Collingwood nightclub sex assault: Judge slams ’emotional’ abuse of rape victim on social media

Online mocking and harassment of a young woman blamed for her own assault has been rebuked by a judge as a form of emotional rape.

At the age of 19, the young woman was raped and sexually assaulted by a driver who picked her up outside a Collingwood nightclub where she was celebrating a friend’s birthday, claiming to offer a free Uber ride.

Instead, 50-year-old father-of-five Abdouslam Alsharif took advantage of the young woman by locking his car doors and driving to a secluded street where he committed a predatory and deliberate attack.

Alsharif sexually assaulted her in the passenger seat of his car as she repeatedly protested and told him to stop.

She passed out and woke up when he raped her.

The woman sent her location to a friend via Facebook and that information was passed on to the police who found her on a nearby street, where Alsharif had left her.

The woman has undergone intensive trauma therapy for two years since the attack, including three weeks in the hospital’s psychiatric ward.

“In the back of my mind I really don’t think I’ll ever recover from what happened, which breaks my heart because I just really miss who I was before it happened,” she said.

The woman revealed she was further upset by cruel comments on social media and websites, including comments blaming her for what happened, and making a meme.

In sentencing Alsharif to seven years behind bars for his crimes, County Court Judge Liz Gaynor also denounced the online commentators.

It’s an attack that could have happened to their sister, daughter or partner, she said.

“As for the people using social media to mock and taunt the complainant, their actions were, in my opinion, a form of emotional rape.

Alsharif (pictured) offered the young girl a free Uber ride as she left a nightclub in Melbourne’s inner city Collingwood before sexually assaulting the teen in his car

“It has greatly contributed to the suffering of a young woman, already reeling under the weight of the trauma inflicted on her.”

The court heard that Alsharif had come to Australia from Libya on a scholarship to study a PhD in biology, but funding was cut off after the fall of the Gaddafi regime, which also led to the persecution of his family.

He was granted refugee status in 2014 and became an Australian citizen a year later.

Poor English meant he could only get a low paying job as a research assistant and he turned to driving to make ends meet.

He experienced trauma following his family’s persecution and struggled with not being able to financially support other families abroad.

Alsharif’s victim has undergone intensive trauma-based therapy for two years since the attack, including three weeks in a hospital’s psychiatric ward

His lawyer described him as vulnerable, but admitted that there was no connection between his mental state and the crime.

Judge Gaynor previously lashed out at the right of some men to relieve their own emotional anguish and distress by sexually assaulting young women.

“(There’s) this idea of ​​a man in turmoil — something clicks in his head and the way to alleviate that is to sexually assault a woman,” she said.

She said the right belonged not to men, but to young women and all riding passengers on a ride home, safe from predatory sexual assaults that wreak havoc on every aspect of their lives.

Alsharif is eligible for parole after serving four and a half years behind bars.