memorial Gardens when Lukudu sat down next to her in May last year.
Lukudu, who was drunk at the time, talked to the woman about “personal matters”.
He moved hair away from her face and asked her to be his girlfriend. .
Lukudu then ran his hand up her thigh and grabbed her genitalia.
He was interviewed and charged in July but denied the allegations.
In a victim’s impact statement, the woman said she felt upset, overwhelmed and anxious.
“When I think about him, I get so angry,” she said.
“My anxiety has got worse, I can’t go anywhere near Dandenong or parks.”
The woman said she quit her job and experienced suicidal ideation because of the offending.
The court heard Lukudu was born in South Sudan and was exposed to civil war in the early 1990s before he moved to Australia.
In 2006, he was in a car crash and sustained a head injury where he was admitted to the psychiatric ward at Dandenong Hospital for six months.
Due to the crash, Lukudu didn’t return to working in the aged care sector or a meat factory where he had previously been employed.
The court heard the man was placed on the sex offender register for life after a prior conviction.
Lukudu’s lawyer Olivia Thompson said the man had a brain injury and was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
She said his mental illness ultimately impacted his moral culpability.
Magistrate Jason Ong said the offending had a “profound impact” on the victim.
Lukudu was convicted and sentenced to five months in imprisonment.
