Parap rapist Troy Benning resentenced after ‘manifestly inadequate’ prison term

WARNING GRAPHIC: The sentence for a convicted rapist was so lenient it would “shock the public”, a court has ruled. We reveal why the sex monster who violated a Territory mum-of-two almost walked free too early.

Only two years after being sentenced for a brutal home invasion, rapist Troy Nathan Benning could have walked out of prison as a free man.

For his victim, a Parap mother of two, this was her nightmare come to life.

The woman was baking in her kitchen, while her children slept, when the ice-frenzied stranger stepped into her home just after midnight on April 1, 2020.

Wearing a plastic shopping bag over his head and brandishing a pair of scissors, the 25-year-old climbed up a drainpipe to her balcony and broke into her unit.

Benning smashed a glass picture frame over the mother’s head, hit her with a stool, punched and kicked her to the head before repeatedly raping her until she cried out to her young daughter for help.

Before he left he told the woman: “If you call the police, I will come back and kill you”.

In February, Benning pleaded guilty to all 10 charges and was sentenced to just seven years in prison, with a four-year non-parole period.

On Wednesday the full bench of the Supreme Court, Justices Stephen Southwood, Judith Kelly and Peter Barr, found it was “manifestly inadequate” for Benning to released as early as April 2024.

Troy Nathan Benning rape a woman in Parap. Picture: NT Police

In her victim impact statement, the woman said she feared “he will come back and hurt me again”.

“All I ever want from a mother’s point of view are my kids to be safe. I want to be safe.

“It feels like he has taken our freedom away,” she said.

On Wednesday, police prosecutors won the appeal as four years and nine months were added to Benning’s total sentence.

Justice Southwood resentenced Benning to 11 years and nine months in prison.

His non-parole period was also extended to seven years.

The Justices said the initial sentence and non-parole period failed to reflect the horror of the attack on April 1, 2020.

“The sentence imposed for this offending was so disproportionate to the objective seriousness of the offending as to shock the public conscience and demonstrate error in a point of principle,” the Justice’s decision said.

Justice Stephen Southwood Picture: Patrina Malone

In June, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Victoria Engel argued the “inexplicable” initial decision sentenced a number of serious offences concurrently.

This meant each instance of robbery, assault, rape and threats to kill did not consider the cumulative horror of the attack.

Justice Kelly was surprised that the serious case of home invasion and depravation of liberty, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, resulted in a two-year sentence.

“How can that be justified?” she asked.

The Supreme Court in Darwin, Northern Territory. Picture: Jason Walls

In their Wednesday decision the Justices said the three year, seven month cumulative sentence for the unlawful entry, assault, and two sexual assault charges “fail(ed) to reflect the criminality in each of the four counts”.

“(It) is so plainly and obviously disproportionate to the gravity of those counts as to bespeak error,” they said.

Defence representative Ambrith Abayasekara had argued in June that the “lenient” initial judgment factored Benning’s youth, “deprived and traumatic background”, mental health issues, criminal history, and his rehabilitation prospects.

However, the full bench said even taking these factors into account, the sentence was far to lenient.

Benning previously pleaded guilty to all changes, including unlawful entry, rape, attempted rape, depravation of liberty, threats to kill, theft and assault causing serious harm.

*For 24-hour sexual violence support call the national hotline 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or MensLine on 1800 600 636.

Originally published as Parap rapist Troy Benning resentenced after ‘manifestly inadequate’ prison term