Damien James Kellett loses appeal for brutal rape of Tinder date

A man who ignored a Tinder date’s screams of agony as he raped her so brutally he was convicted of GBH, has lost his appeals against conviction and sentence. WARNING: Distressing

A man who so brutally raped a woman with his fist that she lost two litres of blood and had to have surgery, has lost his appeals against conviction and sentence.

Damien James Kellett, then 26, and the woman, who had met on dating site Tinder, had been having consensual sex when he unexpectedly penetrated her vagina with his fist.

Although the woman screamed, protested and told him to stop, Kellett said “one, two, three” and thrust his fist even further, the Court of Appeal heard.

In his Court of Appeal decision, Justice Philip Morrison said the woman, who continued to scream, experienced agonising pain and said she felt her insides “popped”.

She lost two litres of blood and had two full thickness tears to her vaginal wall, which had to be surgically repaired.

“She cried and screamed from the pain, describing it as worse than childbirth, and ‘it felt like my insides popped’,” the judge said, describing the woman’s evidence.

“She told him to ‘stop it’ and ‘no’, had her nails digging his back, was crying and trying to get him off her.”

The defence had argued that the fisting occurred in one gradual movement, not two, as part of consensual sex and no harm was intended.

The court heard on the day of the offence, on their second Tinder date, the pair first had “normal sex”.

The woman had previously told Kellett, a father-of-two, that she did not like rough sex.

Before the rape, the woman had objected to him putting his hands around her throat, while pushing her against a wall, attempting anal sex and hitting her on the face three times.

The woman said after Kellett asked for lubricant and she squeezed some in his hand, he suddenly pushed down on top of her and put his fist inside her, while saying: “I’m going to fist you”.

Justice Morrison said Kellett’s statement that he was going to fist the woman came simultaneously with the act, and she had no opportunity to respond.

Kellett was convicted, after two jury trials, of rape and unlawfully causing grievous bodily harm.

He was sentenced in July, last year, to seven years’ jail for the rape and six years’ jail for grievous bodily harm, to be served concurrently.

The District Court judge declared they were serious violent offences, which means Kellett will have to serve 80 per cent of the sentences before being eligible for parole.

“Your conduct was brutal, degrading, forceful, injurious and ... contemptuous, in my view, of the complainant,” Judge Reid said, sentencing Kellett.

Justice Morrison said he agreed with Judge Reid’s characterisation of Kellett’s conduct, which he also agreed was designed to “humiliate and degrade”.

Kellett appealed against the rape conviction and sought to challenge the sentence, including the serious violent offence declaration.

In a two-to-one majority decision, by Justice Morrison and Justice Debra Mullins, the appeal against conviction was dismissed and Kellett was refused leave to appeal against the sentence.

Justice David Jackson dissented, saying in his view, the appeal against the rape conviction should have been allowed and a retrial ordered.

He said the evidence raised an issue about whether the “act” was done under an honest, reasonable, but mistaken belief that the complainant consented while he was penetrating her vagina with his fingers.

Justice Jackson said the trial judge failed to direct the jury as to the excuse of mistake of fact.

He agreed with the decision to refuse leave to appeal the sentence.