A MAN who raped his cell-mate in the Mount Gambier Prison in 2016 was imprisoned for four years, eight months and 14 days in court this week.
Wichthiel William Nyuon, 34, appeared in the Adelaide District Court to be sentenced for one count of rape after earlier being found guilty at trial.
The incident occurred on September 25, 2016, following a period of the defendant sexual propositioning the victim in the previous days.
The victim had rejected Nyuon’s advances.
However, on the night before Nyuon was due to be transferred from the Mount Gambier Prison, he got onto the victim’s back on his bunk, held him down and raped him.
The victim reported the matter to authorities the following morning and Nyuon was subsequently arrested.
He took part in an interview in which he denied the claims.
Despite being found guilty of the offence by a jury, Nyuon still maintains his innocence.
The defendant appeared before two separate juries in the case over the last two years.
When he first appeared at trial, a jury was unable to decide on a verdict and Nyuon was released on bail.
He appeared again in the July Mount Gambier District Court circuit for a re-trial.
On the second day of the trial he was remanded in custody after the court discovered he had spoken to a juror at a shopping centre after the first day of the trial.
Judge Gordon Barrett condemned the actions of Nyuon in sentencing.
“Rape is a very serious offence – it needs no more detail than that,” Judge Barrett said.
“Your victim was unable to avoid you because he was locked up.”
Judge Barrett imposed a sentence of six years with a non-parole period of four years.
However, the sentence was reduced to four years, eight months and 14 days for time already spent in custody.
A non-parole period of two years, eight months and 14 days was set.
The sentence was backdated to July 18 when Nyuon’s bail was revoked.
