Aidan Creed Kelly, who raped sleeping woman, loses sentence appeal

A convicted rapist who took advantage of a sleeping woman has failed to have his sentence reduced after arguing he didn’t threaten his victim.

A man who raped a sleeping woman has failed to have his sentence reduced, with a judge saying he used his victim’s body as a “tool for the satisfaction of his sexual desire”.

Aidan Creed Kelly was found guilty last year of forcing himself on the woman as she slept following a night out in Crookwell NSW, on 23 November 2019.

Kelly had joined a group of people at a property to continue drinking after they left the local pub and had slept on a couch.

In the morning, Kelly, who was 19 at the time, entered the room in which the woman was sleeping and began having sex with her.

He was convicted last year of sexual intercourse without consent and sentenced to five years and nine months imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.

A panel of Supreme Court judges ruled on Wednesday the sentence was not excessive and that arguments made by his lawyers did not work in his favour.

Aidan Creed Kelly has failed to have his sentence reduced. Image: Facebook

Supreme Court Justice Christine Adamson rejected the argument by Kelly’s lawyers that him not having physically threatened his victim reduced the seriousness of the crime.

“Threats are plainly unnecessary when the victim, being unconscious, is powerless to object, defend or protect herself,” she stated in a judgment.

“Indeed, the fact of the offence being committed when the victim was unconscious may heighten its objective seriousness.”

Also relying on the fact the victim was asleep at the time of the incident, Kelly’s lawyers argued he did not commit acts of “humiliation” on his victim, which Justice Adamson also wholly rejected.

“It is plain … she found it humiliating to realise, when she woke, that the applicant had used her body without regard to her identity, personality or bodily integrity, but merely as a tool for the satisfaction of his sexual desire,” she said.

Kelly raped a sleeping woman following a night out in Crookwell. Picture: Google

During the initial trial, a court heard from Kelly’s victim who relived the moment she woke to find him on top of her.

The woman said she initially believed it to be her boyfriend with whom she had consensual sex the night before and had left to go to work, but realised it was not when she heard Kelly say “wake up, wake up”.

She then pushed Kelly off, exclaiming “what the f***”, to which the court was told he replied, “let me finish you off”.

The woman went to another room and texted a friend to say she’d been raped, who then called the police.

In a victim impact statement tendered during the initial trial, the woman revealed she had feared not being believed.

“‘Gossip’ gets around fast. I was so scared no one would believe me. I was scared of what was going to happen and it took me weeks to go back out in public. I didn’t know what to do or where to go,” she said.

“Before this, I was travelling and working in Australia alone. I was strong, independent. I had so many plans and aspirations!

“Now I am left feeling angry, weak and have lost all direction. It has taken a long time (two years in fact) to accept and start to deal with what has happened.”