An Australian cricketer jailed in the UK for raping a sleeping woman has had his appeal for freedom thrown out.
Perth-born Alex Hepburn, who had been playing cricket in Worcestershire, was found guilty in Hereford Crown Court in April 2019, and sentenced to five years in prison.
His victim was left with facial paralysis and post-traumatic stress disorder after the attack which Hepburn treated as a "game".
Sarah, whose real name was withheld to protect her privacy, was raped in 2017 by Hepburn, 23, after he found her asleep on a mattress in his Worcester apartment after she had had consensual sex with his former teammate, Joe Clarke.
Last year Sarah told the BBC it was "so humiliating" to learn afterwards in court that Hepburn raped her as part of a "game" the pair set up on the WhatsApp messaging service to sleep with as many women as possible.
Sarah revealed she had consequently developed PTSD, as well as Bell's palsy, a partial paralysis of the face, as a result of the attack.
During sentencing, Judge Jim Tindal told the "immature" cricketer he and a former teammate had agreed a "pathetic sexist game to collect as many sexual encounters as possible".
He added: "You probably thought it was laddish behaviour at the time.
"In truth it was foul sexism."
Source: https://ift.tt/31DaXiF
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