By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A now severely disabled Berwick man has been jailed over the repeated rape of a woman nearly five years ago.
Efram Caspersz, 55, was found guilty by a Victorian County jury of five counts of rape and three of sexual assault on three separate occasions in late 2019 and early 2020.
He was acquitted of two charges of rape and a single charge of false imprisonment.
In sentencing on 6 November, Judge Marcus Dempsey said the jury rejected Caspersz’s defences for the bulk of the charges.
In his denials, the Parkinson’s sufferer argued that it would have been difficult to commit the acts due to his limited mobility and dexterity.
He also submitted that the acts were consensual.
The denials indicated a lack of remorse, with Caspersz also offering no motivational reason for the assaults, the judge noted.
There had been a “seismic” impact on the victim, including a persistent sense of betrayal, shame, hurt and disgust and loss of career nearly five years later, the court heard.
“The damage done to her can’t be overstated,” Judge Dempsey said.
Caspersz formed his own successful carpentry business, employing 10 staff, and later worked as a teacher at Chisholm Tafe up until 2022.
His Parkinson’s – an incurable, degenerative condition diagnosed 15 years ago – had worsened to the point that he was unable to work.
Now wheelchair bound, Caspersz requires increasingly frequent medication seven times a day, as well as physio and exercises and a personal carer for 32 hours a week.
Judge Dempsey noted Caspersz wouldn’t be afforded the same care and support while in prison.
He was likely to be jailed for the significant remainder of his life – but that was no reason for a “manifestly inadequate” sentence, the court heard.
Caspersz had no prior offences, but subsequent convictions at Frankston Magistrates’ Court in 2021 for unlawful assault and trespass against the same victim.
Several referees had supported Caspersz but none said that he acknowledged the offending occurred or the pain that he’d caused.
Despite his denials, Caspersz had very good rehabilitation prospects, Judge Dempsey said.
Given his deteriorating health, his risk of reoffending was also reduced.
Judge Dempsey also noted the long delays. The matter had appeared in two trials due to the initial jury unable to agree on verdicts.
Caspersz was jailed for up to nine years, two months – with a non-parole period of four years, 10 months.
He’d served nine days in pre-sentence detention.
