Robert William Barry: WA rapist admits ‘horrific’ 1984 Melbourne sex attack

Robert William Barry, 61, appeared before the Victorian County Court on Tuesday where he confirmed he wanted to plead guilty to a charge of aggravated rape.

He appeared remotely on a video link from a Melbourne prison, where he is currently serving a 12-year sentence for a string of sexual offences, including the rape of two Perth teenagers in 1991 and 1993.

Wearing a green prison jumper, he sat with his hands interlaced on a white table with his left foot seen tapping throughout the hearing.

Barry was arrested by Victorian detectives in 2016, just months after WA police arrested him at his Gosnells home in May after linking him to the crimes due to DNA analysis.

The father and grandfather has claimed all the offending took place during periods of alcohol abuse, which he sought help for in the mid-90s.

“He attends to his alcohol abuse and there’s been no further offending,” his barrister, Jo Swiney, said.

“He specifically instructs he doesn’t want that used in mitigation… he remembers this offending and knows he is going to receive a further term of imprisonment and he accepts that as atonement.”

In Victoria, forensic scientists had taken a fresh look at DNA evidence collected after the 1984 rape in 2012, which was linked to Barry years later.

The then-24-year-old woman, who cannot be named, was walking along a suburban street in Traralgon on an August night when she was grabbed from behind by Barry, the court heard.

“Don’t look at me,” he said, shoving her head away.

Prosecutor Andrew Grant told the court she was dragged into a garden bed and raped, with Barry seriously assaulting her as she tried to fight back.

“When she struggled and attempted to get away … the prisoner repeatedly bashed her head against a wooden sleeper and she lost consciousness,” he said.

“The experience [the victim] had would have been horrific, there’s no doubt about it.”

After Barry left and the woman was able to seek help, a friend described her as “unrecognisable” due to the level of bruising and injuries.

Barry, who was then known as Robert Johnston, left Melbourne the following year, moving to Perth with his de facto partner and young child.

He worked for many years as a long-haul truck driver until the historic sexual offending caught up with him.

Ms Swiney asked the court to take into account his young age of 22 at the time, and the significant period of time since his last offending as evidence.

“Up until the day he was sentenced (in Perth) he had the support of his partner and children,” she said.

Under Victorian law at the time, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years, which Mr Grant has called for “significant accumulation” on his current sentence.

“This is every woman’s worst nightmare,” he said.

“Walking alone on a night out and being attacked by a stranger.”

Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis warned Barry he would severe a “significant” jail term for the “grave offending”.

He will be sentenced at a later date.