A man has been jailed for raping a woman who thought he was her on-and-off romantic partner after he attacked her in her bed following a night drinking together.
Fabian Boroumand, 45, has been sentenced to three years and six months’ jail with a non-parole period of 18 months for sexual intercourse without consent in the early hours of March 12, 2023 at the victim’s inner west apartment.
Fabian Boroumand has been jailed for raping a woman in her inner west apartment in March 2023.Credit: Facebook
The Herald has obtained transcripts from Boroumand’s November 2024 District Court trial, which heard the woman returned home from a day out at La Perouse and invited over Scott Anderson*, a friend of 10 years, about 7pm on March 11.
While she and Anderson were good friends, the court heard they had been romantically involved on and off. The woman picked Anderson and two of his friends up from a hotel he was staying at and took them to her unit.
At her apartment, the three men went up to the balcony with the woman and two of her friends and began drinking together.
The prosecution alleged the woman and a heavily drunk Anderson went to bed together in the woman’s room at the end of the night.
The court heard that after Anderson left her bed at some point, Boroumand got into the woman’s bed and digitally penetrated her.
The prosecution submitted that the woman thought Boroumand was Anderson and went along with the act, not realising who he was until she rolled over and they began kissing.
The court heard that when she realised his identity, she yelled at him to get away and ran down the hallway.
The victim’s testimony cannot be detailed due to legal protections for sexual assault victims, but Anderson’s evidence outlined his account of the harrowing moments that followed. The victim also cannot be named for legal reasons.
A transcript of Anderson’s testimony shows he told the court he got very drunk that evening and fell asleep on the loungeroom couch about 10pm.
Asked during cross-examination about separate evidence that the victim guided Anderson to her room to sleep and that he got up and left at some point during the night, he said he did not remember doing this but acknowledged he was extremely intoxicated.
“The next thing I remember was her [the victim] waking me up,” Anderson told the court.
“She was pretty distressed, shaking me and telling me to wake up … It had to be like 5am, I slept right through and then I woke up to her yelling and screaming, crying. Like, it took me a little while to get what was going on.”
Anderson said the woman told him Boroumand had “jumped in her bed” and to “get him out”, but he and the man’s other friends were already gone.
“I just had to console her … You can just imagine what she was like,” he told the court.
Anderson described having a shower, laying down with the woman for a while and then going with her to McDonald’s to get some breakfast and talk further. There, he suggested she consider going to the police and the pair went to their separate homes.
During cross-examination, Anderson told the court that he messaged Boroumand the next day on Facebook and wrote “something along the lines of ‘did you have sex with her or put your fingers inside her?’ ”
Asked by the defence lawyer if he got a response, he said: “Yeah. I got a response something like ‘lol, sorry bro’.”
The woman reported the sexual assault to police on March 13.
During the trial, Boroumand’s defence team suggested Anderson could have performed the sex act and was so drunk he could not remember it happening.
In response to the defence lawyer asking if there was a possibility he may have digitally penetrated the victim that night, Anderson said: “No, not at all.”
The lawyer continued: “But you don’t remember anything from that night?”
Anderson responded: “I know I didn’t do that.”
On April 6, 2023, Boroumand was arrested and granted police bail with conditions to report to police three times a week and not contact or harass the victim.
He pleaded not guilty to rape and was found guilty by a jury on November 13, 2024.
Acting District Court Judge Paul Conlon jailed Boroumand on Tuesday, backdating his sentence to February 20, the date his bail was revoked during a detention application following the guilty verdict.
He will be eligible for parole on August 19, 2026.
*Anderson is a pseudonym used to protect the victim’s identity.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.