Christians Under Attack

Hajy Baba Rahmanian, 60, was found guilty of rape by a jury and is awaiting sentence after losing an appeal against his conviction.

The court heard that in June 2006 the 19-year-old victim got into Rahmanian's taxi after a party at North Adelaide.

Her friends rode with her to Hindley Street in the city where they got out to continue celebrations and told the taxi driver to take the victim home because she had been passing out and was severely intoxicated.

The Court of Criminal Appeal judgment said a GPS tracking system in the taxi showed Rahmanian travelled towards the victim's house in Adelaide's southern suburbs but then veered off course.

He took her to his own house at Dover Gardens and had sexual intercourse with the unconscious teenager.

The victim remembers nothing of what happened, except for waking up some hours later with some clothing removed.

It was not until months after the rape that police tracked Rahmanian down, when he went to the victim's house and left a jar of honey on her doorstop, then tried to call her.

In sentencing submissions, Rahmanian's lawyer Grant Algie urged mercy, saying the crime was odd and at the lower end of the scale.

He said the Iranian immigrant did not fully appreciate the severity of the crime under Australian law.

"There is a very reasonable possibility that given his cultural background and limited insight into laws and sexual behaviour, he didn't realise that having intercourse with somebody who is unconscious and therefore not consenting is a very serious crime," Mr Algie told the court.

"Mercy, in my submission, could and should have a significant role to play in Your Honour's sentencing.

"He is extremely remorseful about the current situation concerning the impact on his family."

Prosecutor Chris Edge said Rahmanian abused his position of trust and the crime warranted a significant prison sentence to deter other taxi drivers from such crimes.

"The public should be able to trust taxi drivers to take them or their friends home safely," he argued.

"It's not uncommon for intoxicated people, including lone females, to rely on taxi drivers to take them home."

Mr Algie said Rahmanian was from an educated family and had worked for the Iranian government on a cure for cholera before he was the target of torture and religious persecution when Iran changed leaders.

The prosecutor asked that Rahmanian be taken into custody immediately, but Mr Algie said the judge should carefully consider a suspended jail sentence.

Rahmanian was remanded on continuing bail ahead of sentencing next month.

 

http://www.abc.net.au