A 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped inside a darkened Sydney office building after responding to a late-night online job advertisement, with court documents revealing she escaped only by fleeing through a fire exit to a nearby pharmacy.
Rameshwar Prasad Singh, 33-year-old Nepalese national, was sentenced in the NSW District Court last week after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting the teenager at an office building on Cavill Avenue in Ashfield in August 2024.
AS per news.com.au, the court heard Singh had posted a job advertisement on the Nepalese classifieds platform Kaam Kotha offering work for “females only” to help an interior designer with small tasks, promising $29 an hour in cash.
The teenager responded to the listing and was asked to attend the Ashfield site at 8pm the same evening.
According to court documents cited by news.com.au, Singh met the woman at Ashfield Mall before walking her to the nearby office building through an underground car park and taking a lift to the third floor.
It is reported that when they arrived, the woman noticed the building was dark and appeared empty. Singh allegedly told her the lights sometimes did not work and claimed other employees would begin arriving later, asking her to come early because she was new.
The documents state the woman became uneasy and phoned a friend, who advised her to leave while staying on the call. She then told Singh she needed to go because her sister was unwell.
As she entered the lift to leave, Singh followed her inside and blocked her from pressing a button. He allegedly grabbed her phone and disconnected the call before the lift opened on another floor.
Court documents, as per news.com.au, state Singh then pushed the woman to the ground and raped her while she repeatedly tried to push him away and begged to be allowed to leave.
The victim later told police she believed she was “going to die” during the attack. The offender allegedly told her he would let her go after five minutes and warned her not to tell anyone.
After the assault, Singh left the area briefly, taking the woman’s phone with him and saying he was going upstairs to retrieve his own device.
While he was gone, the teenager searched for a way out of the building, eventually locating a fire exit. She ran to a nearby Chemist Warehouse pharmacy, where she reported the assault.
It is further reported that the police were contacted that night and the woman was taken to hospital, where she was treated for genital injuries.
Singh was arrested on August 21, 2024. He later pleaded guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent, receiving a 25 per cent sentencing discount for his early plea.
As per news.com.au, court documents also noted Singh was in Australia on a temporary graduate visa at the time of the offence.
The court sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of one year and nine months. Taking into account time already spent in custody, Singh is expected to be eligible for release in May 2026.
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