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Should The Bulli Rapist Be Free To Walk Among Us?

There are some criminals who should be behind bars for the rest of their lives: the serial killers, child killers and those who rape and murder in packs. And so, too, the serial rapists should be locked away forever. The Bulli Rapist is a serial rapist of the worst imaginable kind. His crimes are incalculable in terms of human suffering and their administration was beyond appalling. But he is now a free man.

So why then are we now living our lives with one of the most – if not the most – terrifying rapist Australia has ever known walking the streets among us? It is because this man, Terry John Williamson, better known as the Bulli Rapist, was released on 16 February 2012, albeit under strict bail conditions, after serving only 22 years of his 24-year sentence. Not only is Williamson a free man in the prime of his life – when he should have been put away forever – but he has also been released two years early, no doubt for good behaviour.

The truth of the matter is that he shouldn’t have had the option of ever being released in the first place. He should have been put away forever, never to be released. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that the Bulli Rapist acted alone, time after time, after time. He had no mates to urge him on, which could be deemed as an excuse in similar crimes. This was all his own work.

And let’s forget about giving him leniency for his age. He was 21 at the time, which may have played a part in the judge handing down such a light sentence. But younger men have been put away forever without the possibility of parole. Bronson Blessington was just 14 and Matthew Elliott 16 when they were sentenced to never be released for the rape and murder of bank teller Janine Balding in Sydney in 1988.

Two 18-year-olds, John Travers and Michael Murdoch, were sent to jail forever for their part, along with three older men, in the abduction, rape and murder of nursing sister Anita Cobby in Sydney in 1986. All of these teenage offenders will die in jail. So age has nothing to do with leniency.

When they tried leniency on 20-year-old Queensland child-killer, Barry Gordon Hadlow, who was released after serving 23 years of a life sentence, he murdered another little girl in identical circumstances to the first. Hadlow has since died in prison. And good riddance, I hear you say.

In preparation for his release, the Bulli Rapist was allowed out of jail under supervision twice a month to adjust back into a society which doesn’t want to have anything to do with him. The last time he was released without supervision was on bail in 1990 and he raped a 20-year-old woman.

In what must be the understatement of the century, NSW State Parole Authority spokesman Robert Cosman told the Sydney Sunday Telegraph in January 2011: ‘Many victims would never want the offender released from jail. I understand that. But the reality is that these people have been sentenced by a court to only a certain length of time in jail.’ And therein lies the problem.

The logic behind allowing the Bulli Rapist out on day release was that if the Parole Authority stalled his release until the very end of his sentence in 2014, it would place the community at high risk of him re-offending without the restrictions of parole that ends when his sentence ends. ‘It is much safer to release a person on supervision,’ Robert Cosman also said. ‘The statistics show that they are less likely to re-offend with supervision in the community than without it.’ And, in all fairness, the Parole Authority can only play the hand it has been dealt.

So now that the Bulli Rapist is free, it has dawned upon us that his sentence was far too lenient in the first place. For his crimes the Bulli Rapist was sentenced to 24 years in prison with a non-parole period of just 14 years. Have a look at his list of crimes and judge for yourself.

The Bulli Rapist began his nine-month reign of terror on 5 August 1989, when a 13-year-old schoolgirl was raped at knife point in broad daylight at Bulli High School near Wollongong, by a man in a balaclava.

On 18 September, a 15-year-old girl was dragged at knife point from her family home in Bulli and raped by a masked man. Both victims were told they would be killed if they made a sound.

On 6 November, an 11-year-old boy was abducted from his bed at his family home in Bulli by a masked man with a knife. The terrified boy was bound and gagged and placed in the boot of a stolen car and driven to nearby Mount Kembla where he was raped and abandoned.

On 5 February 1990, a 24-year-old Bulli woman was raped at knifepoint in her bed by a man in a balaclava. Soon after, over 750 people attended a public meeting called by police to calm community fears.

On 16 February, although all Bulli residents were warned to lock their windows and doors, he broke into a house in Tarrawanna, near Bulli, and threatened to rape a young mother at knifepoint. Realising that the woman was seven months pregnant, he instead turned on her five-year-old daughter and raped her in front of her mother.

On 15 April, three women were attacked by a masked man with a knife in two separate incidents in North Wollongong. On both occasions they foiled the attacker’s rape attempts.

On 4 May, a 16-year-old girl fought off a would-be kidnapper with distinctive red hair at nearby Balgownie and her description of the attacker led police to the arrest of 21-year-old local truck driver, Terry John Williamson, the following day.

On 7 May, Williamson appeared in court charged with attempted kidnap and assault charges and was granted $25,000 bail. A week later he raped a 20-year-old Wollongong woman and was arrested soon after and eventually pleaded guilty to 19 of 67 charges, was convicted on five and jailed for 24 years with a minimum of 14.

Six rapes on young girls and young boys, attempted rapes, kidnappings, threatening with a deadly weapon. You name it, this bloke’s done it. And he gets 14 years minimum when many fair-minded people believe that he should have got life with no parole? At least when he came up for parole after serving the 14 years, each year he applied to be released it was rejected.

The smartest bloke in the world on these matters is Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham, who opposed Williamson’s release. Ron believes the Bulli Rapist of boys and girls and teenagers should serve his full term. He believes that’s the least society should make him do under the appalling circumstances.

But so, as of Thursday, 16 February 2012, the beast has been walking among us again. ‘Will he rape again?’ That’s not the issue. He should never have been freed in the first place for us to worry about it. I believe that his crimes were so terrible that he has forfeited his right to ever be free again.

But it’s all too late now.