A refugee who repeatedly raped a woman in front of her children over a three-year period has learned his fate.
Mohammed Ali Ahmad-Rezaei, 46, was sentenced to more than 21 years in jail in the Adelaide District Court on Monday after a jury found him guilty last year of five counts of rape.
The Iranian refugee was also found guilty of single charges of threatening to distribute an invasive image, threatening aggravated harm and threatening a person involved in criminal proceedings.
The sentence is one of the longest ever handed down in South Australia to an offender who has committed rape against a single victim.
The court heard Ahmad-Rezaei repeatedly raped a woman, often near her children, between 2017 and 2020.
Mohammed Ali Ahmad-Rezaei (pictured) was sentenced to 21 years behind bars in the Adelaide District Court on Monday, after a jury found him guilty of five counts of rape last year.
During one of those incidents, the woman became pregnant.
Ahmad-Rezaei, who fled Iran in 2011 for fear of persecution, also threatened to distribute explicit images of the woman when she once tried to defend herself.
He also threatened to run over his eldest daughter with a car.
The woman relived the ordeal in a heartbreaking victim-impact statement, detailing how the physical and emotional abuse inflicted on her had made her life a “living nightmare.”
Judge Leisl Kudelka said the woman’s eldest daughter witnessed the aftermath of the incident when her mother was raped, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
The Iranian refugee raped the woman on multiple occasions in front of her youngest daughter and also threatened to run over her eldest daughter in a car (archive image)
Mohammed Ali Ahmad-Rezaei (pictured) was also found guilty of single charges of threatening to distribute an invasive image, threatening aggravated harm and threatening a person involved in criminal proceedings.
Judge Kudekla said Ahmad-Rezaei raped the woman several times in front of her youngest daughter, while the woman covered his eyes as she cried during her horrific ordeal.
The judge harshly criticized Ahmad-Rezaei, who complained of feeling alone in jail after being taken into police custody last November when a jury found him guilty.
“You terrorized your victim sexually, physically, mentally and emotionally, and you say he is isolated in jail,” Judge Kudelka said.
‘He told the court that in his culture, women have no value and if a father or brother (watches a sex tape) can kill his daughter or sister… they can behead her, the government can stone her to death .
—How isolated do you think she felt?
Ahmad-Rezaei’s victim watched the sentencing hearing via video link.
Mohammed Ali Ahmad-Rezaei (pictured) will spend at least 16 years behind bars
Judge Kudelka paid tribute to the brave victim for risking her safety and that of her children by coming forward to police in 2020 and apologized for the “retraumatizing” nature of her sentencing comments.
“You sacrificed your own safety to protect your children…the jury believed you and I believed you,” he said.
“Thank you for doing what you did and reporting this to the police…this final outcome (of the sentencing) is due to your bravery and courage.”
‘I know that no sentence will overcome the trauma and damage you have suffered.
“I hope you find some peace in the years to come and I hope you keep your children safe and close.”
Ahmad-Rezaei will be eligible for parole in October 2040.
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