Joseph Ayoub has bail revoked after ACT Supreme Court jury finds him guilty of brothel rape

Joseph Ayoub was initially nowhere to be found on Thursday afternoon, when the ACT Supreme Court jury indicated it had reached verdicts in his trial.

He eventually turned up just after 4pm, by which time Justice David Mossop was preparing to take the verdicts in his absence given jurors had been waiting for about an hour.

Ayoub subsequently sat, showing no signs of emotion, as the jury foreman declared him guilty of engaging in sexual intercourse without consent, second-degree sexual assault, and assault.

Jurors acquitted him of three further counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

Each of the charges related to an early morning incident that occurred in September 2020, when Ayoub, a seasoned brothel patron said to have visited such venues 150 times, attended a bordello in Mitchell.

Dubbed "naughty Joey" by a receptionist who described seeing him "slapping his cock around", the Sydneysider pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied any wrongdoing with the sex worker he saw.

He told police claims he had raped the victim were "absolute nonsense", and was recorded telling his brother the allegations were "all bullshit".

The jury disagreed, with prosecutor Morgan Howe remarking during a successful application to revoke Ayoub's bail that the guilty verdicts related to non-consensual choking, digital penetration and spitting.

Ayoub had, throughout the trial that began last week, argued he had paid to do these things and they had been consensual.

The further charges, on which the jury returned not guilty verdicts, related to two allegations of penile-vaginal rape and one of non-consensual oral intercourse.

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Ayoub had argued there was never any penile-vaginal penetration, and that the oral sex had been consensual.

His barrister, John Purnell SC, opposed Mr Howe's application to have Ayoub's bail revoked in light of the three guilty verdicts.

Mr Purnell proposed that Ayoub live with his mother in Sydney and "play a caring role for her".

He told the court the offender could work with his brother as a bricklayer, while Ayoub's sister was prepared to offer a surety to secure bail.

Mr Purnell also indicated he hoped to have Ayoub seen by doctors in Sydney in order to have reports prepared for the purposes of sentencing.

The defence barrister further submitted that while Ayoub had been found guilty of three charges, the victim's injuries were "of a transitory nature" and the offender had been cleared of "the gravamen of the allegations".

But Mr Howe pointed to the seriousness of the offences the jury had found proven and Ayoub's criminal history, which contained convictions for violent crimes and previous stints behind bars, as he argued the offender would inevitably be sentenced to further time in custody.

He noted Ayoub had spent about 11 months remanded in custody prior to his trial, but he said this was "not enough" and a non-parole period exceeding that length of time would be an appropriate outcome.

Mr Howe also raised concerns about whether Ayoub would appear at his sentencing if he was allowed to remain on bail, noting a previous non-attendance on the offender's record.

Justice Mossop ultimately agreed Ayoub was likely to receive a custodial sentence exceeding the time already served on remand.

The judge decided to revoke bail, citing this, the previous failure to appear in court, and the fact Ayoub lived outside the ACT as the primary reasons for his decision.

Ayoub's case will now go before the court's registrar, for the purposes of obtaining a date for his sentencing, next Thursday.

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