Benjamin Perry, 26, receives reduced for common and sexual assault

A man serving a jail sentence for physically and sexually assaulting a Geelong woman, while also attempting to rape her, has had his sentence reduced by six months.

Benjamin Perry receives a reduced sentence.

A man serving jail time for physically and sexually assaulting a Geelong woman, while also attempting to rape her, has had his sentence cut by six months.

Benjamin Perry, 26, was convicted and sentenced to three years and nine months’ jail in December 2022, but appealed the sentence in the Supreme Court this month.

According to court documents, the Drouin man was allowed to contest the sentence imposed for the charges of common assault and sexual assault on the grounds the original sentence was “excessive”.

In 2019, Perry and the victim were arguing because he wanted to have anal sex with her, but she refused.

During the plea hearing in December 2022, the court heard Perry became violent, and forcibly removed the victim’s clothing before attempting to engage in non-consensual sex.

Crown prosecutor David Gray said the victim kept fighting and moving her hips away before she was able to fight Perry off.

Mr Gray said when the victim tried to leave, Perry grabbed a knife, held it up and pointed it at her chest before threatening to hurt himself.

“She did not want you to hurt yourself, so she went back into the bedroom and sat on the end of the bed,” Mr Gray said.

“You then entered the room and walked up to her and using your right fist punched her to the face,” he said.

In a separate incident in 2020, Perry tried to have sex with the victim in a car, and touched her in a sexual way without her consent.

After the incident, Perry again attempted to have sex with the woman and touched her, and despite the victim pushing Perry away, he grabbed her by the arms, overpowered her, and bit her on the arm.

The court was told the previous sentencing judge appeared to have treated the attempted rape as more serious because of the later threats and violence.

“The punch was the basis for a separate charge on the indictment and thus should not have been ‘double counted’,” Supreme Court of Appeal judges Justice Kristen Walker and Justice David Beach.

Justice Walker and Justice Beach said the individual sentences on charges three and four did not reflect the gravity of the offending and that the applicant’s plea of guilty was not reflected in the sentence originally handed down.

Perry was sentenced to three years and three months jail as opposed to the three years and nine months.

Originally published as Benjamin Perry, 26, receives reduced for common and sexual assault