Open-home rape, abuse claims as estate agent on trial

Open houses were a real estate agent’s preferred venue for alleged sex offenses against multiple women, a jury has heard.

Omar Lababidi has pleaded not guilty to 26 charges, including rape and sexual touching, between 2021 and 2023, and his trial will begin in Sydney’s Campbelltown District Court on Tuesday.

Prosecutors allege the 29-year-old man pinned three women against a wall and forced one woman to perform oral sex on him three times while working nine separate inspections in Sydney’s south-west.

Crown attorney Alex Brown said in his opening statement that the manager’s actions towards the three complainants showed a pattern of acting based on sexual interest while he was employed.

But Lababidi’s lawyer, Simon Buchen SC, told the court his client had a reasonable belief that all three women had consented to the intimate conduct.

A woman was allegedly forced to perform oral sex at three open houses in Lababidi.

He also allegedly exposed himself to her without her consent.

Mr Buchen said Lababidi did not deny being sexually attracted to the three women and flirting with them, but denied any criminal activity had taken place.

He said the jury did not decide in a “court of morality.”

He urged jurors to consider whether certain acts could have occurred without consent.

“There’s a difference between feeling remorseful after the event and not consenting to something during the event,” he said.

On one occasion, Lababidi allegedly sexually touched one of the women in the kitchen of a home under investigation.

The jury heard he was forced to stop when the owner appeared.

Another time, he is accused of forcing the same woman to touch his crotch until a couple came to see the house he was showing.

The court was told Lababidi made suggestive comments to three women.

When someone tried to resist his advances, he allegedly said: “don’t worry, no one was looking.”

Ms Brown said all three women repeatedly told the estate agent to stop and none showed any interest in joining the protests with her.

Lababidi is accused of 21 counts of sexual touching of another person without consent, three counts of sexual intercourse without consent and two counts of sexual intercourse with another person without consent.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

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