A serial rapist who left a woman unrecognisable after bashing her head on a garden bed will spend up to four more years in prison for the violent sex attack. Robert Barry, 61, has admitted to grabbing a woman from behind and raping her at Traralgon, in Victoria's Gippsland region, before rendering her unconscious. He managed to get away with the crime for almost 40 years, and relocated to Western Australia where he continued on a path of sexual violence. But advancements in DNA testing eventually connected him to the 1984 rape. He was aged 22 when he randomly attacked the 24-year-old woman as she was standing under a tree. She had just left her friends at a bar and was walking near a gymnasium and squash centre, when Barry started running towards her on the grass. He stopped and started looking around, as the woman waited under the tree for Barry to leave. But he grabbed her from behind and put his hand over mouth and chest. Barry then dragged the woman into the garden area and pushed her down onto the ground where he raped her. She tried to turn around and he bashed her head against a wooden sleeper, rendering her unconscious. He moved to WA in the early 1990s, where he committed further sexual violence. Barry grabbed a 17-year-old girl from behind and threatened her with a knife before raping her in 1991. In 1993, he grabbed a 15-year-old girl around the neck and dragged her into nearby toilets where he raped her. Barry was extradited from a WA prison, where he is serving a 12-year sentence for the attacks in the 1990s, to face justice for the Victorian rape. He appeared at the County Court in Melbourne by video link on Friday, where his sentence was increased by four years. Judge Nola Karapanagiotidis noted the violent nature of the 1984 rape, saying the victim "was so injured as to be unrecognisable". "She sustained black eyes, one of which was swollen closed, she had cuts around her mouth and found it hard to speak, her body was badly bruised," she said. "Your offending ... was terrifying, degrading and an invasion of bodily integrity." She was concerned Barry had not yet undertaken any sexual offender programs in the six years he had spent in a WA prison. "There's no real explanation, Mr Barry, for what you did on the night of the 25th of August 1984, aside from a suggestion that you're intoxicated," the judge said. "This is concerning, though it is hoped that you'll be subjected to sex offender treatment in custody, where you can fully explore your issues and behaviours." His 12-year WA prison term was increased to 16 and his minimum term increased by two years and three months, to 12 years and three months. Barry will be registered as a sex offender for life. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028 Australian Associated Press
