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A Melbourne restaurateur has avoided prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on an Emirates flight from Melbourne to Dubai in 2023.
Ronan Hookens, 66, was convicted in the Melbourne Magistrates Court of committing an act of indecency against a child under 16-years-old, despite attempts by his legal team to discredit the victim’s evidence.
The court was told Hookens was seated next to the teenage girl and her mother, while also near his wife and eight other family members.
Ronan Hookens has been found guilty gross indecency after inappropriately touching a 14-year-old girl on a flight to Dubai
Several hours into the flight, the girl awoke to find Hookens stroking her leg. Hookens, who was 64-year-old at the time, then touched the girl’s groin area outside her clothes, before putting his fingers inside the band of her underwear.
“She grabbed your hand and threw it back towards you and told you to f--- off and not touch her like that,” according to a summary read to the court by magistrate Stephen Ballek on October 17.
Immediately after the assault, the girl posted an image to social media of her sitting next to Hookens with the caption: “I’m sitting next to this creepy man.”
After disembarking in Dubai, the 14-year-old informed her mother, who was asleep at the time of the assault. The incident was reported to Victoria Police in November 2023 and later referred to Australian Federal Police.
Hookens’ barrister repeatedly challenged the credibility of the teen’s evidence, and claimed her account was implausible, given the incident occurred in economy class while Hookens was surrounded by nine members of his family. The barrister also said the girl’s evidence had evolved since she was first interviewed by police. Hookens pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence.
However, Ballek accepted the girl’s account and described her as a “witness of truth”.
“I cannot accept the submission that her credibility and reliability is impugned to the extent that I should have any doubt in her version of events. Any inconsistencies in her evidence can, in my view, can be explained by her young age at the time,” Ballek said.
“I believe she has been honest at all times and has not fabricated, lied or misled in her description of what happened. I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the events happened,” he said on October 17.
Now 16-years-old, the victim told the court of her ongoing trauma caused by the assault. The girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she had suffered from depression, panic attacks, self-harm and suicidal ideations over the past two-years.
“I have lost my sense of feeling safe with anything I do. It feels like I’m not in control of my life any more. I live in constant fear, anxious, and I struggle every day with the trauma of what happened,” she told the court at a sentencing hearing on November 7.
Hookens, who operates an Indian restaurant in Eltham, was sentenced to a two-year community correction order and required to pay $2331 for the victim’s counselling costs.
The 66-year-old, who was supported in court by his three adult daughters, will also be listed on the sex offender register for eight years.
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