Gerald Lynch
A former Sunshine real estate agent won’t go to jail, despite being found guilty of sexually assaulting two young women in job interviews.
Steven Tabban, a former director of Create Real Estate was sentenced to an 18-month good behaviour bond in the Melbourne County Court on Tuesday, March 5.
The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault with the maximum penalty at the time of his offending was 10 years imprisonment.
He was charged for touching a 21-year-old woman on her thigh and chest over her clothing, and the side of her head trying to kiss her.
First offending occurred on November 25, 2018, when the at the time 21-year-old victim attended Create Real Estate for what she thought was a job interview.
“You began to question the complainant in relation to what she would do to get what she wanted from the work, you told the complainant there was no one else around, and when you asked her what she would do… you suggested she run around the office naked screaming ‘create is great’,” Judge Gregory Lyon said.
“You told the complainant to sit on your lap, she agreed as she wanted to get things over and done with.”
Mr Tabban then tried to kiss her and the young woman pushed him off and left before going to the Keilor Downs police station.
His second offence occurred a week later in another interview, with a girl aged 19 at the time.
Mr Tabban took her into a back room of the office, before sitting on a couch and requesting she gave him a quad massage to help her chances of getting the job.
The girl asked when they were going to finish the contract, to which Mr Tabban laughed and said “you have to finish your end of the bargain.”
He then grabbed her right hand and held it tightly whilst unzipping his pants, and telling her “you don’t have to give me a blowjob, just give me a handjob”.
“The community has made it clear for many years now that repugnant male practices in workplaces will no longer be tolerated, whether they are sexual harassment, bullying, inequality, discrimination and this which I characterise it as predatory sexual conduct,” Judge Lyon said.
Mr Tabban previously ran for Brimbank council in 2020, telling this masthead he wanted to improve the reputation of the area and its crime.
“The crime rate in our area is one of the main things I would like to see improve,” he said.
“I hear from people who are from the other side of town say that our area is “scummy” or they don’t want to live here because there’s too much crime.”
