By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A Hampton Park man has been jailed for up to 11 years after beating and twice raping a drug-affected ex-partner.
Star News has chosen not to name the man to avoid identifying the victim.
The 35-year-old man pleaded guilty at the Victorian County Court to two counts of rape, common law assault, threat to kill and causing injury intentionally.
In February 2020, the man and the victim took GHB in his mother’s garage where he lived at the time.
At the time, the woman was drowsy, weakened and vulnerable due to also taking prescription medication, sentencing judge Simon Moglia said on 6 March.
The accused aggressively queried the woman if she’d been with other men.
He punched her several times to the head and continued to beat her as she curled up on the couch to protect herself.
“You’re not getting out of this alive,” he told her.
Then as a “punishment”, he raped her while he “berated and demeaned” her.
Afterwards he told the sore and bruised victim to get out of the garage, refusing to allow her to clothe herself or to use the toilet.
The following night, the man raped her while she was unconscious after another GHB session at a friend’s house.
Police later discovered this second “serious act of denigration” on the man’s video of the act on his phone.
The man told police he knew she was unconscious. But claimed she’d previously said it was OK and knew what was happening.
At the time, he’d been recently freed from prison on a CCO for assaulting the same woman and breaching her intervention order.
The victim, who described the man as an “animal” to a friend, stated she was still being treated for panic attacks, depression and anxiety as a result of the attacks.
She was cross-examined during a committal hearing before the man pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial.
Judge Moglia said drug-taking was clearly a relevant factor in the man’s offending and his risk of reoffending.
The man reported that at the time he was in a “toxic” circle of relationships with drug takers. He was smoking cannabis daily and regularly using ice and GHB.
The judge found the man showed “genuine” but “limited” remorse but his letter to the court made no mention of his impact on the victim.
Just punishment for “such heinous crimes” warranted a lengthy jail term, the judge said.
The man’s ongoing violent history was concerning, his risk of re-offending was “moderate to high”, Judge Moglia noted.
The man was jailed for 11 years, including a seven-year and three-month non-parole period.
His term includes 1123 days – about three years – of pre-sentence detention.
Prosecutors applied for the man to be registered as a sex offender with reporting obligations.
Judge Moglia refused due to the offending being against one person over a short period of time while both were affected by drugs.
There was a lack of evidence that the first-time sexual offender would be a threat to any others, he stated.
