A Western Australian court has handed down a 17-year prison sentence to a man who violently sexually assaulted a vulnerable 76 year-old woman.
Though appalling in any situation, sexual violence against an older woman alone in her own home during the day and unable to defend herself, is particularly heinous. The long sentence is this case reflects the Judge’s assessment of the severity of the crime.
The woman has died since the attack occurred.
According to a report in Perth Now, Judge Bruce Goetze described the attack as “appalling”.
It would have been clear to the perpetrator, Mugahed Adam Eldouma, who was 40 at the time, that the woman was defenceless and vulnerable, the Judge said.
“The state of the house probably indicates that she was unable to really look after herself in the home,” Judge Goetze said.
“This really shows then her defencelessness which makes your sexual offending all the more appalling.”
“With her age, she was vulnerable and unable to defend herself given her physical ailments,” the Judge explained.
People ought to be able to feel safe in their own homes, the Judge said.
“She was alone, she was in her home where she ought to feel safe from any interference.”
The attack occurred in June 2018, when Mr Eldouma broke into the older woman’s home through a window and began to sexually assault her.
Somehow the woman managed to call triple-zero and was able to provide them with her address.
Mr Eldouma refused to leave the woman’s home and continued to attack her, punching her and sexually assaulting her time and time again.
When police arrived and arrested Mr Eldouma, he lied, telling them he had a close relationship with the woman.
Mr Eldouma only admitted to committing the attack on the eve of his sentencing.
Mr Ebell, representing the state, said, “It appears… that belatedly Mr Eldouma does accept responsibility for the offending but continues… to minimise his culpability, to downplay the seriousness of the offending and to lack any insight into the severity of the offences and which the jury convicted him of.”
Judge Goetze conceded that Mr Eldouma had had a traumatic childhood in Sudan and had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse.
But he said the attack would have had a devastating effect on the victim.
The maximum sentence was 20 years.
Image: welcomia, iStock. Stock image.
