Serial rapist William Craig Forde is appealing to be released from jail

One of Victoria’s worst sex offenders, convicted for raping four women, is appealing his indefinite jail term days after the government voted not to lock up killer Paul Denyer for life.

The Ballarat rape victim of William Craig Forde enters the Ballarat Law Courts.

One of Victoria’s most vicious rapists, sentenced to a rare indefinite jail term in 2007, will return to court within weeks to seek his release.

William Craig Forde, who has been convicted of raping four women, will appear in the County Court in August to review his sentence.

A recent meeting of lawyers from the Office of Public Prosecutions and Legal Aid is believed to have agreed on funding for an appeal.

It comes just days after the Andrews government did not back an opposition Bill to keep serial killer Paul Denyer from applying for parole after his bid for freedom was rejected.

William Craig Forde was sentenced to an indefinite jail term in 2007.

Family and friends of Denyer’s victim, Natalie Russell, said the process of parole applications had been mentally and physically draining.

Premier Daniel Andrews last week admitted the “system” had failed to protect and support the family during Denyer’s bid for parole.

Now, the victim of Forde’s most recent crime, Jessica, told the Herald Sun she had been warned to brace for the possibility of Forde being freed, despite his appalling record.

Jessica, who gave permission for her first name to be used, was a 23-year-old single mother when she was bound, gagged and raped repeatedly at knifepoint during an 800km ordeal across Victoria lasting almost 30 hours.

Forde had only just been released from jail after serving less than 16 years for three earlier rapes when he attacked the young mother in Ballarat.

Jessica this week said authorities didn’t know “what to do with him or where to put him”.

“They have told me it’s a unique situation,” she said.

The maximum penalty for rape is 25 years – but in 2007 Forde was given an indefinite sentence with no set end date.

In doing so, the court must specify a “nominal sentence“, equivalent to the non-parole period that would otherwise have been fixed.

The sentence must be reviewed after the expiry of the nominal sentence, which in Forde’s case is this year.

The Herald Sun believes the use of indefinite sentencing is extremely rare in Victoria, and potentially just two prisoners are subject to the order.

Under an indefinite sentence order, a prisoner is only released if the court is satisfied they are no longer a serious danger to society.

Legal sources said indefinite sentences were rarely used given there were other mechanisms beyond the end of a fixed term of imprisonment if the person continues to pose a risk.

Another of Forde’s victims, who was only 13 when she was raped in 1998, called for a tougher, more realistic sentence and said he should “rot in jail for the rest of his life”.

“If he got what he deserved the first, second and third times he would have been still there where he belongs,” she said.

Forde has refused to participate in sex offender treatment programs in Barwon Prison.

County Court Judge Thomas Wodak, who sentenced Forde in 2007, said there “was very little indication of remorse” from Forde.

He said at the time the power to impose an indefinite sentence should be used “sparingly and only in clear cases”.

“I am satisfied that this is such a clear case. I consider that if an indefinite sentence was not imposed, there is a risk of serious danger to members of the community.”

The judge said Jessica’s experience was “a prolonged ordeal of physical and mental pain, degradation, humiliation and despair.”

Sentencing Advisory Council chair Marilyn McMahon said indefinite detention sentence were used “sparingly”.

“In 2015, the Victorian Court of Appeal noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions had only made five applications for an indefinite sentence in the preceding 20 years,” she said.