Rapist Michael Dempsey sent to jail over attacks on three women in Hawthorn and Seaford

A MAN who tracked a 19-year-old German woman to a park near Seaford station and raped her in a sickening late-night attack went on to viciously assault two women in 30 minutes in Hawthorn a couple of months later, a court has heard.

A RAPIST who viciously assaulted three women in separate sickening attacks in Hawthorn and Seaford will spend the next 11 years behind bars.

Michael Dempsey, 26, began his three-month reign of terror about 3am on April 1 last year when he targeted a young woman walking home alone from Seaford station.

Hundreds gather for candlelight vigils in Adelaide to remember Eurydice Dixon and promote social change

Dempsey attacked his victim, a 19-year-old German tourist, from behind after she briefly stopped in Seaford North Reserve.

High on ice and drunk, Dempsey raped his victim, who told him she was only 17, before letting her go.

The woman sustained multiple injuries including bruising, abrasions and lacerations during the attack that Victorian County Court Judge Paul Lacava said was a “frightening ordeal”.

The woman was tracked by Dempsey to Seaford North Reserve, where he raped her. Picture: Chris Eastman

However, Dempsey was not apprehended after that incident and he struck again on July 15, 2017, attacking two women in Hawthorn in the space of 30 minutes.

In the first incident, Dempsey, drunk and high on ice again, dragged a 25-year-old woman out of a train and across the Hawthorn station platform by her hair for about 3m at about 6.30pm.

The ordeal ended when other commuters chased Dempsey from the scene.

However he remained in the area and only a short time later attacked another woman, aged 34.

This time Dempsey tackled his victim from behind, dragging her to a garden bed on Burwood Rd where he punched her several times, choked her and threatened to kill her.

He fled the scene after three people chased him off, one brandishing a golf club.

Dempsey was arrested after the Hawthorn attacks, and his DNA linked him to the Seaford rape.

Dempsey pleaded guilty to all three incidents.

Judge Lacava said Dempsey’s crimes were “violent” and “cowardly”.

“You brazenly attacked and raped a vulnerable young woman who was alone, and in a relatively isolated but public place in a park, in the early hours of the morning,” he said.

“Your crime of rape was associated with both violence and force injuring the victim, and was utterly degrading and belittling of her.”

Judge Lacava also said Dempsey’s actions “would appear to have been unplanned” but did “little to reduce the high level of your offending”.

Dempsey was sentenced in the Victorian County Court last month to 15 years in prison with a non-parole period of 11 years.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Registry.

“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you pose a sexual safety risk to women in the community generally,” Judge Lacava said.