Woman lies helpless on street for hours before daylight sex attack

A WOMAN was ignored by hundreds of passers-by as she lay unconscious on a Darwin city street for hours before being repeatedly sexually assaulted

a woman sitting on ground with arm around lower head, sexual violence , sexual abuse, human trafficking concept with shadow edge in white tone, rape. Picture: iSTOCK

A WOMAN was ignored by hundreds of passers-by as she lay unconscious on a Darwin city street for hours before being repeatedly sexually assaulted “in the clear view of anyone who’d care to look”, a court has heard.

Rodney Alimankinni, 41, pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting the woman as she lay passed out near the corner of Smith and Edmunds Streets in December last year.

Prosecutor Stephen Geary said the woman lay unconscious on the ground for more than two hours, during which time another woman stole her skirt before Alimankinni struck.

Mr Geary said nobody came to her aid during that time and Alimankinni was “probably taking advantage” of that fact when he attacked her over the course of 45 minutes.

“The victim was unconscious in that state for a number of hours in the main street of Darwin, observable to anyone that walked past, hundreds of cars, numerous people that walked past and momentarily stared, looked at her and moved on,” he said.

“It’s hard to imagine that that would occur in any other major city in Australia, but it occurred here in Darwin.”

Mr Geary said the 39-year-old victim had caught a bus into the city after spending the day drinking with family at Rapid Creek before passing out across the road from the Throb nightclub about 3.30pm.

“Someone calls out half way through and eventually the dancers at Throb phone police but it really is a shocking event on so many levels,” he said.

In arguing for a lengthy prison term to be imposed, Mr Geary said Justice Jenny Blokland should send a message to the community that women in the victim’s position “are really at a high risk of sexual assault if people don’t take action”.

In sentencing Alimankinni to four years and six months in jail, Justice Blokland said it was “astonishing that no one intervened” but “maybe people didn’t realise exactly what was happening”.

“I would like to think anyone who did comprehend what was happening would take some action to protect the victim and to call for police or other help,” she said.