Victim: Give rapist no mercy

THE brave young single mother kidnapped by incorrigible serial rapist William Craig Forde put Victorian judges on notice last night over her attacker's indefinite sentence.

Ordeal: Jessica says she tries to stay positive.

THE brave young single mother kidnapped by incorrigible serial rapist William Craig Forde put Victorian judges on notice last night over her attacker's indefinite sentence.

Forde, 49, was yesterday given an indefinite sentence, to be reviewed by a judge after 17 years, for crimes against Jessica while he held her captive at knifepoint during a 30-hour, cross-country ordeal.

It was the highest indefinite sentence given to a sex offender in Victoria, but produced a mixed reaction from Forde's latest victim.

Jessica said that in 17 years she would be "pushing 40 but still young enough to fight".

"I'll always be young enough to fight – and I've got another 15 rounds in me if necessary," she said.

Jessica, whose powerful and heart-rending victim impact statement sparked an overwhelming public reaction when she allowed the Herald Sun to publish it in full in August, said she was stoked with the indefinite sentence.

"But I'd be absolutely horrified if he was let out after 17 years," she said.

"That would make me sick. If that was the case, what would be the point of having gone through all the trauma of fighting to get an indefinite sentence?

"My mum doesn't think 17 years even comes close to what he deserves."

Judge Thomas Wodak told Forde in the County Court at Ballarat that "if an indefinite sentence was not imposed there is a risk of serious danger to members of the community, namely adult females".

The judge said women could not be protected against the risk from Forde if a fixed sentence was imposed.

"The power to impose an indefinite sentence is to be exercised sparingly and only in clear cases," he said.

Forde pleaded guilty to 11 counts of rape, two of indecent assault, and one each of kidnap, unlawful imprisonment and armed robbery.

Forde served fewer than 16 years in jail for three previous rape attacks and reoffended within months each time he was released.

He was set free on November 7 last year and attacked Jessica on February 6 in the shop where she worked in Ballarat.

She was bound, gagged and raped in the back of the shop, then driven 800km around central and northern Victoria and repeatedly raped.

She was freed about 3.20pm the following day near her mother's Ballarat home, where she was found crying hysterically.

Jessica was supported in court by her parents, her partner, sisters, other family and friends.

Forde sat with his head bowed and showed no emotion during Judge Wodak's sentencing remarks.

The judge quoted at length from Jessica's victim impact statement, which he described at "realistic, reasonable and convincing".

"I consider that (Jessica) acted with enormous bravery and strength of mind during what must have been, for her, a prolonged ordeal of physical and mental pain, degradation, humiliation and despair," he said.

"You (Forde) treated her with a callousness difficult to understand, as though she was an inanimate and unfeeling object, existing only to serve your sexual gratification as, when, and where you chose."

Judge Wodak said Forde's record was deplorable and there was little to indicate remorse or a wish to be rehabilitated.

There was no evidence he suffered any intellectual or psychiatric disorder.

Forde will be just the fourth to serve an indefinite sentence in Victorian legal history.

After the sentencing, Jessica said she planned to study social welfare.

She hopes to help rape victims and contribute to changes in the way they are treated in the justice system.