Cory Millar-Powell: Sex offender sentenced for Redfern rape

A woman raped by an aspiring lawyer several years ago has delivered a powerful message to her attacker as he faced sentence.

A former paralegal and aspiring lawyer has sensationally avoided a jail sentence for raping a teenage girl nine years ago inside a Redfern home.

Cory Millar-Powell, 28, who formerly worked for the Crown Solicitor’s Office as a litigation paralegal, was sentenced in the NSW District Court on Wednesday (June 2) for a sexual assault dating back to April 2012.

He narrowly avoided being sent to jail and was instead sentenced to a daily curfew, 500 hours of community service work and a community correction order following the “unusual case”.

Cory Millar-Powell. Picture: Dylan Coker

The former Penrith school student – who was 19 at the time of the sex attack – forced a 17-year-old girl onto a bed inside his brother’s Redfern home in April 2012.

Millar-Powell held the victim down with his arm across her chest and penetrated her with his finger after making a hole in her stockings, despite the victim repeatedly asking him not to and trying to leave.

The court heard the duration of the digital penetration was in dispute but could have lasted up to 10 minutes.

The pair had earlier visited an art museum and gone out for lunch together in Sydney’s CBD.

Police investigated the incident after the victim came forward years later which led to Millar-Powell being charged.

Cory Millar-Powell has avoided a jail sentence. Picture: Dylan Coker

He was found guilty during a jury trial last year for one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

A powerful victim impact statement was read out during his sentencing on Wednesday.

“After you raped me I started my early adult life being afraid and silent,” the victim wrote.

“I could not be touched. Even hugs from my family would make me stiffen and even burst into tears.”

She said the sexual assault left her feeling violated and worthless and resulted in long-lasting implications and mental health issues.

“It ended my youth and innocence and (prevented me) living my life as it should have been,” the victim wrote.

“You taught me that someone I trusted could hurt me.

He was sentenced at Parramatta District Court.

“I don’t remember the last time I slept through the night without a nightmare or without a sleeping tablet.”

Judge Jane Culver acknowledged the “utterly traumatic event” suffered by the victim.

However, she said it was an “unusual case” and Millar-Powell had an honest but unreasonable belief the victim was consenting.

She said his immaturity and relatively young age went toward an “unreasonable belief that he was persuading the victim to stay” during the ordeal.

Judge Culver also remarked his young age at the time of the offence, his ongoing mental health problems including a suicide attempt in his younger years, not committing any further offences since 2012, his good prospects of rehabilitation, and his showing remorse despite pleading not guilty meant he was not a vehicle for general deterrence.

Cory Millar-Powell. Picture: Supplied

“It could not be said that only a custodial sentence is available,” Judge Culver said.

She convicted him and imposed a sentence of a community correction order for three years with 500 hours of community service work and a curfew that he not leave his home between 8pm and 6am.

A key piece of evidence in the trial was a phone call from July 2019. The victim phoned Millar-Powell to talk about the incident while police monitored the call.

“It was a bad thing to do. It was an awful thing to do. Please know I regret it with every fibre of my being,” Millar-Powell said on the call.

“I thought I was convincing you to stay and I now know I was forcing you to stay and I understand those two things are unbelievably different.”

A submission, made earlier this year, that a rare medical condition would put Millar-Powell at an increased risk of death in custody was rejected by the court following a further medical assessment being carried out.