A MAN who dragged a stranger off a Bathurst street before subjecting her to an horrific sexual assault and threatening to kill her has successfully appealed to have his sentenced reduced.
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Alan Simmons could be released from jail as early as August 1, 2025 after having three years taken off his 18-year sentence.
His matter was heard in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal before Justices Hulme, Wright and Fagan earlier this month, with the decision handed down last Friday, February 15.
Simmons, who was 18 at the time of the attack in 2015, was originally sentenced by District Court Judge McLennan to an aggregate sentence of 18 years, with a non-parole period of 12 years, on April 26, 2017 for six counts of aggregated sexual assault.
The charges related to offences committed on the evening of August 1, 2015.
Police facts tendered to the original hearing told how Simmons grabbed the victim as she was walking along Russell Street before dragging her into a nearby paddock and subjecting her to a violent sexual assault which went on for 90 minutes.
During the assault, Simmons told his victim: “I’m raping you because you like it.”
At the time of sentencing Judge McLennan - who drew on 36 years' experience practising exclusively in criminal law in two states - said: "This is one of the worst sexual assaults on a random female victim, who has not been subsequently murdered, that I have encountered."
During the hour-long assault Simmons punched the victim in the side of the face when she tried to resist.
The court heard graphic details of a prolonged assault on the victim, including Simmons biting the victim, ripping out her hair with his teeth and forced penetration.
Simmons appealed the original sentence on two grounds.
The first ground of appeal, which failed, asked whether the sentencing judge had erred in his approach to the subjective circumstances of the case. The second ground was whether the aggregate sentence was manifestly excessive.
With respect to the first question, counsel acting for Simmons submitted that the sentencing judge "gave insufficient weight to the subjective factors of prior good character, absence of previous offences, prospects of rehabilitation and the specific impact of custody on him as a vulnerable inmate".
It was also submitted that Simmons' disadvantaged background contributed to his actions, but the Court of Criminal Appeal found "the argument counsel was advancing pursuant to ground one was not urged upon by his Honour for the very good reason that there was no evidentiary basis for it".
On the question of "a manifestly excessive sentence", Simmons' counsel said it involved excessive accumulation, leading to "a crushing sentence".
While the Court of Criminal Appeal found it did not regard any of the indicative sentences excessive, it found that implicit accumulation has resulted in an aggregate which was manifestly excessive.
As a result, the sentence imposed in the District Court was quashed and instead Simmons was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years, dating back to August 2, 2015 and expiring on August 1, 2025.
