Illiterate Mildura truck driver’s ‘deluded’ attitude towards woman he raped

A heavyset truckie who gave a woman a lift from Melbourne to Mildura and used his superior size to pin her to a bed then raped her.

A “remorseless” truck driver will spend at least three years behind bars for raping a woman after he gave her a lift from Melbourne to his Mildura home.

David Ladd, 54, has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault by a jury in Melbourne.

The Herald Sun can now reveal the results of the case, which was originally heard in Bendigo in October 2022, before the verdict was suppressed and a second trial was ordered.

The jury in the five-day trial at Bendigo returned a guilty verdict on one count of sexual assault but was unable to reach verdicts on a second count of sexual assault and an additional charge of rape.

A fresh trial held in Melbourne in December found Ladd guilty of those two charges.

Judge Kevin Doyle said Ladd had never admitted to any wrongdoing and had not shown any insight into his offending.

Ladd raped the woman in March 2019, after agreeing to collect her in Melbourne and give her a lift to Mildura.

The woman had been in a relationship with another man who lived in Mildura and the couple had made arrangements to see each other.

The woman went to lay down in a bedroom at Ladd’s house, where she had stayed on a previous visit to the property, and Ladd entered the room and lay down beside her.

He allegedly produced a vibrator and pushed it against her, through her jeans, before putting his hand down her pants and penetrating her with a finger.

He also put his hands inside the woman’s top and rubbed her.

When the woman’s boyfriend came to the house, she was in a distressed state and told him Ladd had raped her.

“You formed the deluded belief the complainant might be prepared to engage in sexual activity with you,” Judge Doyle said.

“You treated (her) as an object for your own gratification, taking advantage of the circumstances.

“She was alone and vulnerable in your house.

“You pinned her down by getting on top of her, taking advantage of your superior size and strength.”

Judge Doyle said Ladd had been psychologically assessed and was considered as being at a low-risk of reoffending.

“The most significant risk factor was your failure to acknowledge the impact of the offending on the victim and because you have not completed a sex offender treatment program,” he said.

“You do not have the significant mitigatory benefits of remorse or insight as indicated by a guilty plea or the utilitarian benefit of the guilty plea which includes sparing the victim the experience of reliving the incident.

“You’ve shown no remorse or insight.”

Judge Doyle said that Ladd had left school in year nine, was unable to read but could understand maps and remember the layout of towns and had a long history of employment.

He convicted and sentenced Ladd to five years’ and four months’ jail, with a non-parole period of three years and two months.