Harrowing audio of the moments following the violent rape of a young mother in her own home was played in a Perth court last week, so the man convicted over the assault could “hear the terror in her voice” as she called police for help.
Joshua Stephen Morrison, 37, showed no emotion while the woman’s triple-zero call, as well as body worn camera footage taken by police shortly after, were played at the judge’s request during his sentencing in the District Court on Thursday last week.
The man was sentenced in Perth District Court last week.Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola
Police were called to the woman’s home south of Perth last year after Morrison attacked her.
Wearing a surgical mask and high on drugs, he used pliers and a 30 centimetre-long steel file to the break into the locked home about 8.30am, before forcing the woman into her bedroom.
He threatened her with the weapon and subjected her to a protracted and terrifying ordeal before making her take a shower.
But while in the bathroom, the woman locked the door, pulled on underwear and escaped through a window to a nearby church to call for help.
Morrison then stole the woman’s phone, some jewellery and her car, and embarked on a joyride before police caught up with him 75 kilometres away.
He refused to stop and weaved in and out of traffic, repeatedly reaching speeds of more than 160km/h as police followed.
The chase came to an end when police deployed spike strips to deflate the car’s tyres, forcing Morrison to stop.
His first words to officers were, “For what it’s worth, this is a headache. This is gonna thump for a long time”, before repeatedly claiming that he had no memory of the sexual assault.
But Judge Linda Black was scathing of Morrison during his sentencing on Thursday, and called out his “blatant lies”.
“Don’t insult the court’s intelligence Mr Morrison by pretending you were off your head on drugs and didn’t know what you were doing,” she said.
“What you said in those reports were blatant lies. The way you described the event afterwards to the police were blatant lies.
“You knew exactly what you were doing because you did it. You were not off your head, such that you couldn’t control or understand what you were doing.”
Morrison’s defence counsel Simon Watters told the court the fact his client “became this monster on this day” was something he “completely regrets”.
“The fact that he became someone who could do this scares him and has shaken him to his core,” Watters said.
Black called the assault “a particularly brutal, callous sexual assault of a young woman” and told Watters his client’s explanation that “the drugs made me do it” was not acceptable.
“You ignored her tears, you ignored her cries of pain, you ignored her cries to stop. For a short time of satisfaction, you were choosing to destroy everything she held dear,” Black said.
The woman’s victim impact statement was read to the court in full, which the judge described as “incredibly poignant”.
Black asked the police prosecutor to pass on that the woman’s words were “not reflective of a person whose life is over, but is reflective of a person whose life has just begun”.
After playing some of the footage of the woman’s distressed interview with police, she told Morrison: “That is the girl whose life you chose to destroy that day.”
Morrison was jailed for a combined total of 19 years for four counts of rape, stealing the woman’s phone and car, and evading police in a dangerous pursuit.
Black told Morrison the “massive” sentence would give him time to “contemplate [his] actions in prison”.
“The only thing I can say, and I hope you can do, is while you’ll have pretty much the rest of your adult life in a jail cell, you will take the opportunity to make the most of the opportunities you’re going to have,” she said.
Black urged Morrison to study and work towards becoming a productive member of society upon his release.
Support is available from Lifeline 13 11 14 and the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).