Electrician Wayne Panomarenko jailed for two-and-a-half years for filming sex assault on sleeping ex

A WA judge has blasted a man who filmed himself violating his former girlfriend while she was asleep, saying he clearly did not have consent and that all women have the right to be in a relationship “without having any sexual acts forced upon them”. District Court Judge Karen Shepherd made the comments as she jailed Wayne Panomarenko for 2 1/2 years for the sexual assault on his former partner at his home a few years ago. The 46-year-old electrician claimed he honestly believed his ex-partner was consenting at the time because of their “varied sexual life”. The court was told the pair engaged in role-playing and experimented with dominant and submissive roles with Panomarenko as the dominant. He claimed his former partner willingly took part in sex acts while she was awake and because of this he assumed she would not be upset if he carried out such acts on her while she slept. But Judge Shepherd told Panomarenko just because his former partner may have consented to the acts when she was awake did not mean he had consent when she was asleep. The court was told on a night in September 2017, after taking drugs, the woman went to sleep in Panomarenko’s master bedroom. Just before he laid down next to her, Panomarenko set up a camera facing the pair and tried to cuddle his former partner who pushed him away. After a few minutes, he began to masturbate, then placed his hand underneath her head. A few more minutes later he put his penis into her mouth. The violation woke his former partner who, the court was told, was startled and confused. Panomarenko comforted her and she fell back asleep. He then continued to pleasure himself. In a victim impact statement, the woman said she felt many emotions including humiliation and embarrassment. “My privacy, liberty and choice was taken away and I’m emotionally destitute and heartbroken because of the incident,” she said. The court was told Panomarenko’s offending only came to light after a third party revealed the footage existed. In sentencing, Judge Shepherd considered his guilty plea, lack of criminal history and remorse. But she said the seriousness of Panomarenko’s offending was aggravated by him filming the incident without his former partner’s knowledge and consent. “Those actions were inherently demeaning and degrading,” she said. “The victim was clearly vulnerable. She was asleep. “She had consumed drugs earlier that evening. She was not able to say no. You didn’t give her the opportunity to say no. “You demonstrated, in my view, a complete disregard for her and the sanctity of her body in doing what you did. “And women have the right to be in a relationship and not have penetrative, or any sexual acts forced upon them without their consent,” Judge Shepherd said.