Canberra court finds Habib Atai, 27, guilty of sexual assaults against girl with disability

In a recent ACT Supreme Court judgment, 27-year-old Habib Atai was found guilty of two counts of indecent acts and one count each of sexual intercourse without consent and attempted sexual intercourse without consent.

In January last year, Atai met the victim via a friend at the Woden shopping centre before driving her to his apartment where he tried to have sex with her then forced her to perform oral sex.

During the judge-alone trial in mid July, the case was largely based on the victim's evidence.

She had been hanging out with friends at the centre. When they went home early, she stayed and called a boy, 17, whom she met on Snapchat about one month earlier to hang out.

He arrived with Atai, 25 at the time, and they told her they were going to have a "sesh" that involved smoking weed.

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She went with the duo to an apartment in Belconnen where the 17 year old said he wanted to take a nap and Atai asked him if he could sleep in the other room so he could have some alone time with her.

The victim said Atai got closer and tried to touch her.

He said words to the effect of "come on, you got me hard" before grabbing her hand and putting it on his penis.

Atai then told her "Oh, let's go" and "Just let's do it" before getting on top of her on a mattress where he tried to kiss her.

After they got up, he exposed his penis to her before trying to have sex with her.

After she told him to stop, he said "suck my dick instead" and forced it in her mouth. He ejaculated on her face and shirt then laughed.

During the offending, she kept telling him numerous times to stop, including "I don't want you to do that" and "Get off me".

She was then dropped off in Tuggeranong. After telling family and friends, she went to the police.

In his evidence, the offender said via an interpreter that "I was single and I felt sorry for the girl".

He said she was "supposed to come and have sex, that was our understanding" because she agreed to become his girlfriend, which she said she could not remember.

The victim's father, who described her as special due to her having a disability, also gave evidence and said when she told him, he saw a bruise on her neck and hands.

The teenage boy whom the victim met on Snapchat in his evidence denied arranging for Atai and the victim to have sex.

A DNA analysis of the victim's shirt showed that Atai "could not be excluded as a contributor".

In the judgment, Justice David Mossop described the victim as a "very credible witness".

"On each occasion [of evidence giving], she appeared to have matured," he said.

"She gave the impression of being a generally and sexually naive young woman at the time (of the incident).

He said most aspects of the victim's version of events were shown to be accurate and corroborated by other evidence, including CCTV at the shopping centre, other witnesses and the DNA analysis.

"There was nothing that the complainant had done to indicate that she consented," he said.

"The conduct occurred after the accused had been told that she did not want to do anything."

Justice Mossop said the offender was also reckless as to her consent.

"Because he, in fact, knew that she did not consent," he said.

"That is because I accept beyond reasonable doubt the complainant's evidence that she told him that she did not want him to go near her or touch her, that he had forced her to touch his penis and she said she did not want to do anything and moved room."

Atai will be sentenced at a later date.

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