Man involved in beer bottle rape of friend given suspended sentence.

By Louisa RebGetz for ABC. 

A Brisbane man who held his friend’s shoulders while another man sexually assaulted him on Australia Day in 2015 will not serve time in jail.

Frazer John Eaton, 23, has pleaded guilty to the rape of an 18-year-old man at a drunken party at Kedron in Brisbane’s inner north.

The Brisbane District Court heard the victim was passed out in a bedroom when a group of friends decided to sexually assault him with a bottle.

Prosecutor Victoria Trafford-Walker told the court a co-accused recorded a video of the incident and it was circulated on social media, which is how the victim found out about the abuse.

Chief Judge Kerry O’Brien said what was considered a harmless prank was not harmless.

He described it as a “most unusual offence”, different from other rape cases because it did not involve any form of sexual gratification or desire to inflict physical harm.

“This was extremely foolish and juvenile behaviour carried out in a context of excessive drinking,” Judge O’Brien said.

In court today, he sentenced Eaton to 18 months in jail, wholly suspended.

Judge O’Brien said he accepted Eaton was not the principal offender and took his early guilty plea into account.

During the sentencing hearing, prosecutor Ms Trafford-Walker read out a statement from the victim, who said he was shocked to find out what had happened to him via social media.

“I didn’t want to appear on social media like I was upset, but I was actually feeling shocked and thought, ‘holy shit, what the hell?’,” his statement said.

Defence barrister Michael Byrne QC said Eaton felt great remorse over the incident.

“This is a complete one-off, out-of-character act of stupidity whilst intoxicated, without any intention to harm or to obtain sexual gratification,” he said.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.