A former BHP employee has been jailed for greater than 5 years after raping a colleague at a mining camp after an evening of heavy ingesting.
Ryan John Zabaznow, 37, was discovered responsible in May of sexual penetration with out consent in Newman in Western Australia’s Pilbara area on November 18, 2020.
His sufferer instructed the WA District Court she woke as much as discover Zabaznow raping her after she handed out inside her donga.
He denied it and mentioned his Facebook messages confirmed the encounter was consensual however the jury disagreed after deliberating for about 4 hours.
Outside courtroom after Zabaznow’s sentencing on Monday, the girl mentioned she was proud her story sparked a parliamentary inquiry into sexual assault and harassment inside the WA fly-in fly-out business.
“And that it was my voice that spoke for fellow FIFO workers within the industry that felt ashamed alone and too scared to come forward at the time,” she instructed reporters.
“That man not only took away my happiness and my happy go lucky personality with what he did, but he took away my career, my goals and my aspirations.”
The courtroom was instructed the pair had been ingesting with different FIFO employees on the camp’s bar earlier than the assault and continued socialising when it closed.
Zabaznow and the girl shared an intimate dialog about their previous relationships earlier than ingesting outdoors the girl’s donga with different colleagues.
As the night time wore on the girl, who mentioned she drank about 15 mid-strength beers, began to really feel unwell.
A good friend put her to mattress after she vomited and she or he handed out.
The jury heard Zabaznow entered the girl’s room and climbed into her mattress after her good friend left the scene.
The lady instructed the jury she woke whereas Zabaznow was raping her.
She mentioned she was initially undecided what was occurring and began to cry.
The assault stopped when two different employees heard “sex noises and moaning” and knocked on the girl’s door to test if she was OK.
They discovered Zabaznow within the lady’s mattress.
BHP mentioned in May it took “courage and bravery” for the girl to talk out about her “traumatic” expertise and the corporate continued to help her.
“Sexual violence is completely unacceptable and has no place in our communities or in our workplaces,” a spokeswoman mentioned.
“At BHP, we are determined to eliminate it from our workplaces and we are committed to creating a culture that is safe, inclusive and respectful at all times.”
BHP sacked Zabaznow in December 2020 after an inside investigation.
Zabaznow was sentenced to 5 years and two months’ jail and should serve three years earlier than being eligible for parole.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
