Indian IT worker spared deportation despite sexually assaulting 17 women in Melbourne

An Indian immigrant IT worker who avoided jail despite sexually assaulting 17 women at a Melbourne nightclub has now been spared deportation.

David Arokiaraj Maria Anthony Rayan, 35, had his visa cancelled in September, but appealed the decision at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) which ruled in his favour earlier this month under the Labor federal government’s Ministerial Direction 110.

The tribunal found it was “highly relevant” that County Court Judge Peter Rozen had decided not to jail Rayan or place him on the sex offenders register and determined he was a “very low risk” of reoffending, but also found that the Australian community would expect his visa to be cancelled.

However, the tribunal took into account the effect of deportation on Rayan’s three-year-old daughter, stating she “will benefit more if he is resident in Australia rather than limited to video and telephone contact if he is removed”, even though there is an intervention order in place preventing him from seeing the child.

“Since the 2023 offending it is not evident that [Rayan] has made much of an effort to see his daughter but the continuing IVO and his apparent lack of access to proper legal assistance probably explains that for the most part,” the tribunal found.

“[Rayan] did testify that not only does he want contact with his Australian citizen daughter but that he wants to be a very real part of her life growing up. [Rayan] has essentially an unblemished character, save for the 2023 offending.”

The tribunal also found Rayan’s mental health would be negatively impacted if he was removed from Australia as he was getting therapy for depression and anxiety, despite Judge Rozen referring during sentencing to a psychologist’s report saying he did not suffer from “any mental ill-health”.

Direction 110 replaced Direction 99 in July last year after outrage over serious criminals being allowed to stay in Australia, and despite listing “community safety” as the “highest priority” in visa decisions, still requires tied to Australia and the interests of minor children to be taken into account.

The tribunal’s decision came after South African engineer Matthew Gruter, who had no criminal record, had his work visa cancelled and was put in immigration detention and deported within weeks for taking part in a peaceful and police-approved protest against the influence of the Jewish lobby on Australian politics.

Rayan, who came to Australia in 2018 and was an IT analyst at Big Four accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, was in May given a two-year community corrections order including 180 hours of unpaid community work, and had his visa cancelled on character grounds 18 days later.

Judge Rozen, who was appointed in 2022 under the Dan Andrews Labor government, described Rayan’s offending as “most concerning”, but found he had a low risk of reoffending as he had no prior convictions or pending charges and no mental health issues, and described the offending as “out of character”.

A month earlier Rayan pleaded guilty to 17 counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted sexual assault after targeting 18 women at the nightclub in Prahran on September 23, October 14 and October 21 in 2023.

CCTV footage from the nightclub showed Rayan mainly targeting women who were with other men, and Judge Rozen said during a previous court appearance he was lucky not to have been slapped by any of the women or their partners.

Prosecutor Nicholas Donaghy told the court Rayan first denied allegations from two women and lied in police interviews, saying he may have “accidentally” touched them, but CCTV footage then revealed another 16 victims.

Rayan’s defence barrister Alexander Patton told the court his client was working as a delivery driver after losing his PwC job.

Mr Patton said Rayan had not explained his offending, but said his client was “craving social interaction” after his marriage broke down, and suggested the former IT worker may have been seeking sexual gratification.

Last year it was revealed that magistrates in Victoria are being trained to give immigrants jail sentences of under 12 months in order to avoid triggering federal deportation laws which require the cancellation of visas of non-citizen criminals who have been sentenced to a year or more in prison.

And in 2019 Victoria’s Sentencing Advisory Council looked at how deportation could be used justify lower sentences, finding that deportation may be treated as an additional form of punishment, may cause offenders anxiety, and may reduce prospects of offenders being granted parole.

Header image: Left, right, David Rayan (7 News).

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