Kevin Frederick Combes, 56, had pleaded guilty to six charges, including the aggravated sexual assaults of a 19-year-old woman in Perth in 1990 and a 17-year-old girl in South Boulder in 1991.<\/p>\n
Combes was sentenced in the WA District Court, where Judge Wendy Hughes handed him a total sentence of 13 and a half years.<\/p>\n
He will be made eligible for parole.<\/p>\n
Judge Hughes said he “terrorised, humiliated and degraded” the two young women.<\/p>\n
“Your offending was repeated, it was violent, it was prolonged, it was sustained,” she said.<\/p>\n
Threats to kill<\/p>\n
In the statement of material facts, the court heard the first complainant had finished work at a bar on Barrack Street in June 1990, when she stepped into an alleyway to get into her car.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0One of Combes’s victims had just left her work at a bar on Barrack Street in Perth when she was attacked. (ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne)<\/p>\n
Combes used a sarong to conceal his face and held a knife against her throat.<\/p>\n
The court heard he repeatedly told the woman he would “kill her if she screamed”.<\/p>\n
The 19-year-old tried to negotiate with the man before he sexually assaulted her and continued to threaten her.<\/p>\n
The court heard the woman was later able to make it back inside the bar and reported the incident to police.<\/p>\n
Eight months later, a 17-year-old girl was leaving a hotel in Kalgoorlie when she gave Combes a lift in her car.<\/p>\n
Sexual assault\u00a0support lines:<\/p>\n
The court heard he then threatened to kill her, also using a knife.<\/p>\n
The 17-year-old managed to escape for a moment after being dragged to a fence.<\/p>\n
“She ran from him yelling as loudly as she could \u2026 he caught up to her and threw her to the ground,” the state prosecutor told the court.<\/p>\n
The young girl was then put in the boot of her own car and Combes drove it for 10 minutes before sexually assaulting her.<\/p>\n
The court heard the 17-year-old was then left tied up in bushes before flagging down a truck for help.<\/p>\n
She was said to be too frightened to get the attention of a car, thinking it could be the offender.<\/p>\n
‘Scared all the time’<\/p>\n
Judge Hughes referred to the two women’s victim impact statements, of which the first complainant said she now suffers from panic attacks, depression and has been suicidal.<\/p>\n
“From that moment on, she felt scared all the time,” she said.<\/p>\n
The second woman said her kindness ended up being her “biggest downfall” on that night and said the offending caused her “unimaginable fear, horror and humiliation.”<\/p>\n
“Generations of people in her life have been traumatised by what you did that night,” Judge Hughes told the offender.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Combes faced a sentencing hearing in the District Court of WA in Perth on Thursday. (ABC News: Jack Stevenson)<\/p>\n
Combes’s defence lawyer Mark Hager said the offending occurred at a time where he was heavily using methamphetamine, alcohol and was homeless.<\/p>\n
Judge Hughes acknowledged the two women when handing down the sentence.<\/p>\n
“Thirteen and a half years may not seem enough and my only hope is today\u2019s proceedings meant they [the women] have felt heard,” she said.<\/p>\n
A family member of one of the victims \u2014 whose identity is suppressed \u2014 expressed gratitude for the efforts of police and their “unwavering pursuit” of the cold case.<\/p>\n
“Their dedication, persistence and commitment have finally brought this dangerous and serial sexual offender to justice,” she said outside court.<\/p>\n
“For the past 35 years, [my family member] has lived with the trauma and pain caused by these horrific crimes, knowing that the person responsible for her suffering remained in the community without facing any consequences.<\/p>\n
“Today’s outcome brings some measure of relief.”<\/p>\n
Speaking outside court, Detective Senior Constable Raquel Rae of WA Police’s Cold Case Squad issued a warning to perpetrators.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
WA Police Detective Senior Constable Raquel Rae. (ABC News: Mya Kordic)<\/p>\n
“I would say to those perpetrators of those serious crimes, that if you think 30 or 35 years means you have gotten away with a serious crime, think again,” she said.<\/p>\n
“Because with these advances in technology, we will be knocking on your door.”<\/p>\n
Loading<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Perth man who raped two teenagers more than 30 years ago, but was only charged last July…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":342915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,5564,20830,168923,168926,168925,50,8634,8631,168924,10409,8633,8632],"class_list":{"0":"post-342914","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-dna","10":"tag-genetic-genealogy","11":"tag-kevin-combes","12":"tag-kevin-combes-dna","13":"tag-kevin-combes-sex-assaults","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-perth-courts","16":"tag-perth-news","17":"tag-sex-assault","18":"tag-sexual-assault","19":"tag-wa-courts","20":"tag-wa-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115462665006430686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}