A 24-year-old Melbourne man will serve four years behind bars for rape and indecent assault after he attacked and raped his girlfriend’s identical twin sister.  The man claimed he mistook the woman for her twin, then said she had assaulted him.After the victim reported the rape, the assailant called her a liar and said she made sexual advances toward him.  He said she was jealous of her sister, his girlfriend, and said further that the woman was motivated to make the false rape allegations because she wanted attention from her ex-boyfriend who "had so unceremoniously dumped her".But, the victim claimed he had told her he had fantasized about her and knew what he was doing when he attacked her. The court believed her side of the story.The woman had been rooming with her sister and her partner after ending a relationship of her own. She was sleeping in the spare bedroom when the man entered, initially to talk to her, but later began removing her clothes, eventually raping her. After the incident, the man immediately called his partner and told her that her sister had sexually assaulted him.  He repeated this claim to police before telling officers he was confused by the whole matter because his girlfriend and the victim look identical.

Image Courtesy of Xavier Sotomajor

“That was a bizarre thing to say given you'd been talking to [the victim] about her, and her issues, for over an hour,” Victorian County Court Judge Felicity Hampel challenged him. “The light was on in the bedroom, you were in the spare bedroom, not the one you shared with your partner. She told you to stop but you continued.”She went on to accuse the man of opting for the “cowardly way out,” adding, “Instead of owning up and taking responsibility and trying to make amends, you denied it.  You reduced her reputation, attacked her honesty, blamed her and ruined her relationship with her twin.”And, the judge wasn’t finished. “This offending is a terrible breach of trust. It may well have been opportunistic, not planned, but it was calculated. It took place at the time the victim was vulnerable. Women should feel safe in the presence of the males of their families. They should feel safe in their own homes or in the homes of family members where they’ve been invited to stay,” she said.The victim said she has tried to commit suicide over a dozen times since she was attacked, which caused her to become estranged from her twin.  'All I have ever wanted was for him to say sorry and admit what he has done to me,' she said. "By reporting it to police I was made to feel that I did something wrong, and my ability to trust and love has been diminished.”She can rest assured her assailant will be imprisoned for at least two years before becoming eligible for parole.

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Man jailed for raping his partner's twin took 'cowardly way out'Man, 24, is jailed after raping his girlfriend's identical twin sister who he claims to have mistaken for his partnerMan claims mistaken identity after raping his girlfriend’s twin sisterMan blames confusion for raping girlfriend’s identical twin