Daniel Giuseppe Grimaldi sentenced for rape of woman in Mount Isa home

A judge said a man from a well-known family showed no remorse as he was sentenced in Townsville court for a traumatising assault. WARNING: Distressing content.

Daniel Giuseppe Grimaldi was sentenced for rape in Townsville District Court on Tuesday.

A judge has told the court that the son of a prominent Mount Isa family showed no remorse for his actions after he raped a woman multiple times in his home.

Daniel Giuseppe Grimaldi stood emotionless in the dock as he received his sentence in Townsville District Court on Tuesday.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate said the 36-year-old had anally raped a women in October 2021 despite her telling him to stop and attempting to get away from him.

“(The woman) described it in terms of ‘when your body is in pain, you push away from that pain,” he said.

“It’s apparent that Grimaldi was on top of her and therefore she considered it impossible … to be able to push him away physically.”

The court heard that the victim had suffered from anxiety, depression and sleep paralysis as a result of the incident.

“It’s impacted her social life, her family life and of course it’s affected her sexual relationships,” Mr Walklate said.

When Grimaldi had committed the rape he was out on bail for a separate offence in which he put an unconscious woman he had known into a car while she was naked and proceeded to take a photograph of her, Mr Walklate said.

The Crown said Grimaldi was found guilty of observation in breach of privacy for that offence and sentenced to 100 hours of community service which was to be completed over 12 months.

“She was unaware that the photo was being taken,” Mr Walklate said.

Defence barrister, Claire Grant, instructed by Anderson Telford lawyers said Grimaldi’s family owned multiple businesses in Mount Isa and his mother had supported him in court during the trial but was unable to make it to his sentencing due to being hospitalised after a significant fall, which added to Grimaldi’s distress.

“He comes from a prominent Mount Isa family, his grandparents were also residents of Mount Isa,” she said.

Judge Deborah Richards said she accepted the statement from the crown that the rapes took place anywhere from half an hour to an hour.

“The complainant was someone who you only met that night and she’d gone back to your house for consensual vaginal intercourse but you took it upon yourself to put your penis in her anus,” she said.

Judge Richards told the court on the first occasion that Grimaldi non-consensually penetrated the woman and she told him she didn’t want to do anal, instead of stopping Grimaldi applied lubricant and proceeded to completely insert his penis “despite her saying she didn’t want to do that.”

The victim had been put through a lengthy and traumatic cross examination during the trial, said Judge Richards.

“I could see her reaction when she was giving evidence. She found the whole process quite difficult and you have shown not a skerrick of remorse,” she said.

Grimaldi was sentenced to five and a half years in jail with a parole eligibility release date of March 12, 2026.

Her honour declared the 384 days spent in pre-sentence custody as time served.

Originally published as Daniel Giuseppe Grimaldi sentenced for rape of woman in Mount Isa home