Daniel Jay Cochrane: Man, 27, who drugged and molested 15-year-old TAFE student while tattooing her jailed

A 27-year-old man who gave powerful tranquillisers to a teenage fellow TAFE student then indecently assaulted her while giving her a leg tattoo has been jailed for three years. When Daniel Jay Cochrane met the girl and her friend on their first day at the Leederville campus in early 2022, they told him they were 15. He then began supplying the one of the girls with Xanax, which she took before returning to class on the second occasion. Cochrane texted her later that same morning, offering her another pill if she left campus with him to go shopping, telling her he “wanted to spoil her with drinks and other over 18 stuff”. He also told her that he needed advice on what to buy from the AdultShop sex store and asked her to come to his home. The girl agreed - on the condition she could bring her friend - and Cochrane initially refused, saying he could only spoil one of them. But he capitulated and brought them both into his bedroom, where he gave the first teen two more Xanax pills and smoked cannabis with her while they watched Netflix. Cochrane offered the second girl the same drugs but she refused. The first girl began to feel lethargic and drowsy, and let him tattoo her upper thigh as she lay down on the bed. Cochrane touched her sexually with one hand while applying the tattoo with the other - and was photographed by the second teen as she sat on a nearby chair. The savvy teen even asked him for a small tattoo on her finger to get him away from her friend. Cochrane tried to get the tranquilised girl to stay while the other left - saying he would get her a taxi later - but her friend refused to leave without her. The drugged girl struggled to stay awake and walk on the train ride home, and later told authorities she “was pretty much out of it until the following day”, District Court Judge Carmel Barbagallo said. Cochrane told police he had been “nagged and nagged” for the medication, that the allegations were maliciously made up stories, and that the sexual touching had been consensual. He also claimed the girls would not tell him how old they were. Ms Barbagallo said it would have been a frightening experience for both teens and text messages between Cochrane and the girl he stupefied revealed he was “hopeful that there would be some sexual interaction”. “And of course, this is all at a time when you knew she was 15 years of age,” the judge said. “You did commit these offences with sexual intent. “The law is there to ensure that men like you do not take advantage of young people who are too young to protect themselves or who are too young to know better. “But you were certainly old enough to know better.” Cochrane, now 29, will be eligible for parole after serving half of his sentence.