A man convicted of sexually assaulting 14 women and girls after befriending them on social media has had five years cut from his jail term.
Andrew James Benn was jailed in 2018 for at least 30 years after raping and indecently assaulting 14 girls and women between September 2012 and January 2017.
Benn was between 23 and 27 when he committed the offences against victims aged between 15 and 28.
He pleaded guilty to 33 charges including 21 counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
"Depraved", "despicable" and "evil" were all used to describe his offending by sentencing District Court Judge Roy Ellis.
Benn would randomly trawl social media pages of young women in the NSW Hunter region, arranging to meet before attacking them.
He spent weeks chatting to a 17-year-old, who told him she had never been on a date, then raped her twice, leaving her shocked and worried about how her family would react if she told them.
Another woman was told not to tell police because an outlaw motorcycle gang Benn claimed to associate with "can make you disappear".
She hid in her bathroom for eight hours after he raped her.
Benn appealed against his sentence with a hearing held in March 2022.
His appeal proceeded in part after an error was identified, requiring re-sentencing.
Justice Fabian Gleeson proposed a sentence of 35 years with a non-parole period of 26 years and three months, which Justices Natalie Adams and Mark Ierace agreed to in a decision published by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on Monday.
Benn argued the sentencing judge erred in determining his sentence, which was manifestly excessive, and reasons were not given for departures from standard non-parole periods and a finding on whether there were special circumstances.
The initial aggregate 40-year sentence and 30-year non-parole period could be fairly described as "crushing" compared to other cases, Benn said.
"The Crown correctly responds that this analysis is flawed and of little assistance," Justice Gleeson wrote.
The Crown, however, also pointed out the starting point for his indicative sentence on one count was higher than the maximum penalty.
Benn was re-sentenced once the error was established, but his initial jail term was not determined to be manifestly excessive.
"An offender sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment may well consider the sentence to be 'crushing' but in many cases a long sentence may be the proportionate response to the circumstances of that case," Justice Adams observed.
She said it was "pertinent to note" no issue was taken with Benn's sentencing for offences against 14 individuals, only with the "transparency" of the decision-making.
"The transparency contended for on behalf of the applicant under this ground would no doubt have highlighted to the 14 victims the relatively short time the applicant would be serving in custody in relation to the offences committed against each of them," she wrote.
Benn will be eligible for parole in April 2043.
