A Moroccan immigrant has been jailed for at least four years for trying to rape one female stranger and sexually assaulting another in Canberra.
Youssef Rekni, 45, appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday after previously pleading guilty to attempted sexual intercourse without consent, committing an act of indecency in the third degree and committing an act of indecency without consent.
Justice Jon White SC found that Rekni, who moved to Australia in 2013, worked as a house painter and obtained citizenship, showed little remorse, and sentenced him to seven years’ imprisonment with a four-year non-parole period, Region Canberra reported.
The court heard Rekni attacked his first victim in March 2022 after he spotted her waiting for a bus alone in Watson at about 2am, parked his white van near the bus stop, and asked her if she wanted a lift.
The woman felt frightened so started walking home, but heard footsteps behind her before Rekni grabbed her from behind, forced her to the ground and indecently assaulted her.
Rekni fled after the woman’s screams for help alerted a bystander, who approached while shouting and waving a torch.
Justice White described the attack as “a horrific instance of male entitlement”, and said the woman was “completely vulnerable” when she was “stalked” and “preyed upon” by Rekni.
His victim told the court she was “still afraid of the dark and unable to walk outside on my own” as a result of the attack.
Then in November 2023 Rekni met his second victim while she was walking along Lonsdale Street in Braddon at 2am, and the pair had a cigarette together. He offered her a lift home and she accepted, and then agreed to let him inside to meet her dog.
But Rekni refused to leave, pushed her to the ground, pinned her down and sexually assaulted her before she managed to push him off and run to a neighbour’s home, telling them “he tried to rape me”.
At a sentencing hearing earlier this month Rekni cried in court while saying through an interpreter that he carried “great guilt”, but blamed his offending on drinking alcohol for the first time, being under the influence of cocaine, and being under stress because his wife had cancer.
He told the court that his wife “used to fight with me on any minor issue”, and said he would “need to leave the house to get away from that”.
Header image: Youseff Rekni (Region Canberra).
