Salt Creek kidnapper sentencing: Roman Heinze jailed for 22 years

SALT Creek kidnapper Roman Heinze has been jailed for 22 years, with a judge declaring him an inhuman, primitive, sex-obsessed predator who continues to pose a danger to young women.

In the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Justice Trish Kelly ordered Heinze to serve at least 17 years before becoming eligible for parole, saying she had no reason to believe he would ever rehabilitate.

“Your offences were utterly depraved,” she said.

“Yours is not the conduct of a civilised human being but an enraged and somewhat primitive man lacking any moral compass whatsoever.”

“You have presented as a morose, forlorn and somewhat pathetic character in the dock (but) you are a very dangerous person, especially to the young women you have sought out on the internet.”

Justice Kelly said the only positive thing to come out of Heinze’s numerous offences were the courageous women who survived his foul acts and the “true Australian” men who came to their aid.

She gave particular praise to the German and Brazilian backpackers who survived Heinze’s Coorong assault, saying they were “courageous enough and intelligent enough to outwit and outsmart you at every step.”

It was a full public gallery for the sentencing. None of Roman Heinze’s backpacker victims was present for the hearing.

Heinze, 61, was found guilty of crimes including aggravated kidnapping, sexual and physical assault, and endangering life.

He also confessed to separate offences of indecent assaulted and basic assault.

All four of Heinze’s victims were foreign backpackers he contacted on the Gumtree website’s ride-sharing section — in defiance of bail conditions banning him from doing so.

He indecently assaulted his first victim in September 2014, molested his second three months later, and committed heinous acts at the remote Coorong beach on February 9, 2016.

Heinze had responded to a Gumtree ad posted by one of those women, from Brazil, agreeing to take her and a German companion to Melbourne.

At Salt Creek, he attacked the Brazilian from behind, tied her up with pre-cut lengths of rope, sliced off her bikini with a knife and sexually assaulted her.

When the German tried to come to her companion’s aid, Heinze repeatedly struck her in the head with a hammer and ran her down with his four-wheel drive.

In addition to his four victims, Heinze contacted a further 12 foreign backpackers through the site, taking one of them — a Japanese woman — to Salt Creek.

She avoided harm when she revealed she had posted photos of Heinze and his vehicle on the internet, and he cut their trip short.

Heinze’s obsession with her persisted, further fuelling his disgusting internet searches and collecting of rape and bondage-themed “extreme” pornography.

MORE TO COME

Source: Salt Creek kidnapper sentencing: Roman Heinze jailed for 22 years | Perth Now