Ryan William Edward Blake, 32, jailed for ‘depraved’ rapes

This 32-year-old Queensland builder’s labourer violently raped and choked a woman until she passed out. Badly hurt, she desperately armed herself with knives, escaped and called Triple-0. *Distressing content.

Ryan William Edward Blake, 32, was jailed in the District Court at Gladstone. Generic image.

A violent rapist who committed unthinkable acts on a woman and warned he wanted to “f*** her lifeless body” has appealed his sentence.

Ryan William Edward Blake, 32, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone after pleading guilty to historical charges of rape and strangulation.

Blake’s criminal history included drugs and weapons offences and he was on parole when he committed the rape and strangulation offences.

Judge Jeff Clarke said Blake’s latest crimes were a “spectacular and effectively serious escalation” of his offending path.

The court heard Blake and the victim were having consensual sex but he became “controlling and violent”, even asking her to describe child sexual abuse for his own gratification.

The victim was raped while her head was being forced into a toilet bowl and also on a bed.

At certain points her clothes were “torn off” and she was held down.

The court heard the woman recalled waking up on the bed with a belt buckle “tightly around her neck”.

At one point Blake grabbed a black t-shirt, twisted it, and while the victim was still underneath, he wrapped it around her neck and applied pressure, squeezing it around her neck.

As she was losing her breath, she tried to grab at the twisted shirt to pull it away.

Blake then told her that he would like to “f*** her lifeless body” and continued strangling her until she lost consciousness.

The court heard Blake had not used a condom and the woman was not able to see properly and she felt like the blood vessels in her face and eye had burst.

It was painful for her to open her eye and she had difficulty eating or swallowing.

At one point, Blake pushed the woman up against a wall, punched her, threw her to the ground and kicked her.

She left, taking knives with her “for protection”, called Triple-0 and police and paramedics responded, taking her to Gladstone Hospital where she was treated for her injuries.

The court heard when police arrested Blake, he made “very self-serving statements” which included “victim blaming”.

Gladstone Courthouse.

It was told he had a “good work record” as a builder’s labourer despite his drug use (cannabis and amphetamine).

While in custody on remand, he’d worked, undertaken courses to help with re-employment, and completed a drug relapse prevention course.

However, Judge Clarke said “no valid explanation was provided for your conduct - above the late plea of guilty there was no acknowledgment of wrongdoing (or) acceptance of the contents of the victim impact statement”.

Judge Clarke said Blake’s offending possessed “an unimaginable level of depravity and particular cruelness” which set it apart from other comparable cases he was asked to consider.

In relation to Blake asking the woman to talk of “unspeakable” child sexual abuse while raping her, Judge Clarke said: “It was not challenged by your counsel that, that was done by you to enhance or to excite your sexual appetite.”

Judge Clarke said the woman, in her victim impact statement, said these events had “changed her life forever” and she would “never be the same person” having had to experience “things that no-one should have to face.”

She further said in her VIS that she had become “tormented and broken as a consequence” and her suffering included “physical, financial, mental and emotional suffering.”

“She said that she battled daily to not take her own life,” Judge Clarke said.

“She said that even now... she still suffers frequent, horrific nightmares that wake her, leaving her too terrified to go back to sleep.

“She says she is trapped in a cycle of fear and anxiety... she relives the trauma constantly.”

Judge Clarke sentenced Blake to 10 years’ jail, declaring a portion of that as time already served.

Because these offences were committed while Blake was on parole, the District Court sentence is cumulative on the sentence imposed in Gladstone Magistrates Court in February 2023.

Convictions were recorded.

On May 7, Blake lodged an appeal of the sentence imposed in the District Court at Gladstone.

A decision has not yet been handed down.

Originally published as Ryan William Edward Blake, 32, jailed for ‘depraved’ rapes