SYDNEY (REUTERS) - A Chinese property developer was sentenced to at least 2½ years in jail by an Australian court on Friday (Oct 12) for non-consensual intercourse with a woman after a Sydney dinner party hosted by billionaire JD.com-founder Richard Liu.

Xu Longwei, who pleaded not guilty, was convicted in July of forcing himself on the woman in an hour-long ordeal at a hotel room overlooking Sydney Harbour after the dinner at which they met.

He was sentenced to four years' jail, of which he must serve at least two and a half years.

Court documents filed by the prosecution said that Xu's victim, then 20, was encouraged to drink to excess at the dinner.

The pair then went to the Shangri-La Hotel where the jury found Xu committed seven separate sexual offences, including intercourse without consent. None of the charges used the term"rape".

Judge Nicole Norman, who handed down the sentence in a Sydney court, said the woman was unwell by the time she had left the party and she gave evidence that she vomited on the way to the hotel room where Xu forcibly removed her clothes and pinned her down.

"She said at one stage Mr Xu said to her that she could not refuse him," Judge Norman said. "Mr Xu took advantage of the victim's alcohol-rendered vulnerability.

"Mr Xu persisted over objection and resistance. He exploited the situation. His comment about her not being able to resist him... reflects his arrogance and his low regard for the victim."

Xu, wearing a prison-green track suit, hardly reacted as the sentence was handed down. His lawyer, Mr Winston Terracini, had told the court that Xu "maintains his innocence and denies the offences".

Judge Norman made clear that Mr Liu, who founded the Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com in 2004, had no role in the offences.

In a separate case, Mr Liu was arrested in the US city of Minneapolis in August on suspicion of rape. He was released in less than a day without charges and returned to China.

US prosecutors are weighing whether to bring charges after police turned over the findings of their investigations, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

A Minnesota-based lawyer for Mr Liu had earlier said that Mr Liu denied any wrongdoing and that he did not expect his client to be charged.