13 years for raping toddler in outback

A 27-year-old man who raped a toddler in Tennant Creek in 2018 has been sentenced to 13 years in jail.

A 27-year-old man who raped a toddler in Tennant Creek in 2018 — causing her injuries that ­required a blood transfusion and infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease — has been sentenced to 13 years in jail.

A court heard how Kingsley Corbett, 27, sneaked into the girl’s home in the troubled outback town late at night and snatched her from her mother’s side. He then raped her in an adjacent room before leaving her on some cushions, naked and bleeding.

The girl’s mother, who told police she had been drinking and watching TV before going to sleep, did not notice the crime until a relative woke her at midnight and turned on the lights.

It later emerged that the girl and her siblings had been the subject of more than 50 child protection notifications.

Corbett initially denied his involvement and gave a false alibi that police were forced to disprove. After DNA evidence from two nappies and a bedsheet linked him to the rape, he pleaded guilty in the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Friday.

In sentencing Corbett, judge Judith Kelly told him his crime ­inspired disgust and loathing and was worsened by not being ­opportunistic. She said the victim, who was two-years-and-nine-months old at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons, would likely suffer lasting emotional damage.

“She was still really only a baby, utterly vulnerable and ­defenceless. She wouldn’t have been able to tell anyone about what you had done,” Justice Kelly said.

“You entered that child’s home, the home of a vulnerable family, stealthily … at night in order to commit the offence, and you took the child from where she was sleeping beside her mother … into a bedroom, into another room, and raped her there.”

The brutal attack shocked the nation, provoking interventions from the federal and Territory governments, the local council and various service providers and Aboriginal groups.

Justice Kelly said Corbett had a long history of offending, including five convictions for ­assaulting police, one for aggravated assault, two for unlawful entry, three for stealing and one for property damage.

“By far the most numerous convictions on your record are for breaches of bail and various kinds of court order,” she said.

She also read extracts from a psychologist’s report in which Corbett described being abandoned by his parents, often homeless and once being assaulted by an older man.

“You drank spirits, you drank beer, and at times when the pubs were closed, you would steal mouthwash from the supermarket and drink it,” she said.

“You also sniffed solvents ­including petrol, glue and paint when you ran out of alcohol, and this is no doubt why you were not able to hold down a job.”

Crown prosecutor Glen Dooley said Corbett’s offending was in the “worst category” and carried a maximum penalty of life. “This is a crime that deeply disturbed the Tennant Creek community and the nation,” he said. “He displayed no remorse.”

Justice Kelly largely agreed. She said she could not weigh Corbett’s prospects for rehabilitation and needed to hand down a sentence that provided both deterrence and protection.

In a brief but moving victim impact statement, the girl’s father wrote that his family was strong: “I just can’t express my sadness. I have no words.”

Justice Kelly told Corbett his offending had “harmed their whole family and deeply disturbed the community”.

She said she would have sentenced him to 16 years had he not pleaded guilty, giving him 13 years with a nine-year non-parole period, backdated to September 2018.