Sydney: An Indian student has been jailed for four and a half years for raping a teenage girl in Woolgoolga in regional New South Wales.
In February, a jury at the Coffs Harbour Local Court found Gurjinder Singh guilty of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in February 2015 when he was visiting the area with his friends.
Singh assaulted the girl after a drinking session with three teenagers at a beach.
The court heard they ate pizza and smoked cigarettes together and then traveled to a farm in Woolgoolga where Singh raped the girl in a caravan.
Gurjinder Singh bought a plane ticket a day after the incident and left for India despite being told by the police he was required for the investigation, the ABC reported.
He was arrested in Queensland when he returned from India two months later,
He told the court during the trial that the girl had consented for a sexual intercourse.
However, the victim testified she was heavily intoxicated and falling in and out of sleep throughout the assault.
The court sentenced him to four years and six months prison sentence which began on April 4 and ends on 3rd October 2019.
Singh will serve a 2-year non-parole period. He will be eligible for parole on 31st January 2018.