British ski instructor jailed for 10 years after raping woman in Australia
Written by News on 16/08/2019
A British ski instructor who punched and bit a woman while raping her in the street after violently attacking her male friend has been jailed for 10 years.
Matthew James Williams, 29, who pleaded guilty in April, committed the vicious attack in July, last year, in Jindabyne, a resort town in the Snowy Mountains around 110 miles (180km) south of the capital Canberra.
His victims suffered injuries so severe that police initially thought they were attacked by more than one person.
CCTV footage showed him following the 22-year-old woman and her male friend who were walking from a pub to their hotel at around 1am.
Williams attacked the 25-year-old man first, knocking him unconscious, before punching the woman several times in the face.
Local media reported that the woman screamed and said: “What do you want? Do you want money? Take what you want.”
He then punched the woman, knocking her to the floor, before biting her breast as he raped her next to her friend.
While the woman was being assaulted, the man regained consciousness and tried to stop Williams, but he was knocked to the ground and kicked again, a court heard.
Williams also hit the woman several times and laughed in her face as he tried to stop her from escaping, police said.
He fled the scene after the male victim regained consciousness and ran to get help from a passing car.
A day after the attack, Williams is said to have been upset and told a work colleague: “I had a rough, rough night last night.”
Another colleague noticed he had injured his hand and struggled to put on his ski gloves.
The ski instructor initially denied committing the attack in New South Wales, but pleaded guilty earlier this year to aggravated sexual assault, inflicting actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse with another and possessing prohibited drugs.
Images of him approaching the couple were later retrieved from CCTV. DNA testing also identified him as the rapist.
Justice Nicole Norman sentenced him to 10 years on Friday and condemned the violent attack.
“[It] must have been horrifying in its intensity and severity,” she said in remarks reported by ABC.
Williams will not be eligible for parole for seven years.
He was incarcerated at Goulburn maximum security prison and reportedly submitted a letter apologising to his victims.
He had been on a temporary visa working as a ski-cross and alpine racing teacher at the resort since 2014.
(c) Sky News 2019: British ski instructor jailed for 10 years after raping woman in Australia
