An Indian-origin man who sexually assaulted 17 women at a Melbourne nightclub in 2023 has now been saved from deportation as a tribunal ruled that deporting him would not be fair for his three-year-old daughter. The man, however, is prohibited from meeting his daughter as he pleaded guilty to the sexual assault; he also lost his IT job. But he was not jailed and now he works as a driver in Australia and won’t be deported. The Noticer reported that 35-year-old David Arokiaraj Maria Anthony Rayan got his visa canceled in September in the fallout of the sexual allegation charges but he appealed against the ruling and now he gets to stay in Australia. The decision, shocking for the Australian community, was taken at the Administrative Review Tribunal. Rayan was not even jailed for his 2023 offence, even after he 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 — all in 2023. County Court Judge Peter Rozen had at that time determined Rayan to be of low risk and that his assaults were ‘out of character’.Initially, Rayan denied the charges and said he might have accidentally touched the women but CCTV footage revealed that he targeted women who were with other men. Rayan’s attorney said his client was “craving social interaction” after his marriage broke down. But after he pleaded guilty, he was given a two-year community corrections orderThe tribunal said Rayan’s three-year-old daughter will suffer if her father is sent back to India — though there is an intervention order in place preventing Rayan from seeing the child. To keep the offender in Australia, the tribunal also said that his mental health would be impacted if he were deported, though a psychological report confirmed that Rayan did not suffer from any mental illness.
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