A nightclub owner's son, who sexually assaulted a teenage girl in a Kings Cross alley and bragged about taking her virginity, has been sentenced to at least three years' jail.
Luke Andrew Lazarus, 23, was sentenced on Friday to a maximum jail term of five years.
Sydney District Court Judge Sarah Huggett described the attack as the "spontaneous and opportunistic" actions of a young man who felt a sense of "power and entitlement" by virtue of his family's ownership of the Soho club.
A string of prominent people, including Waverley mayor Sally Betts, the honorary secretary of the Honorary Consulate-General of Greece in Brisbane, Tsambico K. Athanasas and South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club chairman Nick Pappas provided references for Lazarus, unanimously declaring their shock at his conviction and vying for his good character.
Lazarus had pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. He claimed the 18-year-old woman was a willing participant because she didn't physically resist, scream or say no.
On March 8, a jury found him guilty. The next day the former Cranbrook student resigned from his marketing job at beverage giant Lion.
In sentencing, Judge Huggett said she was satisfied Lazarus didn't "care one way or the other" as to whether the young woman was consenting.
The court heard that, in the early hours of May 12, 2013, the victim went to the Soho club on Victoria Street, Potts Point, with a friend. It was her first visit to Kings Cross.
Lazarus, who worked casually for his father Andrew, the part owner of Soho and the Eastern Hotel at Bondi Junction, approached the woman on the dance floor, told her he owned the club and invited her to the VIP area.
He led her to an exit door that opened on to the alley. The couple kissed but she said she wanted to return to her friend.
As she went to leave, Lazarus pulled her stockings and skirt down and said in aggressive tone, "Put your f---ing hands on the wall."
He then told her to go down on her hands and knees and to "arch your back".
The victim told the court that she was alone in a dark alley and frightened. As he anally raped her, she told him "I'm a virgin."
After about 10 minutes, he gave her his mobile phone, which had a list of women's names. He told her to add hers to the bottom of the list.
In a text message to a friend the afternoon after the attack, Lazarus said: "Was a sick night – took a chick's virginity."
In an impact statement read to the court, the victim said: "A part of me died that day, the part that trusted others."
Later, Lazarus cried as he told the court he once had "the world at my feet" and "I could have been a CEO."
He said media coverage of the trial and conviction had caused his privileged life to come crashing down around him. He has ben "vilified" on social media and has been prescribed sedative and antidepressant medication to cope.
Judge Huggett said Lazarus had shown some remorse for the hurt he had caused. She accepted he had experienced bullying at school, in part due to his short stature, and had revelled in the power and entitlement he enjoyed as the club owner's son.
In a written statement to the court Mr Lazarus said his family had "hoped and intended" to keep the matter quiet. Instead, Soho had suffered a "major backlash" in the form of a significant decline in patronage since his eldest son's conviction. He said after 19 years he is putting his share of the club up for sale.
Lazarus will be eligible for parole in March 2018.
