Rapist jailed for attacking Good Samaritan driver giving him a lift home
A DESIGNATED driver callously raped by her passenger in Alice Springs spoke of the immense mental harm it had done to her before the rapist was sentenced to prison
Northern Territory
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A DESIGNATED driver callously raped by her passenger in Alice Springs spoke of the immense mental harm it had done to her before the rapist was sentenced to prison.
Jack Bolton, 26, will serve 18 months behind bars after he pleaded guilty to raping a woman who gave him a lift home after he had a boozy night out last year.
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The woman’s victim impact statement said she still had flashbacks, nightmares and panic attacks over the incident.
“I am serving a sentence of many issues and problems. I’m not OK and I am suffering, and I feel that he should, too,” she said.
“I beat myself up so much every single day about why I didn’t fight harder or why I didn’t scream harder …”
Acting judge Dean Mildren said it was “atrociously bad behaviour … She couldn’t escape, she couldn’t fight you … it’s a fair guess that she wouldn’t have had the physical strength to fight you off and any attempt to do so would risk further injury.
“A message needs to be made clear to the community that offending of this type … will not be tolerated,” he said.
In November last year, Bolton became drunk after visiting three pubs.
He was given a lift home by the victim, whom he repeatedly attacked as she was driving.
The victim’s injuries including bleeding, bruising and lacerations.
Defence lawyer John McBride referenced a psychiatric report and suggested alcohol was partly to blame for his behaviour during an earlier court hearing.
But Crown prosecutor Glen Dooley said Bolton could not minimise his criminality to a great extent based on his intoxication.
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“This is not a case where he was wholly lost in his intoxication. He knew what he was doing,” he said.
Bolton was sentenced to four years in jail suspended after 18 months under various conditions, including not drinking alcohol.
Originally published as Rapist jailed for attacking Good Samaritan driver giving him a lift home