Crime scene ... the cordoned-off bench at Newtown station.
A man has been jailed for up to 11 years for raping a sleeping teenager at a Sydney train station, a court today hearing it is the third time he has been convicted for sexually assaulting a female as she slept.
Avineshwar Nand, 30, pleaded guilty in the Sydney District Court to assaulting the young woman, 18, who had "passed out" on a bench on the platform of Newtown train station about 5.10am on December 16, 2010.
The court heard that as an insomniac, she had not slept for a few days and had consumed a large amount of alcohol that evening, causing her to fall asleep on the bench.
Nand undressed and sexually assaulted her after getting off a city-bound train, filming the entire incident on his iPhone.
At one stage another train stopped at the station and Nand was heard to remark to one passer-by: "Hey you want to join us?"
Most of the incident was also recorded on CCTV cameras.
When police arrived after reports that two young people were engaging in offensive public conduct, Nand told them the pair had known each other for six years.
"This was a lie," said the sentencing judge, Stephen Norrish.
Both were arrested and taken to Newtown police station but the intoxicated woman soon became more aware of her surroundings, and asked officers: "Was I touched by that guy at the station?"
Nand, from Quakers Hill, was charged later and his iPhone was seized.
Judge Norrish told the court Nand was on parole at the time of this offence. He was convicted of molesting a 57-year-old woman in her home in 2004, attacking her in her sleep and stealing $150 cash on the way out.
A young single mother also fell victim to Nand in 2006, being raped in her bed.
Judge Norrish said much evidence was presented to indicate Nand had a long history of drug and alcohol abuse, which one psychologist reported led to his "underlying deviant drive" being exposed.
For some time after his arrest, Nand continued to deny any memory of the attack, and did not plead guilty until January this year, 14 months after the incident.
To claim he did not realise he was guilty for many months after the event was "quite untruthful and reveal[ed] quite a willful obfuscation on his part", Judge Norrish said.
Nand had told the court he was remorseful for what he had done, but had been "in denial" about his crimes for a long time.
Judge Norrish said despite Nand's claims of a drug and alcohol dependence, none of the evidence before him suggested he was in any way affected by such substances when he attacked the sleeping woman.
In particular, the "confronting" iPhone videos of the assaults showed he knew what he was doing and did so unwaveringly.
Judge Norrish said the young woman could not have been more vulnerable or defenceless when Nand took advantage of her, and rejected his claims that intoxication may have played a part.
"[The victim's] humiliation could not have been more complete, short of publication of the [iPhone] film on YouTube, which fortunately fell into the hands of authorities shortly after the commission of the offence," Judge Norrish said.
Nand was sentenced to a minimum seven-and-a-half year jail term, a further three-and-a-half years to be served on parole.
He applied for a 12.5 per cent discount for saving the victim the indignity of having to come to court and relive her ordeal - although Judge Norrish said Nand had kept her in "a state of uncertainty for far too long".
Nand will be first eligible for parole in April 2019.
Lisa Davies is the Herald's Crime Editor