Merrimac rapist gets eight years in jail for crime but could be out as soon as 2016

IT’S been four years since a young triathlete was raped on a Merrimac roadside, today her attacker was sentenced, but he could be a free man within two years.

Richard Quincy Williams being led through Gold Coast Airport by detectives after being ex

A MELBOURNE man who raped a young Gold Coast triathlete has been sentenced to eight years jail but could be out in 2016.

Richard Quincy Williams, 35, claimed he was high on methamphetamine when he decided on the spur of the moment to crash tackle a passing jogger on Gooding Drive at Merrimac — one of the Gold Coast busiest roads.

Today in the Southport District Court he pleaded guilty to rape, assault with intent to commit rape and deprivation of liberty of the 20-year-old athlete and university student.

He went into hiding after the 2010 roadside rape and was tracked by police to Melbourne last year using DNA evidence.

Today in court the young woman he attacked and her parents gave brave and heart-rending statements about their ordeal over the past almost four years.

The rape survivor’s father labelled Williams a “despicable criminal” and her mother condemned him. “You are dust, ashes we can now dispose of so you can never contaminate us again,” she said.

Judge Julie Dick SC accepted the harm caused to the family but also accepted Williams had shown his remorse by confessing upon his arrest.

She also noted Williams had no criminal history and a medical report stated he was a “low risk” of reoffending as long he stayed away from drugs.

She sentenced him to eight years jail with a recommendation for parole after serving three, which means he could be free as early as September 2016.

Read how police tracked him down and what the rape survivor had to say in tomorrow’s Gold Coast Bulletin.