Sri Lankan asylum seeker Daxchan Selvarajah refused bail in Macquarie University sex case
""There is, in my view, a strong likelihood of further offending."
Peter Bodkin
The Daily Telegraph
March 07, 2013 1:56PM
A SRI Lankan asylum seeker had been out of immigration detention for eight days and had been living in university accommodation without authorities' knowledge when he allegedly sexually assaulted a sleeping female student.
A magistrate this afternoon ordered Daxchan Selvarajah, 21, to remain in custody on charges of breaking into the woman's unit at Macquarie University and indecently assaulting her early on February 21.
During a bail application today, Parramatta Local Court was told the Sri Lankan national, who is living in Australia on a bridging visa, was released into the community on February 13 after about five months in a Queensland detention centre.
Selvarajah was required to notify immigration officials if he moved from the Auburn address he was initially living at, but within two days he began staying with a friend at the northern Sydney university without their knowledge, the court heard.
Six days later he allegedly broke into the 20-year-old woman's unit and slipped his hand down her pyjama shorts before she awoke and screamed – causing the attacker to flee.
About 55 asylum seekers were living in the student accommodation under a Red Cross scheme at the time of the alleged assault.
Suspect arrested despite Macquarie Uni. Sex Assault attempted cover up?..........
Asylum Seeker Attack :The Union/ GetUp funded Federal Labor Green Loon Independent minority Co Party Government has placed 80 illegal immigrant males next door to teenage female students. WHY?
Sydney Australia, Labor's Malmo in the Pacific?
Defence lawyer Greg Barns today said the charges would be "vigorously fought" despite fingerprint evidence allegedly linking Selvarajah to the crime scene.
He said there was a possibility his client's fingerprints had been illegally obtained in breach of the Migration Act.
David Keegan, from Settlement Services International, which had been providing the asylum seeker financial support and "basic casework", said the 21-year-old had left the Auburn property after having a "falling out" with another person living there.
He said if Selvarajah was released on bail he would live at a Toongabbie apartment complex where SSI housed asylum seekers and would receive an allowance of about $441 a fortnight from the organisation.
"He (would be) free to leave at any time, but that is the same for any other person unless they're incarcerated," Mr Keegan said.
"He is in a position where there is a considerable economic incentive for him to remain at the address provided for him by SSI."
But magistrate Michelle Goodwin said the case against Selvarajah was strong and the asylum seeker had no links to Australia "whatsoever".
"Of concern to me is the lack of any ties to the community by (him) and, most importantly, the protection and welfare of the witnesses in this matter," she said.
"There is, in my view, a strong likelihood of further offending."
She refused bail for Selvarajah, who appeared in court via a video link from Silverwater prison.
The 21-year-old will return to court next month.
