An Indian origin in Australia has been found guilty of raping five Korean women in Sydney after drugging them, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The District Court jury in Sydney’s Downing Centre on Monday found that the predator, Balesh Dhankhar, lured five women into the web of lies then paralysed them with drugs and hoarded trophies of his callous assaults. But the verdict could only come after Dhankhar forced those women to face gruelling cross-examination in court and condemned the jury to watch traumatic recordings of his attacks.
During the verdict, only Dhankhar’s wife supported him. Dhankhar sold his family’s assets and properties to fund his legal defence. He was assigned a rising star barrister.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Dhankhar could have pleaded guilty in the past five years, which might have earned him a discounted sentence in exchange for saving his victims the trauma of giving evidence.
His decision to contest the charges means he now faces many years in prison for his crimes.
Dhankhar cried on Monday as the jury foreman replied “guilty” to each of the 39 charges against him. He asked to remain on bail but Judge King refused before Dhankhar was handcuffed and led away by officers.
Dhankhar will face court again in May and will be sentenced later in the year, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
In 2018, police found dozens of videos of Dhankar with other women, the report added.
Sometimes the women are unconscious, other times they struggle and groan as if in a nightmare.
The videos were sorted into folders, each labelled with a Korean woman’s name. Then detectives found a series of bookmarks in Dhankhar’s browser, reported The Sydney Morning Herald
