Wife-killer Maximo Armando Pantoja jailed for rape decades after murdering wife
A prison worker who spent 15 years behind bars for the brutal murder of his wife has been jailed for another decade for several sexual assaults.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
A violent monster and prison worker who killed his wife more than 30 years ago has been jailed for at least another decade for rape.
In 1996, a jury found Maximo Armando Pantoja guilty of killing Felicitas Pantoja in their home in Sydney’s western suburbs.
The court heard Ms Pantoja was beaten by a blunt instrument and strung with a rope by the neck to a doorknob.
It was the Crown’s case that Pantoja left his workplace where he was a cleaner, murdered his wife and then returned to his shift.
Pantoja was sentenced to 18 years in prison with a non-parole period of thirteen and a half years.
He served 15 years behind bars.
Twelve years on and the now-60-year-old has been sentenced to jail yet again — this time for two counts of rape and one count of aggravated sexual assault causing actual bodily harm.
Downing Centre District Court heard Pantoja threatened to kill a woman and her kids if she did not have sex with him, but she refused.
Then, between March and 31 August 2020, Pantoja turned up unexpectedly to her workplace and pushed her against a table, where he raped her.
In her sentencing remarks, Judge Penelope Hock told the court the woman cried and said “stop ... please don’t do it,” while resisting physically by scratching Pantoja’s face.
The court was told the woman was too frightened to report the rape to police in case Pantoja would hurt her or her children.
On another date, Pantoja — who worked at Sydney’s Parkway Correctional Centre — again went to the woman’s workplace and raped her after a violent struggle lasting about half an hour in which she was injured.
After confiding in her family about her horrific experiences, the woman decided to report the crimes to police in October 2020.
Judge Hock read out the woman’s victim impact statement, in which she said the assaults changed her life completely.
“I was so depressed. I was crying every day ... I still go to counselling because I feel anxious and depressed and I need to talk with someone,” the statement read.
“I know Maximo is inside (jail) but I’m still scared about my safety, the safety of my kids, and I am afraid for everyone’s safety. It’s been hard to trust again ... I want to try and be happy again”.
Judge Hock found Pantoja’s criminal history did not entitle him to leniency.
“Of course he is not to be punished again for the earlier offence (of murdering his wife), however, the fact that he has again committed offences of such violence ... demonstrates that little, if any, rehabilitation has taken place in respect of such offences,” she said.
Judge Hock said Pantoja has shown a “continuing disregard for the law” and “set out deliberately to deceive the jury in many aspects of his evidence”.
The court heard Pantoja was born in Peru and had a normal upbringing before moving to Australia at age 21. He has no history of mental health issues and has shown no remorse for his crimes, of which he maintains his innocence.
Pantoja was jailed for 15 years, with a non-parole period of 11 years and three months.
His sentence was backdated to his arrest date of October 18, 2020, making him eligible for parole on January 17, 2032.
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