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A man was arrested, charged and convicted of rape related charges after he raped an elderly Holocaust survivor, according to court proceedings in Australia.
Now, the Australian who sexually assaulted an elderly Holocaust survivor in 1991 has received a jail sentence of between three and five years. Robert Webb, 39, was arrested and charged in 2011, but only now has been convicted by a court in Sydney. He could be released within a year, given the time he has already served.
The victim, who was 71 at the time, has since died. She was attacked in Sydney by Webb in the back of car.
Police reopened the case in 2011, after identifying Webb through DNA testing.
“Although the woman isn't alive I am glad the man who brutally abused her was jailed. Rape cannot be tolerated whether the victim is still alive or not,” Hazel Simon, 30, of Sydney Australia told YourJewishNews.com after being asked to comment on Webbs’ jail sentence.
As we reported earlier, after raping a holocaust survivor more than twenty years ago, a man will finally face punishment.
A man is likely to be tried for raping on an elderly Holocaust survivor over 20 years ago, despite the fact that the woman has died.
Police say Robert Paul Webb attacked the then 70-year-old woman in an underground parking lot in the inner Sydney Surry Hills in November 1991.
But it was not until DNA evidence was re-examined by cold case detectives that the 39-year-old was accused in 2011 of aggravated sexual assault, assault with intent to have sexual intercourse and aggravated theft of a motor vehicle.
In a hearing before the Supreme Court of Criminal Appeal on Friday, lawyer Gregory Scragg moved to appeal a decision of the District Court in July, rejecting an attempt by Webb to stay permanently all charges.
The court heard that DNA evidence was found in the parking spot by the way of semen after the assault and it matched Webb by a chance of 8 billion to 1.
The opportunity for the defense to challenge the weight of this evidence, Mr. Scragg said, would be through questioning the alleged victim.
Without that, the jury would be unfairly prejudiced against his client and a conviction would be "inevitable," he said.
The court also heard that because of the delay in charges other evidence had been destroyed and the original statement made by the alleged victim had been lost.
"Most crime scene exhibits have been lost such as car fingerprints, blood stains on a beer bottle," said Scragg.
All that remained was a video statement made to the police in January 2011, a few months before s
he died.
Mr. Scragg said the statement should not admitted as evidence, since it cannot be challenged.
But Crown Prosecutor Sally Dowling said the woman, a Holocaust survivor who came to Australia, was the victim of a calculated attack and that it was in the public interest for a person accused of a felony to be judged.
Judges Robert Macfarlan, Peter Johnson and Robert Beech-Jones rejected the appeal and upheld the action of the Crown Court to accept the declaration of the deceased woman video as proof.