``The circumstances here are . . . unfathomable. These two offenders entered a house in their own neighbourhood, without any attempt at disguise, and terrorized all the occupants,'' sexually assaulting and forcing a 24-year-old woman to perform a sex act while holding her male relatives at knifepoint.
Her younger sister, 18, was threatened but not sexually assaulted, court heard.
``In these circumstances, while I must have rehabilitation in mind, denunciation and deterrence are paramount,'' she ruled.
The 24-year-old victim, a foreign exchange student, testified only briefly in person at trial before breaking down and being unable to continue. Her uncle, the judge said, ``was still wracked with guilt for having failed to protect his nieces.''
Rao was found guilty of being among a group of four young men, all strangers to the victims, who broke into a home on Clinton Street on Dec. 7, 2008. The other two weren`t charged.
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