A man who raped and tortured a woman for weeks on end has broken down crying in court while claiming he was tricked into pleading guilty.
Nicholas John Crilley had been handed seven life sentences in 2020 after pleading guilty to 62 offences including grievous bodily harm, deprivation of liberty, torture and 18 counts of rape.
Crilley's "callous and cruel" treatment of the woman, aged 22 at the time, in Brisbane in June 2017 left her permanently disfigured.
The woman was so severely injured that paramedics thought she was dead when they found her.
Crilley appeared in Brisbane District Court on Monday via videolink from Woodford Correctional Centre, about 100 kilometres north of the city, as part of an application to withdraw his guilty pleas.
The application was part of Crilley's attempt to challenge his sentences in the Court of Appeal.
Judge Anthony Rafter said he did not consider the matter to be before the court as Crilley, who represented himself, had not filed an application for three months and then missed a subsequent deadline to do so.
"Between July 27 and November 1, nothing was done ... a victim of crime is being kept in a state of uncertainty for an inordinate amount of time because of Mr Crilley's inaction," Judge Rafter said.
Crilley began crying and sobbing during his response, describing his offences as "horrendous" but also alleging his barrister "took full advantage" of him after seven other lawyers quit his case within a 33-month period.
"I was forced into it. I was never told I'd get a life sentence," Crilley said.
Crilley claimed a COVID-imposed videolink at the sentencing prevented him from objecting to the court making references to him having committed offences he said were not supported by evidence.
"Nobody wants to touch my file. No one wants to help me," Crilley said.
Crilley also claimed he had wanted to take the victim to hospital and disputed the prosecution's description of the unit where the victim was found as a "rape and torture dungeon".
Crown prosecutor Nathan Crane said he had not been able to find any previous cases where the District Court had vacated guilty pleas after a defendant had been convicted and sentenced.
Judge Rafter said he did not want to dismiss the Court of Appeal's suggestion that he might have jurisdiction over the pleas.
Crilley asked the court if it did have jurisdiction over vacating his pleas and Judge Rafter responded that it was not his role to give legal advice.
"You can apply for Legal Aid. I don't understand why you have not," Judge Rafter said.
Mr Crilley said he had lost access to a laptop after an "altercation" at the correctional centre and would fax through his application to vacate his pleas.
Judge Rafter said it might take until next year to hear the application and adjourned the matter without fixing another hearing date.
"Without legal representation I can see this dragging on for a long time," Judge Rafter said.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
