An electrician has been sentenced to prison after orchestrating a heinous assault on a 75-year-old client in her residence, later attempting to shift the blame onto his wife for not fulfilling his sexual desires.
Despite his wife’s testimony in court, describing him as “loving and respectful,” it was not enough to sway the jury. Amol Vijay Dhumal, aged 45, was convicted of sexual assault without consent in a jury trial held in September. This conviction stemmed from the attack in 2024 at the victim’s home in Mount Colah, located in north-western Sydney.
The crime took place on April 22, 2024, when Dhumal was dispatched to the elderly woman’s house to install solar panels. During their interaction, he inquired about her living situation. Upon learning that she lived alone, Dhumal made inappropriate advances, attempting to hug and kiss her under the guise of familial affection, claiming she resembled his mother.
Despite the woman’s clear refusal and request for him to leave, Dhumal initially departed the premises with a colleague, only to later commit the assault.
She told him she lived alone before he hugged her and tried to kiss her, saying she reminded him of his mother.
She rejected his advances and told him to leave, which he did with a fellow tradie.
Dhumal was back at her house two days later, however, to fix a problem with her power, and it was then he asked her about her kids and how often they came around to visit.
Dhumal told the elderly woman his wife never had sex with him and grabbed the 75-year-old again, trying to drag her into the bedroom.
The woman was raped in her lounge room by tradie Amol Vijay Dhumal who was over to fix solar panels
The rape occurred in Mount Colah in north-western Sydney in 2024
Judge Craig Everson SC sentenced Dhumal to five years in prison and will be eligible for parole in April 2030.
‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ the woman said at the time.
Dhumal then attacked the elderly woman and raped her in her lounge room, causing injury to her.
Judge Craig Everson SC said: ‘I’m satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Dhumal asked those questions to ascertain the extent to which he would be detected raping the victim in the minutes that followed.’
The woman was too traumatised to be in court with her rapist as Dhumal was sentenced last week.
But she wrote a victim impact statement, which said she had been ‘not living, but only existing’ since the attack.
‘This is the most torturous tragedy of my life. I’m in prison in my own home,’ she wrote.
She said she still lives in fear in her own home despite the fact her attacker is behind bars.
The woman said she had always given her time to volunteer causes and supported multiculturalism in her community, but after the attack she had ‘withdrawn from it all.’
‘This home is supposed to give me the security, peace and lasting good memories but now it is a horror tragic place to live,’ she wrote.
‘I now bolt all the windows and doors and feel so alarmed that out there someone knows I live alone – and will just come in again and harm me.’
Dhumal told NSW police she was a liar who was trying to set him up for the rape
His wife, Gauri, was in court for her husband’s sentencing, and although she didn’t want to comment on the rape, she told the court: ‘My husband is loving and respectful.’
The court heard Dhumal was remorseless, and the judge said it was ‘ludicrous’ to think he wasn’t at risk of raping again.
His victim described him as a ‘very evil person who has a very evil mind, evil heart, an evil and filthy mouth.’
Soon after the woman reported the rape, Dhumal told police she was a liar who was trying to set him up because he did not answer a phone call from her.
‘The fact that he denies the offence and shows no remorse suggests to me that he is at risk of reoffending, at the very least because he’s not able to grasp what properly involves consent,’ Judge Everson said.
Dhumal was sentenced to five years in prison and will be eligible for parole in April 2030.
He has lodged an appeal but will stay in jail until his appeal is determined.
