Two Indian men were today found guilty of abducting and raping an Australian woman in Canberra using a social media application.
Ajitpal Singh, 31, and Randhir Singh, 21, were found guilty by an Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court jury on charges of sexual assault, committing acts of indecency, unlawful confinement, and abduction.
During the five-day trial, the court heard Randhir and the victim had met via social media application, Tango, on September 25, 2013.
They swapped sexual messages and agreed to meet at Kippax Fair Shopping Centre in Canberra the next day.
When the victim tried to back out of the meeting, Ajitpal threatened her child and said he would show her husband the messages exchanged between them, the Canberra Times reported.
Randhir then drove the victim to Ajitpal's flat, forcing her to give him oral sex in a car, and unsuccessfully tried to have sex with her on the way.
The woman said she pleaded with Randhir to let her go, but was ignored and raped in a bedroom of the flat.
During the assault, a third man, Jaskaran Sandu, 33, took two pictures of her with Ajitpal's phone. Ajitpal used the pictures to blackmail and rape her.
Crown prosecutor Margaret Jones said the men had hatched a "calculated and devious" plot to force the victim to have sex with them, exploiting her desperation and naivety.
Jones said the woman blamed herself and in her mind, believed they were going to tell her husband about the sexual messages.
But defence barristers said the sex had been consensual and their clients denied threatening the victim.
The duo could expect to be deported to India after they serve their sentences, to be delivered later this month, according to the report.
The jurors found Randhir not guilty on one count of committing an act of indecency on the victim while prosecutors withdrew one charge of committing an act of indecency against Ajitpal during the trial.
