A DUBBO man and prison escapee who kidnapped and raped a five-year-old Wagga Wagga girl while on the run has been sentenced to 16-years and nine-months in prison.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Trevor Ross Ryan was sentenced by Wagga District Court Judge Stephen Norrish yesterday for the sexual assault of the girl on July 16, 2011, after he abducted her from her bed after escaping the Mannus Correctional Centre.
Appearing calm during the proceedings, Ryan sat in the dock with his chin on his chest and hands in his lap as Judge Norrish explained he would be behind bars for at least 12 years of a non-parole period.
Explaining his decision, Judge Norrish said in light of Ryan's personal history a finding of special circumstances would be made to see a partial accumulation of his sentences.
Judge Norrish said Ryan's childhood of neglect and depravation detailed in reports from the Department of Community Services gave an insight into how Ryan came into the criminal system.
"The records provide a comprehensive account of the great deal of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of family members over a period of time," Judge Norrish said.
In one instance Ryan was subjected to being struck by an iron bar by his own mother and was later protected from her by an apprehended violence order.
The result from his troubled childhood was a "significant anti-social personality disorder" the report said, which would see him resort to violence to solve matters.
It however, did not explain why he sexually assaulted the young girl with his criminal history bearing no prior offences of that nature, the judge said. "There is no evidence of paedophilia or a disorder to explain his conduct in a rational way or that he is a danger to the community in a permanent sense," Judge Norrish said.
He said he felt satisfied Ryan was not a "predator", but had committed an opportunistic crime initially carried out to obtain property - namely car keys - to assist him in evading police.
"It has not been proven he had an intent to abduct a child or commit a sexual assault - it was a sad happen chance," he said.
He found Ryan did, however, understand what he was doing was wrong despite his attempts to cover up his actions by initially telling police he had not entered Wagga since 2007 and he had been high on illicit drugs during the crime spree.
According to agreed facts Ryan escaped from the Mannus Correctional Centre near Tumbarumba at about 4.25pm on July 14, 2011.
The next morning he stole a sedan from a Tumbarumba home and drove to Wagga were he snuck into the girl's home in a random attack just after 4am.
Ryan took the girl from her bed, walking her out the back door and onto the street before picking her up and taking her to a block of units were she was sexually assaulted on the ground.
A couple in the units heard the girl's whimpering and went outside to investigate to find Ryan walking down the street with the child on his back. When the couple called out to Ryan he dropped the girl and ran. Despite the man running after Ryan for some distances in a bid to catch him, Ryan disappeared.
A statewide manhunt began spanning to Lucknow, near Orange, then to a balcony in Redfern where Ryan was eventually found trying to hide from police on July 22.
Ryan was given various sentences for breaking and entering, take drive and conveyance and stealing ranging from 20 months to three years and three months, which were partially accumulated.
The remaining sentences were then accumulated to give Ryan a total sentence of 16 years and nine months with the non-parole period of 12 years.