CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses rape.
A Sydney man diagnosed with “sexomnia” has been found not guilty of having non-consensual sex with a woman.
Burlesque and cabaret club owner Timothy Malcolm Rowland, 40, was accused of rape at his Sydney apartment by an unnamed woman on August 26, 2022. The woman claimed that after a night out with Rowland, she woke up to find him having sex with her. She pushed him off and left the apartment.
Rowland claimed he was experiencing an episode of sexomnia, a sleep disorder where people exhibit sexual behaviour while they’re asleep. During the trial, there was no dispute that Rowland had the condition, or that the woman was asleep when Rowland began having sex with her. However, the jury’s struggle was determining whether Rowland was truly having an episode when the alleged rape occurred or whether he was awake.
On Thursday, after a seven-day trial, a 12-person jury determined that he was not guilty after questioning the ramifications of crimes committed whilst a person was unconscious.
“This is a really dangerous logic,” judge John Pickering told the Downing Centre Court, per The Guardian.
“We’re not about to punish people for acts that they have no lawful control over.”
Pickering reportedly told the jury that there are no current laws, rules or regulations regarding sexomnia and it would be unfair to the accused to determine a case based on laws the jury wished her in place, rather than the current laws.
“There are no criminal offences about that that exist. And it’s not for you to create the law,” he said.
“This trial is all about the Crown having to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he was awake at the time, that he was conscious, that he was acting in a voluntary fashion.”
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Rowland was formally diagnosed with sexomnia in November 2024 by psychiatrist and sleep specialist Dr Tony Fernando, who was also a sole defence witness in the case. However, documents reportedly included in the case contained records of sleepwalking as a child and a 2021 referral to a sleep clinic which referenced that Rowland “has had sex in his sleep”.
Although Rowland was found not guilty, Judge Pickering acknowledged “what happened to the compliant was awful” but “it doesn’t mean it was a criminal offence”.
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