Fake Covid officer had history of coercing women

A man who posed as a Covid officer to try to blackmail a woman into a sex act had a history of coercing women, it has been revealed.

Abdulfatah Awow has a history of coercing women, a court has heard.

A Covid helpline calltaker who conned his way into a woman’s home and threatened to have her deported if she did not “make him happy” sexually had a history of coercing women, a court has heard.

Abdulfatah Awow, 26, posed as a Department of Health inspector and wrongly told the woman she was quarantining “illegally” by living with roommates but he would “lie to protect her” from deportation to Taiwan in return for sexual favours.

Awow, a wannabe soccer star, had duped his way into the woman’s Burwood bedroom after taking advantage of his role working at the coronavirus hotline in June last year to access her private details – including her address and visa status.

In a plea before the County Court of Victoria on Monday, a judge slammed the “very troubling” crime, which she said threatened the public’s trust in the government at a time when community anxiety about the pandemic was at an all-time high.

Judge Angela Ellis rejected the defence’s labelling of the offending as at the “lower end of the scale” and the submission Awow should spend no further time behind bars.

“I view this as really serious offending,” Judge Ellis said.

“He’s really entered (the house) with the purposes of his own gratification, I think this offending is really troubling,” she said.

The court heard Awow had previously been charged with threatening to distribute an intimate image, after a female friend used his phone to log into her Facebook account and never logged out.

Awow sent photos to the friend with the caption: “Look what I found, these photos may end up somewhere else”, the court heard.

Judge Ellis asked his lawyer, David Hancock, if he agreed there were similarities between the prior offending and the current matter.

“There is the coercive nature of it, yes,” Mr Hancock said.

In the most recent matter, Awow had contacted the victim, aged in her 30s, on July 14 as part of a routine check-up to ensure she was safely isolating at home following her return from NSW.

It was during this official call, he took a photo of the woman’s personal details and saved it to his mobile phone.

At 8.30pm that night after his shift had ended, Awow called the victim pretending to be a Covid-19 inspector, saying he needed to “come and check her room”.

He then travelled from his parent’s home in Brunswick across town to Burwood and repeated the lie that he was conducting an official inspection, pacing through the woman’s home taking photos and writing down notes.

Prosecutor Stephanie Clancy said the behaviour demonstrates this wasn’t a “momentary ruse”.

“He was taking steps to perpetuate the idea that he was there in both an official capacity and she had done something wrong,” Ms Clancy said.

The court heard Awow told the victim “other girls” he had checked on had co-operated with his requests.

Following a call from the woman’s boyfriend, Awow left the house, but continued to call her five more times that evening.

Awow was arrested three weeks later and pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and attempting to procure a sexual act by threat in March.

The court heard the victim was so traumatised by the events she left her home that evening and never returned, eventually relocating to NSW.

“This has profoundly affected her sense of safety,” Ms Clancy said.

Mr Hancock said his client was a relatively young man who had fallen into daily cocaine use after his “obsession” with becoming a professional soccer player failed.

Mr Hancock also pointed to Awow’s guilty plea and remorse.

Judge Ellis will sentence Awow on August 23.