Michael Walmsley jailed after being found guilty of multiple counts of rape
A rapist had “no idea” how his victim felt, despite her asking him to stop and trying to push him off and close her legs, a court has heard.
A Lara man has been jailed after a jury found him guilty of five counts of rape.
Michael Walmsley, 26, appeared in the County Court on Friday via videolink from Hopkins Correctional Centre.
Walmsley was found guilty of five counts of rape against a single complainant in Lara in October 2023, when Walmsley was 24, following a trial in Geelong before Judge Gavan Meredith earlier this year.
On Friday, Judge Meredith sentenced Walmsley to eight years and six months imprisonment, of which he must serve four years and three months before he is eligible for parole.
The jury was empanelled on June 24, commenced their deliberations on June 30 and found Walmsley guilty on July 2.
A pre-sentencing plea hearing was held at Geelong on November 7.
The court heard the charges all stemmed from essentially the same episode, Judge Meredith noted it “felt like an eternity” for the victim, who was repeatedly violated.
Each of the acts compounded the gravity of the offending, with Judge Meredith telling Walmsley they “exacerbated the suffering you’ve inflicted on the complainant”.
Judge Meredith told the court that Walmsley said he had “no idea” how the victim had felt, telling a psychologist it was “pretty confronting” hearing the woman’s evidence at trial.
While Judge Meredith accepted Walmsley displayed a degree of remorse, he was sceptical that he was completely unaware of the victim’s feelings, given the alleged rapes involved the victim telling Walmsley to stop, that it hurt, and saying “no I don’t want to do that”.
The victim also tried to push Walmsley off and close her legs, Judge Meredith said.
At the time, Walmsley’s state of mind was influenced by an “underlying frustration about dating” and he might have been experiencing sexual frustration.
Walmsley has since said he will be “a lot more careful and aware” about sex and consent, the court heard.
Judge Meredith said this mindset was “encouraging” and while Walmsley’s insight into his crimes was not complete, it was “developing”.
The court heard Walmsley had cognitive difficulties and lowered intellectual function, with a psychologist concluding he sat in the extremely low to borderline range with a full scale IQ of 72.
Judge Meredith said this moderated Walmsley’s moral culpability in a general sense and that prison would be burdensome than it might for an offender without the same difficulties.
Judge Meredith opted to set a sentence below the standard sentence for rape and a lengthy period of possible parole, noting Walmsley’s cognitive difficulties, as well as his lack of a criminal history, positive prospects of rehabilitation and the support available to him in the community.
Walmsley had 136 days reckoned as time served.
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Originally published as Michael Walmsley jailed after being found guilty of multiple counts of rape
