Outrage at rapist’s win on jail time

Andrew Mathieson
A CORIO rapist whose attack was so violent it left his victim in hospital for 17 days will serve a reduced prison sentence, a Court of Appeal has decided.
Luke Gill, 30, had his penalty for robbery charges related to the rape revised from six years down to two for stealing $110 from his 22-year-old victim’s purse.
Gill, who did not appear in court, had his jail time sliced from 19 to 17 years with a 13-year non-parole period.
The court rejected a Crown prosecution appeal to increase the rape sentence to between 18 and 20 years.
Gill’s 16-year sentence for raping the university student on Little Malop Street in December, 2006, was left unchanged.
Crime Victims Support Association’s Noel McNamara called the sentence reduction “bizarre, outrageous and disgusting”.
“When you hear cases like that you have to say someone’s got it wrong,” he said.
The appeal court was told Gill’s sentence was one of the two in the past five years exceeding 14 years for rape but the decision on the robbery charge was “much too high”.
Mr McNamara said Gill should have copped “about 35 years” before parole.
“He got a very merciful sentence really when you look at what he did and how he did it,” he said.
“To take it back to the appeal court and get (the sentence) reduced down makes us extremely worried about some of the judges on the appeal court.”
The court said the decision to maintain the rape penalty took into account that the attack was not planned or part of a home invasion.
“This rape, serious though it was, was not a rape which, other things being equal, could attract the highest of penalties,” the judgement said.