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An alleged Sydney gun-runner has been charged with filming the prolonged drugging and sexual torture of a teenage girl.
Ararat Damirdjian, 55, was arrested in April this year after the Australian Federal Police followed a digital trail of a man importing a pistol to a home on Cunningham Street, Telopea, in the city’s west.
The weapon, a $29 Chinese pistol that folds down into the size of a wallet, was imported under Damirdjian’s name but seized at the border, according to a police document released by the NSW Supreme Court.
Inside his home, police allegedly found 85 grams of cocaine, 32 firearms, four crossbows, a silencer, methamphetamine and “The Great Big Narcotics Cookbook”.
Detectives, who pulled Damirdjian’s criminal history, realised he had an extensive criminal history for drugs and weapons and was subject to a firearms prohibition order.
“Damirdjian is a long-term, high-risk offender with entrenched involvement in organised crime, large-scale drug manufacture and supply, and he has links to weapons trafficking, drug distribution, and the storage of firearms, ammunition, and explosive materials,” the court document claims.
Detectives went through Damirdjian’s phone and found “highly sensitive and distressing” recordings of a young woman with a distinctive tattoo, the document says.
The woman, aged 18, was unconscious but appeared completely lifeless on Damirdjian’s bed, police allege.
What Damidjian allegedly did to the woman, while recording, is too confronting to print.
He allegedly administered GHB, a date-rape drug known as liquid ecstasy, through a syringe, until she passed out. Then methamphetamine was exhaled into her body, police say, on multiple occasions.
‘It is difficult to contemplate a more serious example of taking advantage of a complainant who is unable to consent in any capacity over a prolonged period of time.’
Police document released by the NSW Supreme Court
“The accused repeatedly sexually assaulted the victim over a period exceeding 10 hours,” the police document says in an unusually emotive plea to the court.
“It is difficult to contemplate a more serious example of taking advantage of a complainant who is unable to consent in any capacity over a prolonged period of time.”
Damidjian allegedly sent the recording to another woman, named Chantelle in court documents, telling her “girls want me to invite them back because they love partying” with him.
“You know that? I was about to call the ambulance. I was f—ing scared shitless. I thought you were gonna die,” Damidjian allegedly said in one recording to the unconscious teenager.
The court heard that Damidjian, who also goes by Darius Khachigian and other aliases, has spent years in prison going back to 2001, when police found firearms including military rifles, drugs and cash in his Fairfield West bedroom.
Among them were a Steyr military assault rifle with laser sight, a silenced .22 pump-action rifle, detonators, explosive cord, a snake and $87,100 cash, court documents state.
While in prison he linked up with a drug cook who specialised in the “Nazi-method” of manufacturing ice, and the pair ran a drug operation while on parole until Damirdjian was re-arrested in 2006.
Damirdjian asked the court to release him so he could care for his elderly mother. Police noted Damirdjian’s brother lives with their mother, but he does not.
Damirdjian’s nephew offered to surrender $20,000 if his uncle skipped court. His 82-year-old mother offered to let him live with her.
“I am aware of the serious charges against the applicant… (we) continue to hold a very close relationship,” she wrote in a statement.
Rick Kumar and Marc Gorin, who own and operate Star Car Wash, penned letters of support for Damirdjian saying he was “vital” to the operation of the Summer Hill, Leichhardt, Blacktown, Penrith and Casula businesses.
“The site safety is of utmost importance to our staff and customers, which he managers (sic) and overseas (sic) as well (sic),” Gorin’s letter says.
Damirdjian, who was refused bail, is facing drug supply, weapons and multiple counts of sexual intercourse and touching without consent.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.
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