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AAP
AAP
National
Ethan James

Jail term for violent, arrogant Tas rapist

A man jailed for abducting and raping a woman in 2015 has been sentenced for a rape decades earlier. (AAP)

A Tasmanian man jailed for a decade for abducting and raping a woman in 2015 has been sentenced over an "arrogant and violent" rape committed 22 years earlier.

Heath Lance Chatters, 46, was aged 17 when he forced a 17-year-old woman to the ground at a party in 1993, kicked her and violently raped her.

Chatters lured her outside a unit by holding on to her car keys and told her he wanted to have sex.

Chatters then said "no one says no to me", Justice Michael Brett said during sentencing in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Hobart on Wednesday.

Justice Brett said Chatters, who was earlier found guilty of one count of rape by a jury, has shown no remorse.

"Your arrogant and violent assertion of power and deep degradation (of your victim) .... are particularly concerning aspects of your conduct," Justice Brett said.

The woman went to police shortly afterwards and made a formal complaint but a prosecution wasn't finalised because she couldn't go through the ordeal of testifying.

Justice Brett said the woman was convinced Chatters would find and kill her.

Chatters was in 2017 jailed for 10 years with a non-parole period of six years for abducting a 25-year-old woman at knifepoint from a service station in Tasmania and raping her at a caravan park.

He threatened to slit her throat if she made too much noise, and said he would shoot her parents and find her children and partner.

Justice Brett said Chatters has an ongoing propensity for criminal violence, including sexual violence against women.

He was sentenced to jail in Tasmania in 2002 for trying to force a teenage girl and a young woman into a car he had stolen. Chatters has also spent time behind bars in Queensland for violent robbery and assault.

Justice Brett said the rape in 1993 was an early manifestation of Chatters' subsequent criminal conduct.

He was sentenced to four years and six months' jail, to be served cumulatively with the 10-year prison term.

Justice Brett said Chatters could not be granted parole until he had served three years of the sentence.

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