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Australian court sentences Indian community leader to 40 years for sexually assaulting five women
Balesh Dhankhar used fake job advertisements to deceive women, luring them to locations near his Sydney home, where he drugged and sexually assaulted them.
An Australian court has sentenced Indian community leader Balesh Dhankhar to 40 years in prison for the sexual assault of five Korean women, describing his crimes as “premeditated and elaborately executed.”
The 43-year-old showed no emotion as the Downing Centre district court delivered its verdict on Friday, setting a non-parole period of 30 years, according to a media report.
Dhankhar used fake job advertisements to deceive women, luring them to locations in or near his Sydney home, where he drugged and assaulted them.
The former IT consultant then sexually abused the victims, according to the Australian Associated Press.
He also recorded his crimes for future sexual gratification, the report stated.
While sentencing Dhankhar on Friday, district court judge Michael King described his actions as “premeditated, elaborately executed, manipulative, and highly predatory.”
The judge added that Dhankhar's actions displayed utter disregard for his victims, driven solely by his pursuit of gratification.
“This was an egregious sequence of planned predatory conduct against five unrelated young and vulnerable women over a significant period,” the report quoted the judge as saying.
All the victims, aged between 21 and 27, were either unconscious or severely impaired during the assaults.
Dhankhar maintained a disturbing Excel spreadsheet where he rated applicants of his fake job advertisements based on their appearance and intelligence. It also detailed his interactions with each victim, noting their personal information and his assessment of their vulnerability.
Until his arrest in 2018, Dhankhar was well-regarded in the Indian-Australian community. He founded a satellite group of the Bharatiya Janata Party and served as a spokesperson for the Hindu Council of Australia, according to the report.
He had worked as a data visualisation consultant with organisations such as ABC, British American Tobacco, Toyota, and Sydney Trains. Dhankhar arrived in Australia as a student in 2006.
His outward image as a socially active individual working to improve the lives of others was "entirely inconsistent with his seriously flawed and predatory character" revealed in court, the judge said.
Following his fifth offence in October 2018, police raided his unit in Sydney’s central business district, where they discovered date-rape drugs and a video recorder disguised as a clock radio.
A jury in 2023 found him guilty of 39 offences, including 13 counts of sexual assault.
Dhankhar denied drugging the women or engaging in non-consensual sex, telling a report writer there was a "difference in how I interpret consent, to how the law sees consent."
His non-parole period ends in April 2053, backdated to the conclusion of his trial. His full 40-year sentence will conclude when he is 83 years old.
With PTI inputs
