A man who raped a woman in a Canberra nature reserve in full view of nearby houses, has been sentenced to three years in jail by the ACT Supreme Court.
Salvatore Incandela, 41, was found guilty by a jury of a single count of rape, after he sexually assaulted the woman in his car.
One of the witnesses took a short video of the incident, which became key evidence in the case.
Incandela had offered the woman a lift after she had been stranded on the far side of Canberra, when a date with another man, arranged through an online dating site, had gone badly.
Incandela maintains the incident, which occurred at a nature reserve in Spence in Canberra's north-west, was consensual, telling a pre-sentence report author:
But the victim gave a harrowing account of the incident and the injuries she had suffered as a result.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said while it was not clear how the incident had started, the woman was clear that she had protested when she started to bleed.
"The offence was devastating to the victim," Chief Justice McCallum said.
Chief Justice McCallum said that in the aftermath, the woman had suffered from anxiety and had to move house, also suffering from self-blame.
The Chief Justice noted a report that suggested the victim expressed herself in the terms and gestures of a much younger person.
"The offender had taken advantage of her."
Chief Justice McCallum also noted that Incandela only admitted to being there after the video emerged, and had not expressed remorse.
"It sometimes takes some time for offenders to come to terms with their offending," she said.
Incandela has been sentenced to three years in jail, with a two-year non-parole period, which means he will be eligible for release in 2024.
