Violent paedophile who raped his nine-year-old niece at knifepoint in ‘cruel and degrading’ Christmas sex attack could be freed in a matter of hours
- Violent paedophile who raped his nine-year-old niece could be freed on bail
- Rapist was in December jailed for 16 years over the attack on the little girl
- He is now applying for bail as part of an appeal against the jury’s verdict
A violent paedophile who raped his nine-year-old niece at knifepoint could be back on the streets in less than 48 hours.
The rapist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was in December jailed for 16 years over the ‘cruel and degrading’ attack on the little girl in Darwin during the Christmas holidays in 2009.
He is now applying for bail as part of an appeal against the jury’s verdict, the NT News reported.
A violent paedophile who raped his nine-year-old niece at knifepoint could be back on the streets in less than 48 hours. He is applying for bail as part of an appeal at Darwin Supreme Court (pictured)
The man’s lawyer, Ian Read, claimed in court that his client would likely have his conviction quashed, rather than face a retrial, if he is successful in appealing the jury’s decision.
‘If these grounds of appeal are successful then it would be submitted that there was to be a strong basis that a verdict of acquittal be entered and in that case of course the time he will have served in custody will have been for nothing,’ he said.
Mr Read added that the crimes his client was accused of were ‘of a violent and extraordinary nature’.
He told the court that if the man did commit the offences, he would have known he would be caught because other family members were staying in the same house at the time.
However, prosecutor Matt Nathan said he thought it unlikely that the Court of Criminal Appeal would acquit the man.
When he was sentenced in December, judge Justice Peter Barr told the court that the rape was ‘completely out of the blue’.
The bail application returns to court on Thursday.