Brett David Hill (pictured) was sentenced to a minimum 17 years in prison last month for raping a girl in June 2018
A father-of-three who kidnapped and repeatedly raped an 11-year-old girl in an attack that lasted five hours still claims he has no idea why he violated the child.
Brett David Hill admits he was regularly binging on pornography and smoking synthetic cannabis but cannot explain his heinous crimes.
‘That is the big question with me, is why I did such a thing,’ the 49-year-old told a psychiatrist, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.
Hill was armed with a pair of scissors when he snatched the girl on her way to school in Newcastle 18 months ago and raped her at three separate locations.
The 49-year-old described how as soon as he first indecently assaulted the girl she had tried to save herself from further attack by using a secret code word.
‘I touched her and she said ‘unicorn’, which she explained was what she said when she thought she was about to be hurt,’ Hill told the psychiatrist.
Hill, who has been jailed for a minimum 17 years, abducted the girl as she walked through Hudson Park at Adamstown Heights about 9.15am on June 12, 2018.
She gave Hill a false name and told him she was ten; Hill later said he had estimated she was 11 or 12.
The predator spent the next five hours sexually and indecently assaulting the girl before releasing her at Kotara railway station about 2.15pm.
During the rapes the girl had asked Hill: ‘Can I please go to school?’ and ‘Are we done yet?’ He replied: ‘No, we’re not done yet.’
Brett David Hill abducted an 11-year-old girl from Hudson Park (pictured) at Adamstown Heights in Newcastle and raped her at three separate locations over five hours in June 2018
Hill was arrested by police on Beaumont Street, Hamilton, four days after the horrific attack on the young girl. He had been staying in a backpackers hostel at Hamilton where he watched pornography and took drugs. Hill is pictured above handcuffed and wearing a baseball cap
Hill described how as soon as he indecently assaulted the girl she tried to save herself from further attack by using a secret word. ‘I touched her and she said ‘unicorn’, which she explained was what she said when she thought she was about to be hurt,’ Hill said
Hill told the psychiatrist he had split from the mother of his three children the previous year and was living in a backpackers hostel at Hamilton when he abducted the girl.
He had no friends, was using drugs and had taken to regularly watching pornography featuring underage girls on his phone.
‘I woke up that morning… I had drunk a lot the night before,’ Hill said, according to a report tendered to court.
‘I made a deal with the manager to fix his sliding door.
‘I remember sitting on the lounge. I remember going out and smoking half a joint of a homemade synthetic stuff. It affected me so I don’t remember what I did.
‘I remember being at the park and that a girl was underneath me. I had her come to the car with me. She just walked with me. I told her I would bring her back.
‘I drove her around for half an hour or 40 minutes. I took her to some bushland. I told her to get her gear off.’
Hill had told his terrified victim, ‘I have a knife, I’ll kill you’, ‘Be quiet or I’ll punch you really hard’, and ‘Shut up or I’ll suffocate you’.
When he had finished assaulting the girl he put a plastic bag over her head, dropped her at the train station and told her to walk the rest of the way home.
Hill at times told his terrified victim, ‘I have a knife, I’ll kill you’, ‘Be quiet or I’ll punch you really hard’, and ‘Shut up or I’ll suffocate you’. Pictured is the park where the girl was kidnapped
The girl was able to give police a detailed description of her attacker, which helped lead to his arrest at Hamilton four days later. Pictured are detectives at one of several crime scenes
The girl was able to give police a detailed description of her attacker, which helped lead to his arrest at Hamilton four days later.
She said he had short, messy, dark hair, a chubby face and hands, and was wearing a black and blue hoodie with blue jeans and beige shoes at the time.
He had cracked lips, his lower teeth were stained brown and he had wrinkles around his mouth and forehead.
She remembered him smelling of cigarette smoke or body odour, and speaking with an Australian accent. Her bravery, composure and resilience were praised by investigators.
Hill eventually plead guilty to seven counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 16, one count of aggravated kidnapping and possessing child abuse material.
Last month Judge Roy Ellis sentenced him in the New South Wales District Court to a maximum 23 years behind bars.
The girl told detectives her attacker had short, messy hair, wrinkles around his mouth and smelt of cigarettes or body odour. This pamphlet was distributed by police after the attack
‘I remember being at the park and that a girl was underneath me,’ Hill told a psychiatrist. ‘I had her come to the car with me. She just walked with me. I told her I would bring her back’
Judge Ellis said Hill’s criminality was extreme and the offender had shown no sympathy, empathy or compassion during the prolonged attacks on the girl.
Before Hill was sentenced the girl, now 13, confronted him with a victim impact statement she read out in court with her mother and pet dog by her side.
It is important that you hear what I have to say to you. I have been waiting for this day to tell you how I feel…
The girl described how the ordeal Hill made her endure had ruined her childhood, left her in permanent fear of strangers and made her consider taking her own life.
‘It is important that you hear what I have to say to you,’ the girl began as she faced the prisoner. ‘I have been waiting for this day to tell you how I feel and how you have affected my life.’
‘Today, tomorrow and years ahead, I will be scarred and never cured. I may look strong and brave on the outside but on the inside I’m breaking down.
‘I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster, going up and falling back down.’
The girl told Hill she had been a happy child who loved life and was scared of nothing before he violated her.
‘Before all this happened, I was carefree, happy, excited,’ the girl told her attacker. ‘I used to think I was pretty and be a confident person. I was scared of nothing.
Every night I lie awake and look around my room. I can’t sleep and my body will be shaking.
‘My life was so happy back then. I used to walk around town with a big smile. I loved my life and my world was safe. I had nothing to worry about.’
The girl told Hill she was now so fearful she was scared to even walk her dog.
She suffers constant flashbacks – reliving the day when she was frozen, numb and helpless and wanted to die.
‘That day started with me going to school like I did every other morning,’ she told her rapist. ‘I was excited to see my friends. You kidnapped and raped me. My life as I knew it is forever changed.
‘Every night I lie awake and look around my room. I can’t sleep and my body will be shaking.
Hill sexually assaulted the girl in a red Holden Commodore like the one pictured above. He dumped her at Kotara train station after putting a bag over her head and told her to walk home
‘I see your face everywhere in places that should be safe, like when I play sport, in class, at home. I get so distressed and upset. I feel like my life is threatened over and over again.
‘I have had suicidal thoughts because I want the pain to stop and to be in control of my thoughts and my feelings. I will deal with this for the rest of my life.’
As Hill was led from the courtroom, the girl’s father yelled: ‘I hope you burn in hell’
The girl said when she got older there would be time when she might have a boyfriend but she would struggle to trust anyone. To cope with the horrific crimes committed against her she snuggled and talked to her dog.
‘I have come a long way from when this first happened and I have achieved and survived a lot,’ she told Hill.
‘But, I often feel like a damaged girl. I have noticed it gets harder and harder as I get older because I understand more. You violated me on that long day but it it has impacted the rest of my life.
‘You took away my safety and my life as I knew it. But I survived and I am holding you accountable.
‘You will have to live with what you did to me. I can never forgive you.’
As the rapist was led away from court the girl’s father yelled at him: ‘I hope you burn in hell, you scum.’
Hill has been assaulted several times since being in custody. He will be eligible for parole in 2035 when he is 64.