Rapist’s horrific attack

Farmer bound co-worker before slashing her throat

THE Cairns Supreme Court has heard harrowing details of how an El Arish farmer bound and raped his farmhand, before he stabbed and slashed her throat.

John Phillip McDonald left the woman, who was terrified, holding her chin to her chest to stem the flow of blood.

Yesterday he was jailed for seven-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to rape, malicious act with intent and drug offences in January 2015.

McDonald, 68, and the woman, then 32, had been close friends. She thought of him as a father figure. She had worked on his Granadilla farm and resided in his home.

The night before she was planning to fly to Darwin to be with an ex-boyfriend he snapped in a fit of jealousy, bound her hands with cable ties and used belts to restrain her to his bed. McDonald sexually assaulted her. She told him to stop but he continued.

He left her tied to a window overnight. When she asked to be released, he just threatened to tape her mouth shut.

McDonald was meant to drive her to the airport in the morning, but instead took her to his crop site consisting of 280 cannabis plants.

Crown prosecutor Melanie Franklin said he held a knife to her neck “slicing her throat in quite a desperate motion”.

“He told her, ‘I did it because you led me on, you made me think we would be in a relationship, you used me for money and when you die no one will miss you or come back looking for you’,” she said.

The woman asked for her phone so she could listen to music as she died but instead used the phone to call triple-0.

Defence barrister Craig Eberhardt said McDonald was appalled and horrified by his actions. The court was told the victim lived in constant fear of McDonald.

Mr Eberhardt said McDonald’s behaviour should be seen as an aberration and that it seemed likely he’d lost control over a fear of abandonment.

He had initially been charged with attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of malicious act.

McDonald, who has spent 607 days in custody, can apply for parole after serving 50 per cent of the sentence.