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Serial rapist of drug users George Balassis jailed for 20 years
By Elissa Hunt
Herald Sun
April 01, 2009 11:58am
A JUDGE has rejected an argument that women who were drug users or had a criminal past either deserved rape or were less harmed by it.
Serial rapist George Balassis, 45, of Ormond in the south of Melbourne, was given a 20-year jail term for preying on vulnerable women, mainly drug users, and sexually assaulting them when they were unable to resist, the Herald Sun reports.
One of the seven victims was a 14-year-old girl who was repeatedly raped while under the influence of drugs given to her by Balassis.
Supreme Court Justice Robert Osborn said he would have given Balassis, a former law student, 25 years if not for his guilty plea.
Justice Osborn rejected a submission by Balassis’s lawyer that the victim impact statements made by women who used drugs or had prior convictions of their own meant less.
“I specifically reject any suggestion that the fact a woman uses drugs or herself has some criminal record somehow renders it legitimate to sexually assault her or somehow lessens the probability that the sexual assault will be traumatic for her,” he said.
The judge said in fact the attacks, perpetrated at various locations across Melbourne, had made the drug problems of some victims worse.
He said Balassis was of above-average intelligence but was the spoilt baby of his family, living a selfish and self-centred life.
“Your intelligence may enable you to talk the talk, but I am far from convinced that there are good prospects from the community point of view that you will walk the walk of a more mature and less selfish and destructive way of life,” he said.
“You have been and in my view continue to be a real danger to the community.”
Balassis, who has many priors for dishonest offences and drug-related crime, pleaded guilty to rape, administering a drug for sexual penetration, indecent assault, committing an indecent act with a child, attempted rape and recklessly causing injury.
Justice Osborn ordered that he serve at least 16 years before being eligible for parole and added him to the sex offenders register.
News.com.au
It's disgusting that he would even consider this as a defence...
