Man jailed for having sex with de facto wife as she slept
A man who had sex with his de facto wife as she slept has been jailed for five years.
Police & Courts
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A MAN who had sex with his de facto wife as she slept has been jailed for five years.
Toowoomba District Court heard the couple had a healthy sex life but had an agreement that if sex was sought by one as they slept the one seeking sex was to wake the other.
However, the woman had gone to bed and taken a sleeping tablet and slept through the sexual intercourse, Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court.
The woman had woken later that morning and instigated sex with her partner but when she got up in the morning she found a used condom in the bed and knew something was wrong as they didn't ordinarily use condoms, she said.
When pressed by the woman, the man admitted he had had sex with her while she was asleep.
Ms Petrie submitted the man knew his partner was asleep and so she could not possible consent to the sex.
The 27-year-old man, who cannot be named so as to protect the identity of the complainant, pleaded guilty to one count of rape.
Through tears, the woman read her victim impact statement to the court in which she said she had felt violated and had since left the town, had quit her job and was now under counselling and medicated for depression and anxiety.
The man's barrister David Jones said his client had no criminal history at all and was considered highly in the community and 23 people had provided character references in which they spoke well of him.
Mr Jones said the case was an unusual one and submitted there were exceptional circumstances attached to the matter, submitting his client did not necessarily have to serve actual time in jail.
He submitted a wholly suspended sentence.
However, Judge Dennis Lynch QC sentenced the man to five years in jail to be suspended after he has served 15 months in custody.
Originally published as Man jailed for having sex with de facto wife as she slept