‘I hope you rot’: Ex Navy man locked up for ‘preying’ on teenage girl

A former Navy man-turned-sex offender has been punished for raping a teenage girl twice in three days. Read the victim’s powerful words to the court.

The predetor was sentenced in Wollongong District Court on Friday.

An Illawarra predator has been told to “rot” by his victim as he was hit with a five-year jail sentence for raping a teenage girl.

The man was convicted of two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a child after he was found guilty at a trial in Wollongong District Court in November, last year.

On Friday, the same court heard the 51-year-old “respects the decision, but does not agree with it”.

The court heard the repulsive offending was unearthed after a feud at an Australia Day gathering in 2020.

The victim yelled to offender’s relatives that he was a “pedo” before later disclosing to one of them that he had touched her the previous year.

Judge Andrew Haesler told the court the offending took place in the southern Illawarra.

The first rape occurred when man put his hand on her leg before working his way up towards her groin.

The man crawled his hand inside her underwear and stuck his finger in her vagina.

“Are you going to tell?” he said to which she said she wouldn‘t because she was scared.

Three days later the man raped the girl again in a similar manner, putting his hand on her leg before digitally penetrating her vagina.

Judge Haesler noted both violations were “fleeting” and caused no physical pain, but highlighted they occurred in a setting she should have felt ”secure and safe”.

A defiant victim impact statement was read out by a relative of the girl which described how she was “still discovering ways the abuse has hurt” her.

The offender raped the teenage girls twice in three days, the court heard.

“I can’t forget the disgusting things you did to me,” it read.

“Now everyone knows who you really are … I hope you rot for your crimes.

“You tried to belittle me, but I will only get stronger.”

The court heard the offender had a criminal record in NSW as well as Queensland for larceny and fraud offences which saw him spend a “brief” stint in jail in the 1990s.

The man’s legal team also submitted he would be particularly vulnerable in custody given the nature of the offences and his diagnosed Crohn’s disease.

The court also heard he was a disability pensioner and had previously served in the Australian Navy for about 10 years.

Judge Haesler reiterated there was an “absolute prohibition” on sex crimes against children and said each of Collins’ offences were aggravated given he breached the victim’s trust.

The judge said the man “preyed” on the victim as he sentenced him to five-years behind bars with a non-parole period of three years.

With time already served, the man could be eligible for parole in November, 2025.