Man admits raping student in Melbourne

19:07 AEST Thu Aug 5 2010
1 hour 44 minutes ago
By Daniel Fogarty

An Indian national arrested as he was trying to flee the country has pleaded guilty to the brutal abduction and rape of a young university student.
Harjot Hundal Singh dragged the woman into his windowless van, tied her hands and told her to stop shouting or he would kill her with a knife, the Victorian County Court heard on Thursday.
Singh also punched the woman, who had been walking home from Springvale station in Melbourne's east, and grabbed her around the throat, before pulling her pants and underwear off.
He drove the van for a few minutes before stopping and raping the student, who was a virgin, without using a condom.
The attack occurred near the station about 11pm on June 18 last year.
Singh was arrested at Melbourne Airport with a one-way ticket to India two days after being interviewed by police about the attack.
On Thursday, Singh, 27, a married father, faced a pre-sentence hearing after pleading guilty to rape, abduction and intentionally causing injury.
Prosecutor Ray Gibson described the attack as "abhorrent".
"It is every woman's nightmare or person's nightmare to be alone at night, dragged off the street, taken from behind ... locked in a windowless van and raped," he said.
Mr Gibson said the victim, who like Singh was a foreign national trying to make a better life in Australia, received two black eyes and bruising and abrasions to her back, hands and legs.
He said the attack was in the "very, very serious category" and called for Singh to be jailed for between 12 and 14-and-a-half years with a non-parole period of at least nine years.
Singh's barrister Paul Higham conceded the offending was serious and that there were aggravating features.
He said his client had gone for a drive in the van, which he had borrowed to move house, because his wife and mother were arguing.
Mr Higham said his client's life had been dominated by others.
"What he has done is see this woman and use her as a vehicle for the re-imposition of control," he said.
Psychologist Patrick Newton told the court Singh became aroused as the victim refused him and he exerted control over her.
Mr Newton said Singh understood that he had a very negative impact on the victim.
Singh, of Springvale, had been living in Melbourne with his wife who was a student.
He is likely to be deported when his sentence ends, the court heard.
Judge Marilyn Harbison will sentence Singh, who has been in custody since he was arrested at the airport, on August 27.

Woman, 81, bashed by taxi driver
12:42 AEST Sun Aug 15 2010
A taxi driver bashed and robbed an 81-year-old woman who earlier requested to be driven to a Melbourne medical centre, police say.
Police investigators have been told the victim caught a taxi from a bus stop at the corner of Frank and Douglas streets, outside Coles in Noble Park between 11am and midday (AEST) on Saturday.
They believe the woman asked to be taken to a medical centre and gave the taxi driver the approximate fare up front.
The driver began to drive in the opposite direction and when the victim requested he turn around, he drove to Taranto Drive and held down her seat belt so she could not move.
He then allegedly punched her in the face a number of times and removed cash from her purse, police say.
"The driver threw the purse back at her, pushed her out of the taxi and drove away," police said in a statement.
"The victim managed to seek assistance from a nearby resident in Taranto Drive where an ambulance was called."
The Noble Park woman was taken to Dandenong Hospital where she was treated for swollen, black eyes and bruising to her shoulder and hand.
Police say her attacker is of Indian sub-continental appearance, with short hair, solid build and wearing glasses with red arms.

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