Rapist offered victim $100k hush money
A FORMER Gold Coast real estate agent offered a woman he had drugged and raped twice $100,000 to keep her mouth shut.
Steven Chen, 47, even drew up a written agreement for the victim to sign.
Chen had pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court to two counts each of rape and using a drug to stupefy for the most recent attack in January 2018.
He was yesterday jailed for nine years for the “callous” January 2018 attack, during which the woman was drugged for 18 hours and raped twice.
He will not be eligible for parole until February 2027.
The Bulletin can now reveal that six years before the rape, Chen had been let off on a good behaviour bond for groping another woman.
The jailed attacker should not be confused with a real estate agent with the same name, Steven Chen of The Agency.
Judge Katherine McGinness described the rape as “premeditated and calculated”.
“You essentially lured the complainants to your home, feigning hospitality,” she said.
The court was told Chen had been to dinner with a group when he offered to have drinks at his place with a couple.
He took them to his home and as they entered he handed them both a glass of alcohol that had been laced with a drug.
Chen then put the man in a car and dumped him in a nearby park.
He returned to his home and raped the woman.
The court was told the woman woke and said she felt sick so Chen took her to the bathroom where she vomited.
He then returned her to the room where he raped her again.
Prior to the rapes the woman was a virgin.
The court was told the woman did not remember much until a few days later and she confronted Chen.
Addressing Chen, Judge McGinness said: “You said you may have been intoxicated and offered to pay her $100,000 … you drew up a written agreement.”
The rape has left the woman and her partner with severe emotional trauma and the woman is distressed because she does not remember what happened.
The man was left in the park and had to rely on strangers to get him to the police station after he woke up without his wallet or keys.
“You showed no concern for his safety and wellbeing,” Judge McGinness said.
“You abandoned him late at night in an unfamiliar park.”
The court was told the rape was not the first time Chen had attacked a woman.
In April 2012, Chen was convicted of sexual assault and placed on a good behaviour bond.
He had accompanied a woman home, and then grabbed her chest and hip and kissed her above the breast.
The woman lashed out and kicked Chen, allowing her to escape his clutches.
As well as the sexual assault, Chen has been convicted of fraud offences on four separate occasions.
Chen was born in Taiwan and immigrated to Australia.
His father cut him off when his business failed following the global financial crisis and that is when Chen turned to crime.
YOU ESSENTIALLY LURED THE COMPLAINANTS TO YOUR HOME, FEIGNING HOSPITALITY.
JUDGE KATHERINE MCGINNESS