Rapist Richard Anthony Banks wins freedom bid

A psychopathic rapist will live in the community unsupervised for the first time in 15 years after the NSW government lost its bid to monitor him for a further two years.

A psychopathic rapist will live in the community unsupervised for the first time in 15 years after the NSW government lost its bid to monitor him for a further two years.
Adding insult to injury, the State will also have to pay Richard Anthony Banks’ court costs.

The Supreme Court decision did not reveal where the 48-year-old will live, now he is released from supervision.

The Gosford-born man — who once said he fantasised about humiliation, torture, sadism and sexually assaulting people who made him angry — was jailed in July 2007 to April 2016.

His most serious offence was a prolonged attack at 23-years-old on another young man in front of Banks’ then girlfriend and two others in an abandoned home near Inverell.
Banks burnt the man’s body including his anus, stung him with stinging nettle and exposed his genitalia, while filming the depraved attack with his girlfriend, a Supreme Court decision states.
He pleaded guilty to 13 charges in 2009, telling a doctor he was drunk and thought it would be “amusing” to film the assault and post it online.
He later told a therapist he felt “inferior” after the man exposed his penis — which was larger than Banks’ — to the group.

The State was ordered to pay Richard Anthony Banks’ court costs. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

In a vicious assault in March 2007, court documents state Banks went to the home of a female acquaintance and made her urinate in a bucket, before cutting off her jeans and underpants and threatening to insert a knife into her vagina.
He struck her to the top of the head, later telling authorities he went to her home with the intention of murdering her, the court decision says.
Banks was found guilty of blackmail, assault with an act of indecency and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
An extended supervision order, allowing authorities to keep an eye on Banks in the community, expired yesterday.
In August, the government applied to extend the order expiring on October 3, granted by Justice Stephen Rothman on March 24, 2016, arguing Banks was still at risk of committing a serious crime.
The state said he abused drugs which could lead to further offending and maintained he could not abide by rules having breached the supervision order 15 times.
But Banks’ barrister Paul Coady argued his client had not reoffended while on supervision and he was making positive steps in rehab.
Supreme Court Justice Julia Lonergan accepted Banks had benefited from counselling and rehab efforts, “particularly in the last 12 months”.

She was not convinced Banks would commit another serious offence if he was to be released from the court order, before dismissing the State’s application.
She ordered the State to pay his court costs, which were not specified.
The decision did not reveal where Banks will live, now he is released from supervision.