A 64-year-old man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison in Melbourne for repeatedly raping his younger partner and forcing her into prostitution over a five-year period. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, met the woman online and travelled from the United States to Australia to be with her, but quickly established a pattern of intimidating control.
The victim, who was 32 years younger than the offender, was regularly raped and made to quit her retail job to work as a prostitute. Out of fear, she felt powerless to object, while the man barely worked, spending his time fishing or at the gym. He forced her to go on yoghurt diets and encouraged her to bleach her hair and use fake tan. When she returned from brothels, she handed over the money, and he only gave her an allowance for food or hairdressing.
The court heard that the man once threatened her with a hunting knife before raping her, and on another occasion forced her to perform a sex act at a hospital shortly after she had given birth to their baby. He was found guilty in August of multiple counts of rape and forcing the woman into prostitution between 2008 and 2013.
Victorian County Court Judge Frances Hogan described the man's behaviour as 'cruel, brutal and humiliating' and 'truly deplorable'. She said, 'You used her in a depraved, selfish manner, effectively as your sexual slave - whenever you felt like it, in whatever humiliating circumstances took your fantasy.' The judge also condemned the man for putting the woman through a trial in which she was accused of fabricating the allegations.
The man was sentenced to 24 years in jail, with a minimum of 16 years before being eligible for parole. Judge Hogan emphasised that domestic violence is a prevalent problem in Australia and must be condemned in the strongest terms, noting that rape within a relationship is no less serious than any other rape.
