A young woman kidnapped and raped in an ordeal lasting several days has been left feeling as if she doesn't deserve a happy and successful life.
Tragically it wasn't the first time the woman had been through such a terrifying experience, and she was receiving inpatient mental health treatment when she was targeted again.
Her attacker, Matthew Raku Raku, knew the woman and her history, making his crimes all the worse, County Court Judge Paul Higham said on Friday.
"I feel hopeless and as if I don't deserve a happy, successful life," the woman told a pre-sentence hearing for Raku Raku.
He has been jailed for nine years and eight months, and must serve at least six years before he'll be eligible for parole.
Raku Raku had known the woman for some time and was "keenly aware of her vulnerabilities", Judge Higham said.
He showed up to visit the woman while she as received inpatient care and despite the reluctance of staff, she agreed to speak to him outside.
That's where her nightmare began, the judge said. When she refused to leave with him, he slammed her into his car door and threw her inside.
He threatened her with a screwdriver and told her if she tried to get out she'd be dead.
Because he had nothing to live for, she would not live either, he told her.
Judge Higham said the woman believed her end had come when he gave her a choice between a bullet to the head or a bodybag.
He drove her to a house four hours away, threatening her throughout the car ride, before raping her inside a freezing cold an uninhabited house.
The following day he broke down, telling her he had "f***ed up" and couldn't get done for kidnapping because he'd go to jail.
Then he raped her again. She pleaded with Raku Raku to take her home. He instead drove her to a bus stop after giving her instructions on what to tell her family to explain her absence.
He pleaded guilty to charges including kidnapping, rape, and making threats to kill and inflict serious injury.
The young woman said she had worked extremely hard to overcome the challenges caused by her earlier trauma.
Raku Raku's attack had set her back, led her to being back in and out of psychiatric wards, self-harming and alcohol dependency. She has been diagnosed with a trauma-induced cognitive impairment and complex PTSD.
Judge Higham said Raku Raku was unemployed and an almost daily ice user at the time of the attack, which demonstrated a sense of affronted entitlement.
"Rape has nothing to do with desire, nothing to do with sexual attraction, it is quite simply a crime of invasive violence," he said.
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Australian Associated Press
