‘Unprovoked brutality’: Serial rapist jailed over violent 1984 Gippsland assault

A serial sex offender already serving time behind bars in Western Australia for violent sex offences against three young girls has been given more time for a violent rape of a young woman in Traralgon in 1984.

Robert Barry was on Friday jailed for 7½ years in the County Court.

A judge says women should not have to fear “unprovoked brutality” as she jailed a serial sex offender over a violent rape in Gippsland nearly 40 years ago.

Robert Barry, 61, was on Friday jailed for 7½ years after pleading guilty to the aggravated rape of a 24-year-old woman who he grabbed from behind, dragged into a garden bed and raped in Traralgon in 1984.

County Court Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis ordered four years of the sentence be served in addition to a 12-year term Barry was already serving for violent sex offences against three young girls in Western Australia.

In her sentencing remarks, the judge described the assault as “terrifying, degrading and an invasion of bodily integrity”.

“Such offending strikes at the most basic values of a civilised society where people should feel safe on our streets and women should not fear such unprovoked brutality,” she said.

Wearing a green prison-issued jumper, Barry appeared via video link from Hopkins Correctional Centre, showing little emotion as he sat at a table with his hands clasped together.

His victim was seated in court and comforted by supporters.

Judge Karapanagiotidis said the woman had provided a “powerful statement” detailing how she suffered nightmares, anxiety and depression following the assault.

“She wonders how different her life would’ve been had you not offended against her,” she said.

Then aged 22 and known as Robert Johnson, Barry began following his victim after she left a bar about 10.30pm on August 25, 1984.

Barry appeared in court via video link from Hopkins Correctional Centre in Ararat.

The woman walked towards a tree when she noticed Barry running towards her on the grass.

She waited for him to leave and continued when she thought it safe before he grabbed her from behind.

Barry put his hands over her mouth and pinned her arms before dragging her into a garden where he pulled off her clothes and raped her.

“Don’t look at me,” he told her, shoving her head away.

When she struggled and tried to crawl away, Barry bashed her head against a wooden sleeper on a garden bed, knocking her unconscious, before he fled.

After she came round, the woman raised the alarm with a nearby home who called police.

The woman’s face was so badly bruised and cut up she was unrecognisable to a friend who visited her the following day.

She provided a description of her rapist to police but they were unable to track Barry down and the case remained cold for decades.

Forensic evidence including swabs and blood samples were taken from items including the woman’s clothing but DNA technology had not yet been developed to test it.

In 2012, the items were analysed and Barry was later found to be a match.

He was jailed for 12 years in 2017 after pleading guilty to a string of sex offences in Western Australia in the early 1990s including the rape of two teenagers — also solved through DNA analysis.

Barry also grabbed those victims in a public place before assaulting them.

He was extradited to Victoria in 2019 after his Western Australian legal matters finished.

Judge Karapanagiotidis ordered Barry serve a total 16 years’ jail backdated to May 2016 when he was taken into custody in Western Australia.

She ordered an extra two years and three months be added to his non-parole period, making it a total 12 years and three months.

Barry will also be a registered sex offender for life.