Gregory Richardson: Epping sex predator sentence hearing
Three victims of a serial sex predator, who preyed on vulnerable teenage girls and young women near his home for almost 30 years, have stared down the monster who stole their innocence.
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Three victims of a serial sex predator, who preyed on vulnerable teenage girls and young woman near his Epping home for almost 30 years, have stared down the monster who stole their innocence in Downing Centre District Court on Friday.
Tow truck driver Gregory John Richardson, 53, sat stone-faced in the dock as three women he traumatised in a series of sex attacks between 1989 and 2007 delivered powerful victim impact statements before Judge Peter Berman.
The cold case was solved in August 2018 with DNA evidence surfaced linking Richardson to the sickening crimes which were typically committed in a 2.5km radius from his family home in Epping.
Agreed facts tendered to the court reveal Richardson would prey on the young women at night, attacking them from behind as they walked home and would often threaten to kill them. On most occasions, he would cover their faces as he sexually assaulted them.
When he raped a 15-year-old girl outside Cheltenham Bowling Club in 1994, he taunted the victim saying “did you know that I know you?”.
In a powerful victim impact statement, the now married mother spoke of how she felt Richardson was watching her at the local shops or how men walking behind her can spark frightening flashbacks.
“I remember hearing those footsteps … him threatening to kill me,” she said.
“He was so gutless that I never got the chance to see his face, who he was. You shattered my confidence, my self esteem and my self worth.”
One woman, who was raped in 1989, told the court how she fled to Victoria in the years after the attack to rebuild her life which triggered an estranged relationship with her own mother.
Many of the victims spoke of being fearful of the dark, distrusting men and becoming reclusive as a result of Richardson’s monstrous acts.
His sexual attacks became increasingly brazen and bizarre as the years went on, emerging naked from bushes in an April afternoon in 2003 to indecently assault a 14-year-old schoolgirl and, on another occasion, wearing a hot pink bikini top when he sexually attack a young woman at the front door of her Hornsby home in 2017.
On Richardson’s arrest, police found highlighted newspaper clippings about a number sex offences committed in the Epping area, as well as selfies of the 53-year-old man posing in women’s underwear.
Richardson’s lawyer unsuccessfully made an application to stop the publication of the rapist’s name, saying it would impact an upcoming trial where the tow truck driver is accused of historic rape offences, but failed to convince Judge Berman.
Richardson will be sentenced on October 30.