Teen jailed for vicious abduction and rape of university student

AN intellectually disabled teenager who abducted and bashed a uni student before forcing her to have sex has been jailed.

Thomas Weldon

AN intellectually disabled teenager who abducted a Melbourne university student and forced her to perform a sex act has been jailed at least three years and three months.

Thomas Weldon, 19, pulled his car over in Carlton on May 11 this year to ask a female student for directions, then punched her in the face before sexually assaulting her, the Victorian County Court was told.

Judge John Smallwood said the student tried to scream but Weldon covered her mouth with his hand and threatened to stab her if she refused to get into his car and give him oral sex.

Weldon also threatened to track her down and rip her head off if she contacted police about the attack, the judge said.

Weldon stole the student's purse and forced her to withdraw $1000 from an ATM, the court heard.

Judge Smallwood said the attack could only be regarded as a very serious example of rape.

The victim was significantly smaller than Weldon and the attack began with Weldon "belting her in the face'', he said.

Weldon pleaded guilty to the rape and 19 other charges including aggravated burglaries, robbery and thefts carried out between March and May this year.

Judge Smallwood said Weldon had prior convictions and was at risk of becoming institutionalised.

He said Weldon came from a severely disadvantaged Aboriginal family and grew up witnessing extreme violence, including sexual assaults, and drug use.

He was illiterate and innumerate as he had accumulated only six months of education, the judge said.

"The anger which you clearly have within you, and the substance abuse which you clearly suffer from, are ones which are distressingly familiar to Aboriginal people brought up on the streets,'' he said.

Weldon was sentenced to six years jail, but will have to serve a minimum of three years and three months before becoming eligible for parole.