A judge has described as "pretty grim" the prospects of rehabilitation for a serial rapist who ordered his terrified victims to climb on to a home-made wooden crucifix-shaped 'raping machine'.
"The offending was absolutely contemptible," Court of Appeal Justice Phillip Priest said on Monday when discussing the case of truck driver Dennis Newall, 57, who abducted and sexually abused three women. "One can't have much hope that he's learned his lesson."
Newall was sentenced in February to 13 years' jail with a non-parole period of 11½ years but is appealing his sentence, claiming it was manifestly excessive.
His earliest release date is August 19, 2026.
When told Newall had completed a sex offenders program in jail and now had an insight into his offending and appreciated what consent meant, Justice Priest said: "I find that a difficult proposition to swallow".
Crown prosecutor Fran Dalziel told the court Newall had been involved in serious predatory behaviour targeting vulnerable women.
Ms Dalziel said the terrifying nature of Newall's conduct revealed he had little understanding of what he had done to his victims and the devastating consequences of his actions.
Newall was jailed after pleading guilty to kidnapping and raping two sex workers between November and December 2001. He was previously jailed in 2002 for eight years for kidnapping and raping another sex worker on November 30, 2001, but the other two victims only recently contacted police.
The father of four used his son to help him abduct two of his three victims and take them to a bus, which he had converted into a home at a Brooklyn tyre factory in Melbourne's west.
Newall would tell his victims that the "raping machine" was not finished, as he was planning to build a mechanical arm to help him carry out his depraved fantasies.
The two victims were aged 27 and 20 when they were abducted from St Kilda and taken to Newall's home.
One victim told how Newall led her to a wooden cross at the back of the bus, which he said was a sex machine he was building.
The victim got on the cross and told Newall she would do whatever he wanted but pleaded for him not to hurt her. Newall then repeatedly raped her before asking how she rated his performance.
The former sex worker said she had never felt fear like that in her life when Newall showed her the "raping machine".
She said that when she saw the wooden cross she feared Newall was not only a rapist but also a sadistic killer.
The victim could not imagine anyone being so depraved as to think up a "raping machine" and then actually start building one.
Newall's son, Aaron, who was terrified of his father when he helped him carry out the kidnappings, received a suspended six-month jail term in January.
Justice Priest and Justice David Beach reserved their decision on Newall's appeal.
