Rapist claims amnesia

Attacker jailed over ‘terrifying’ assault

A MAN held a garden trowel to a young backpacker’s throat as he raped her in a terrifying public attack in the Far North.

David Andrew Bence was jailed for eight years after he pleaded guilty in the Cairns District Court to one count of rape and three counts of attempted rape.

He had been in Far North Queensland on a fishing trip when he attacked the 18-yearold German woman, who had barely been in the country two months.

She had been working in Cardwell for four days when, late on November 7 last year, she had walked out the back door of her workplace to find Bence waiting.

He pushed a garden trowel at her stomach forcing her into a laundry room behind a toilet block.

Then, as he held the trowel to her throat, he sexually assaulted her multiple times.

“She was frozen with fear,” Cairns District Court Judge Tracy Fantin said. “She screamed ‘no, stop’.” After, when she ran for help, he called out to her “I will come back”.

“No doubt it would have been an absolutely terrifying ordeal,” Judge Fantin said.

“And I have no doubt the offending has had a profound impact on her.

“She was a young woman just setting out on an adventure in a foreign country, finishing her shift at work only to find herself assaulted by a complete stranger in this terrible way.”

The court heard Bence, 36, had been a customer earlier on the night before the attack.

Her DNA was found on him and both her and Bence’s DNA was found on the garden trowel.

Bence has claimed total memory loss over the assault.

He has been in custody for 341 days.

The court was told he had a prejudicial childhood and was on medication for a number of mental health issues.

A week before the fishing trip he had stopped taking his medication and had also smoked methylamphetamine.

The court heard Bence had been drunk for most of the fishing trip leading up to the attack.

Judge Fantin said without his early plea of guilty, she would have jailed him for longer than eight years.

“Here the offending was opportunistic, deliberate,” Judge Fantin said.

Because of the time already served, Bence will be eligible for parole in July 2020.