Rapist’s jail term cut Yachtsman’s sentence edges lower
A CONVICTED serial rapist who lured women to his luxury yacht has successfully shaved eight months from his sentence on appeal.
John Collins was convicted in separate trials over a series of rapes of six young women over a 14-year-period along the Queensland coast, including Southport, Bundaberg, Mooloolaba and the Whitsundays.
He would promise young women adventure aboard his luxury yacht and impressed their parents with a flashy gold Mercedes-Benz.
Once the women were on his yacht, Pan Pacific, Collins would drug and rape them.
On July 15, 2014, Collins was convicted of nine counts of sexual assault from ugly incidents with three different women.
Three Court of Appeal judges have upheld the 79year-old’s conviction but reduced the sentence by eight months, from 15 years and eight months to 15 years.
The appeal judges said they reduced the sentence because the trial judge had not taken into account Collins’ two years and 10 months in pre-sentence custody on two counts of rape that had involved a woman on the Gold Coast in 1999.
The woman had said in evidence she was 24 when she met Collins after answering an advertisement in a newspaper for a nanny.
“The interview was on the Gold Coast,” the written decision states. “After some discussions he told her that she had the job and that she would be looking after the daughter of one of his friends.
“While waiting for that friend to arrive, (Collins) poured her a glass of champagne with Midori.”
After finishing the drink, the woman – who cannot be identified – felt dizzy, and her legs felt heavy and wobbly. They went to a fish and chip shop but the woman staggered all the way.
Once back on the boat, they were alone as Collins spoke to her again about the job.
“(She) got up to go to the toilet and the appellant told her that the main toilet or bathroom wasn’t working so that she had to go into his ensuite area,” the decision reads.
“She said that when she went in there she shut the door, but when she came out she felt ‘just not well’, and (Collins) pushed her down on to the bed.’’
The woman remembered him taking off her clothes and her trying to fight back. He told her to be quiet. She said she “mentally detached” from the situation as he raped her for a couple of minutes and then she fell asleep because she had been drugged.
According to the decision notice, Collins questioned the “strikingly similar accounts of the events” given by the three victims at the appeal hearing in August. He claimed this revealed collusion and bias.
BUT WHEN SHE CAME OUT SHE FELT ‘JUST NOT WELL’, AND (COLLINS) PUSHED HER DOWN ON TO THE BED
JUDGES’ DECISION