A sexual predator has been convicted of a shocking three-decade-old crime after his ex-wife found a VHS tape hidden in her garage with the label “Big Mama” on it.
When Mona Bennett played the tape she saw the man she’d shared her life with tormenting another woman who was clearly in distress.
“Immediately looking at her I could tell she was drugged and being forced to be there,” Bennett told Channel 9′s A Current Affair.
“I could see straight away it was a blackmail tape”.
In the footage, the victim can be heard saying: “Stop it please, just leave me alone.”
To which Parisian says: “I do it my way. You don’t believe me? Watch.”
Boghos Parisian was convicted of 11 counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
His lawyers had argued while the filming was “distasteful”, the sex had been consensual. But the jury didn’t buy it.
“The one-hour and 54-second recording in full colour with sound – tells you everything you need to know in this trial,” Crown prosecutor Alex Morris said.
Bennett married Parisian years after the attack took place. The marriage faltered and he moved out. But he was insistent he get into the garage and even threatened to call the police to gain access.
So Bennett had a look around the garage to see what could be of such importance.
Tucked away she found the tape labelled “Big Mama”. When she watched it, she was appalled.
“On and on with ‘no stop, don’t,’ and all that in my head,” she said.
“I thought ‘oh my goodness, could he have done this to me?’ So I don’t know if there’s another tape somewhere of me – or anyone else – and it just happens that I’ve found this one.”
Former wife Mona Bennett found the tape that led to his conviction. Picture: Channel 9/ACA.
“It’s embarrassing to have to have been in a situation with someone like that, someone that was my husband.”
Even with the tape, it was a painstaking process for police to identify and track down the woman in the video. She was eventually found 24 years after the assault took place.
She told police she had previously had a relationship with Parisian but she didn’t pursue it. He wanted one more date and it was then she suspected her drink was spiked. The attack happened soon after.
The victim, who has not been named, was so appalled by the video – where she begs to be left alone by Parisian – she said he thought she was going to throw up.
“Every time I think about it I feel sick,” she told A Current Affair.
