Balesh Dankhar is accused of raping several Korean women after fake job interviews
The court heard that in October 2018, a young Korean woman met Dhankhar at the Hilton for one of his fake interviews.
In her evidence, the woman said Dhankhar took her to a Korean chicken restaurant and said he was interested in her – she told him he wasn’t.
Prosecutors claim Dhankhar asked the woman at dinner if she had seen the opera house, as he knew a good vantage point – but instead took her to his flat and gave her wine.
She was dizzy, she later told police, and from the bathroom, she texted a friend her location.
“Sister, I’m feeling very drunk, but a different kind of intoxication,” her lyrics allegedly read.
“And I worry about myself. Keeps trying to kiss me…I’m screwed.”
Investigators claim the woman recalled seeing double vision and losing control of her body when Dhankhar held her up at his apartment and tried to dance and kiss her with her.
Another young woman recalled having ice cream and a glass of wine at his house and then nothing until a late-night phone call to her boyfriend.
She recalled being naked and feeling dirty and dizzy, and remembered bright lights, a condom wrapper, and pain. She doesn’t believe Dhankhar had sex with her, prosecutors said.
The woman went to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital two days later, on September 16, 2018, and reported him to the police.
Prosecutors claim they later found two videos on Dhankhar’s laptop of him having sex with her while she was unresponsive and making “desperate noises.”
Dhankhar allegedly ran ads on Gumtree offering translation work for Korean-English speakers.Credit:Janie Barrett
A third woman, according to prosecutors, met Dhankhar at the Hilton and went to the same restaurant.
After going to the toilet, she returned to the table, sipped soju and felt dizzy. Her last recollection was held up by Dhankhar at the counter, prosecutors told the jury.
The woman woke up in his bed fully dressed, her belt missing, but she didn’t feel hungover and went home.
She didn’t think he was having sex with her because she was clothed.
But police later allegedly found ten videos of Dhankhar having sex with the mostly unresponsive woman, who at times tried to stop him.
The jury was told Dhankhar had a “particular inclination” to taking intimate pictures and videos of unconscious Asian and Korean women, and also a particular sexual interest in them.
His attorney, Rebecca Mitchell, noted that the allegations were uncomfortable and confronting, but prosecutors needed to prove Dhankhar’s guilt.
Balesh Dhankhar leaves the Downing Center after another day of his sexual assault trial in Sydney. Credit:Janie Barrett
She did not deny that Dhankhar published the Gumtree ads and did not need translators, nor that he had met the women named in the charges.
It is undisputed, Ms Mitchell said, that Dhankhar had a sexual interest in women and used the ad to meet her, his business was bogus and he was “deceptive”. He also did not deny having a sexual relationship with the women.
“Mr Dhankhar’s case is that each of the complainants consented to sexual acts in which they were involved,” Ms Mitchell told jurors.
Dhankhar also denies the pictures were taken without the women’s consent and denies drugging them, the lawyer said.
Police raided Dhankhar’s home in October 2018, allegedly finding DNA evidence from his bedding and a table of women’s names.
Some entries in the table, allegedly found on Dhankhar’s phone, mention women feeling confused or angry about “base 4,” which police say is an indication of sexual intercourse.
Police allege two types of tranquilizers were discovered in a wine and sports drink bottle in Dhankhar’s fridge and a camera hidden in an alarm clock, the court heard.
A hard drive was found in Dhankhar’s backpack, Sergeant Katrina Gyde, the officer in charge of the case, told the court.
Sgt. Gyde, reading police files, said officers found 47 videos of him having sex with Korean women, kept in folders with women’s names.
Dhankhar sat silently behind his lawyers while videos were played showing him having sex with women in his apartment.
The jury sent a message to Judge Michael King Tuesday saying they wanted to go home early because of the “nature” of the videos.
The process goes on.
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https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/fake-job-sedatives-a-hidden-cam-sydney-man-accused-of-serial-rapes-20230315-p5csed.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_national_nsw Balesh Dankhar is accused of raping several Korean women after fake job interviews
