Justin Downs – aka Justin Shearman – was sentenced to 100 hours of community service for raping a woman. He will not go to prison. Yes. You read that right. A rapist just walked.
The maximum jail term is 14 years in NSW where he was convicted.
The victim was left with injuries so bad she could not walk or sit.
The woman repeatedly asked him to stop but he did not, news.com.au reports.
“I withdrew consent, and he didn’t stop,” the victim said in her impact statement.
“I struggled to walk, sit or go to the bathroom without agony, that’s the truth. That’s what happened.
“I didn’t get a choice.
“Your choices were violent, you did not hesitate, you disregarded every no and every stop. You made me bleed.
“You inflicted pain intentionally, you violated someone who trusted you.”
Judge Justin Smith sentenced Downs to a three-year community corrections order and 100 hours of community service.
Because the rapist’s housemate did not hear the woman screaming or crying, the judge said: “The offence then was not deliberate, was not planned in anyway, and was not done with disregard to the victim.”
“He is still a young man who has taken positive steps towards his mental health and alcohol abuse – the only factor that weighs against him is his lack of remorse,” Smith said.
Smith refused to give the victim an AVO because there was ‘no continuing threat or fear’.
Downs has a previous conviction related to domestic violence.
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