Serial ‘predator’ William Turner’s indefinite jail term overturned by Supreme Court

A notorious predator who abused five girls and young women and was condemned to die in prison could be released within years due to a recent court ruling.

Court documents shows that are five recorded victims over Turner’s three decades of sexual offending, with his youngest victims just 11 years old.

One of the Territory’s most notorious pedophiles who was condemned to die in a prison could be released in just three years after his indefinite sentence was overturned.

William Gordon Turner was resentenced in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, 15 years after the “extremely prolific”, “predator” was told he would never see the outside of a cell.

Court documents show that there were five recorded victims over Turner’s three decades of sexual offending, with his youngest victims just 11 years old.

In 2008 Chief Justice Brian Martin said Turner was a “predator” and an enduring “danger to women, particularly young girls” as he handed down an indefinite prison sentence.

The courts heard that Turner’s last victim endured four years of sexual assaults, which started shortly before her 12th birthday.

Turner forced the child to watch pornography and regularly checked her underwear for signs of her period to ensure she had not fallen pregnant.

Court documents show that there were five recorded victims over his three decades of sexual offending, with his youngest victims just 11 years old

When she was 14, he introduced his victim to a woman and together they sexually assaulted the child.

Turner repeatedly threatened the child and her mother, including twice pointing a shotgun at the young girl.

After years of enduring the shame, fear, hurt and loneliness in silence, the 17-year-old reported his abuse.

“You have deprived this child of the innocence and joy of a significant period of her childhood,” Justice Martin told Turner.

Turner’s history of sexual violence began when he was just 18, when he and his brother raped two hitchhikers in bushland near the Mataranka Hotel in 1973.

William Gordon Turner was given an indefinite sentence for his four-years of sexual offending against a child. Picture: Che Chorley

Turner was sentenced to six years in prison, but was released three months later due to an administrative error due to Cyclone Tracy’s damage to the prison.

Less than 12 months later he was convicted of another sexual offence against a 14-year-old in Mount Isa, Queensland.

He was thrown back in prison again in 1978 for an assault at the Mataranka Hotel, but just two weeks after his release Turner raped a girl after offering her a lift from the Berrimah Hotel.

His next victim was his wife, who tried to help him adjust to life outside of prison only to be thanked with years of verbal and physical abuse.

When the domestic violence survivor tried to escape, Turner would tell her “you will leave in a pine box” and “you will never get out the front door”.

The Holtze Correctional Centre just outside of Darwin has provided an ongoing skill training for inmates throughout the prison, creating opportunities for these prisoners to find work during and outside of prison.

For 12 months in 1991 she was unaware that while she was at work, her husband was often sexually assaulting another 11-year-old girl.

Fifteen years ago Justice Martin concluded that the risk of Turner reoffending was so high it was “almost to the point of certainty”.

“I have no doubt that if you are released into the community in the foreseeable future, you will again commit serious sexual offences against a child or children,” he said.

However under the legislation Turner’s indefinite sentence had to be reviewed after serving half of his “nominal” 20-year sentence.

In the light of two new psychological reports, Justice Judith Kelly found there was no longer a “high degree of probability that the offender is still a serious danger to the community”.

Under the Sentencing Act, she was forced to discharge the indefinite sentence and instead imposed a 20-year prison term, backdated to 2012.

His 14-year non-parole period means he may will be eligible for release by 2026.

Originally published as Serial ‘predator’ William Turner’s indefinite jail term overturned by Supreme Court