A University of Wollongong masters student and part-time waiter found guilty of raping a work colleague after a boozy work Christmas party has been dealt a scathing critique by the judge who presided over his trial.
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Judge Andrew Haesler labelled Mithun "Matt" Shanmugam an "unimpressive witness" who gave a series of "contrived" answers when questioned by police about the January 2019 incident in a bid to characterise his victim as a "flirt" and a "seducer".
He found the nature of Shanmugam's evidence did not get any better when he gave evidence at his trial in Wollongong District Court last week, saying he "at times subtly, at time too blatantly" raised matters to "paint the victim in a bad light".
The court heard Shanmugam and the victim had been out with colleagues on January 6 for a late work Christmas party when they returned to the victim's place in the early hours of the morning along with a heavily drunk friend.
The trio went to sleep in the victim's bed.
The victim said at one stage when the drunk friend went to the bathroom to vomit, she saw Shanmugam was masturbating. She said he then rolled over and continued masturbating while spooning her.
He then molested her and tried to rape her anally, before successfully inserting his penis into her vagina.
The woman told the court she was in shock and didn't know what to do so she pretended to be asleep.
She said he then put a condom on and again inserted his penis into her vagina. She said she brushed him off at that stage and jumped up under the pretence of helping their mutual friend, who was still vomiting in the bathroom.
The woman confronted Shanmugam via text message the following day, eliciting a series of grovelling apologies.
"Omg omg no no...shit...f--k, what have I done?" Shanmugam wrote.
"I'm so so so sorry...what I have done is very unethical, extremely rude and very inappropriate....I don't know from where this behaviour came out and I'm deeply disappointed and disgusted with myself."
In another text message, Shanmugam said "it's extremely wrong of what I've done and it was the mix of alcohol and weed....I never intended to hurt you and I never will."
The victim reported the matter to police and Shanmugam was arrested on January 17.
The court heard he denied the allegations and claimed the victim had initiated sexual contact by masturbating in front of him then "backing towards him with her behind and encouraging him to spoon her".
He said she then got up to help their friend but did not return to the bed and went downstairs with their friend.
He claimed to have not read the victim's text messages properly before responding to them, saying his apologies had been because he felt he'd done the wrong thing by rubbing against her while they were spooning.
He also claimed he had an "apologetic" type of personality.
However, the court heard Shanmugam also spoke about the victim's behaviour, saying "the way she dressed that night...she was just rubbing my chest and everything" was "seducing".
"I thought maybe she was keen," he said, despite acknowledging the victim had repeatedly told him she didn't want a relationship with anyone from work.
Judge Andrew Haesler ultimately rejected Shanmugam's denials, instead finding that the sexual assaults had occurred as the victim had described them.
"[His] answers to police questions were contrived, they were not convincing," he said.
"They did not become any more convincing when given on oath....I find his account to be untruthful in significant respects.
"I can comfortably reject his version of events. The acts alleged occurred - the victim did not consent."
He was also scathing of Shanmugam's attitude towards the woman's behaviour that night: "being flirty or skanky, cuddling, wearing sparse summer clothes, drinking and smoking a bong are not indicators of consent to sexual intercourse".
"In some situations cuddling and flirting or spooning can of course be indicators of consent to sexual touching but here I find nothing done by the complainant fell into that category," he said.
"Nothing in [her] behaviour could be regarded as an invitation for a sexual encounter."
Judge Haesler found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and two counts of unlawful sexual touching.
He will face sentencing on September 17.