Gippsland rapist Patrick McDonald-O’Dwyer jailed after pleading guilty to violent sex offending: Court
A Gippsland rapist who tortured, bashed, burned and threatened to kill a young woman had “disregard for the victim’s dignity”.
Bass Coast News
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A heinous Gippsland rapist strangled and threatened to kill a young woman he tortured with cigarette burns and sexually assaulted with scissors.
Patrick McDonald-O’Dwyer, 32, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to a minimum five-year and three-month jail term after pleading guilty to multiple brutal rape charges.
McDonald-O’Dwyer forced his victim into a living nightmare after luring the young woman via dating site Plenty of Fish.
The vile fiend grabbed the victim’s throat and squeezed and ordered she call him “master”.
The victim, who was struggling to breathe, relented to McDonald-O’Dwyer’s sickening demands.
McDonald-O’Dwyer later raped the victim after he threatened her to “do as you’re told, or I’ll f--king kill you”.
The frightened victim initially relented to McDonald-O’Dwyer’s rape because she felt “scared and coerced” but she removed her mouth.
McDonald-O’Dwyer “became angry” and savagely punched the victim before forcing her to finish his vile rape.
The court heard McDonald-O’Dwyer then ordered the victim to “go and clean herself up”.
McDonald-O’Dwyer also told the victim, who had a black eye and a swollen face, to ”face away” because “he didn’t want to look at her”, the court was told.
The victim attempted to send a text message seeking help but McDonald-O’Dwyer grabbed her throat, strangled her and held her up against a wardrobe.
“I should just kill you,” McDonald-O’Dwyer repeatedly told the tearful victim while he strangled her.
McDonald-O’Dwyer then threw the victim on a bed and continued strangling her.
McDonald-O’Dwyer also punched the victim then grabbed a lighter and threatened to set the young woman on fire.
McDonald-O’Dwyer then lit several cigarettes and stubbed them out all over the victim’s body.
The malicious rapist then grabbed a pair of scissors and held them to the victim’s throat, before he assaulted her with the scissors.
McDonald-O’Dwyer, who also pleaded guilty to sexual assault and multiple intentionally cause injury charges, threw his arms up in protest while these sickening details were read to the court.
The victim was “screaming for help” and begging her vile assailant to stop, the court heard.
McDonald-O’Dwyer punched the victim again and threatened to burn her with the lighter.
He then took the victim’s phone and left her to meet a friend at the Strzelecki Motel Traralgon.
The victim used this opportunity to escape McDonald-O’Dwyer’s clutches, reporting him to police.
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Gippsland investigator detective Senior Constable Tom Hughes and Senior Constable Brendan Harris arrested and charged McDonald-O’Dwyer in early-2022.
McDonald-O’Dwyer, who initially denied the offending, has been on remand since his capture.
The victim told the court the offending left her with “bad dreams and flashbacks”.
“I have ongoing PTSD …,” the victim said.
“Three times during the crime I thought I would die … I felt fearful and helpless.”
The victim also told the court she “imagined the worst possible outcomes”.
The defence conceded the victim impact statement was “devastating” but there were “hopes” McDonald-O’Dwyer, formerly of Yarram and Traralgon, could be “safely rehabilitated into the community” when he is eventually released from prison.
Judge Fiona Todd said “there’s no question” the offending has had a “significant impact” on the victim’s life.
“You put your hands around her throat and choked her … this is a particularly menacing and dangerous form of assault,” Judge Todd said.
“It asserts a life or death form of control over the victim … there was a deeply contemptuous flavour to you burning her with cigarettes …
“(The cigarette burns) indicate your desire to mark her body in a disregard for her dignity … your use of scissors to sexual assault her was alarming …”
McDonald-O’Dwyer, who has spent 894 days on remand, was jailed for a maximum eight years and 10 months.
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