Latest news with #WarrenMcCorriston
ABC News
16 hours ago
- ABC News
Serial rapist Warren John McCorriston spared more jail time for attempted cold case abduction
A serial rapist who attempted to abduct a teenage girl to rape her 45 years ago has avoided jail time. Warren John McCorriston pleaded guilty to trying to abduct the 17-year-old in 1980 near Newcastle after she got off a bus near her home. Newcastle District Court heard McCorriston "did by force detain [the woman] against her will with intent to carnally know her". The girl eventually broke free and hid in bushes in her neighbours' front yard before he drove off. During McCorriston's sentencing hearing on Thursday, the court heard the 64-year-old was a registered sex offender. He previously served eight-and-a-half years in jail for attacks on three women around the same area as the attempted abduction from 1979 to 1999. Judge Tim Gartelmann said he had to factor in time spent behind bars when considering the sentence for the offence. McCorriston was sentenced to two years and three months in jail, with a non-parole period of one year and three months. Due to time served, the judge granted an immediate release from the dock. On the night of the attempted abduction, the teenage victim had watched a film at a Newcastle cinema, the court heard. She caught a bus which dropped her about 600 metres from her home. As she walked home, a red hatchback pulled up in front of her and McCorriston got out of the car. He told the girl he was armed with a knife and she should get into his car. He told police he planned to force her into his car for sex. The victim didn't report the crime until 2023, after watching a program about another teenager who was abducted in Newcastle in the 1990s. She identified McCorriston from a black and white photo. McCorriston was convicted in 2021 of raping three women over two decades. The victims were as young as 17. At McCorriston's sentencing hearing, Judge Gartelmann said he needed to consider time served when handing down this sentence, and spoke about "the principle of totality". "The sentence he had been serving was imposed for several offences," the judge said. "Sentences for those offences were effectively partly concurrent and partly cumulative. McCoriston's non-parole period for after his term for attacking his three other victims ended last year. Despite this, the court heard he stayed an extra 200 days in prison before he was released in February this year. The judge said he had shown remorse and his dysfunctional childhood lessened his moral culpability. He will be subject to further supervision while on parole until February next year.
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Must have terrified her': Warren John McCorriston learns fate 45 years after attempting to abduct teen for sex
A teenager was just 500m from her house when she turned to see a man running towards her in a terrifying attempted abduction, with the cold case finally closed more than 40 years later. Warren John McCorriston was arrested in January 2024 over the attempted abduction of a teenage girl in the Lake Macquarie region of NSW in 1980. The NSW District Court was told how the girl had caught the bus home after seeing a movie with her boyfriend on that night, 45 years ago. Her boyfriend got off before her, and the bus dropped her just 500m from her home. 'The street was dark. As she walked out a car pulled in front of her,' Judge Timothy Gartelmann told a sentence hearing on Thursday morning. Walking past the car, she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see McCorriston running towards her. She tried to run, but he grabbed her from behind and held her tight around her waist, telling her to go with him. When she screamed, he threatened her by saying he had a knife: She couldn't see one, and there was no evidence he had one. 'But the threat of it must have terrified her,' Judge Gartelmann said. McCorriston kept asking the teen to go to his car with him, telling her 'he just wanted her to come to the car – he didn't want to do anything but sit in the car and talk'. However, it was agreed that he was trying to force her into the car so he could have sex with her. McCorriston, who was then 18, just a couple years older than the girl, eventually let her go and she ran towards her house before stopping short – she didn't want him to see where she lived. He drove away before pulling a U-turn, staring towards her after she crossed the road. 'She stood her ground. He got back into his car and drove away,' Judge Gartelmann said. She waited for a little in case he came back before going home. The court was told that she didn't tell her father about it as she thought she wouldn't be allowed out again if she did. The teen told some of her friends about it but didn't report it to police until 2023 – 43 years after the attempted abduction – after watching a television show about a girl who'd gone missing in the mid 1990s. She managed to identify McCorriston after she was shown a series of photographs, including one of McCorriston taken in the mid 1980s. The court was told McCorriston initially didn't remember attempting to abduct the teenager, with a psychologist noting he came to accept he committed the offences after reading the brief of evidence. He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, detain for advantage and cause injury to victim, and detain for advantage without causing injury to victim. The psychologist also reported McCorriston had said therapy helped him understand the trauma he'd caused the victim, and he expressed feelings of guilt and remorse. However, sentence assessment report notes said he'd initially tried to justify the offence by saying his father's negative example had influenced him. The court was told McCorriston had a difficult life and had undergone several rehabilitative courses and programs while in custody for other offences. He had also been convicted of other offences, including sexual and violent offences in the early 1980s and late 1990s; however, he hadn't been convicted or sentenced for any offence at the time of the attempted abduction. Judge Gartelmann said the 'extensive' delay in proceedings didn't warrant mitigation in sentencing but McCorriston's progress in rehabilitation did, and the likelihood of him reoffending appeared to be low to moderate. McCorriston was sentenced to two years and three months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year and three months. However, he was in custody for other offences at the time of his arrest, with Judge Gartelmann ruling that McCorriston had already served the non-parole period. He directed McCorriston to attend the registry to authorise his release on Thursday morning. His sentence has 12 months remaining, expiring on February 7, 2026.
ABC News
19-06-2025
- ABC News
Man identified in attempted abduction cold case with black-and-white photo 43 years later
The New South Wales District Court has heard Warren John McCorriston is wanted on charges in Queensland, after admitting to the attempted abduction of a teenager near Newcastle more than four decades ago. In April the 64-year-old pleaded guilty to attempting to abduct the woman with the intention of having sexual contact with her. In agreed facts tendered to the District Court in Newcastle, he admitted to detaining the 17-year-old girl for advantage at Gateshead, south of Newcastle, on a night in 1980, when he was 19. On the night of the crime, the woman got off a bus near her house after going to the movies in Newcastle to see the film 10. Minutes later the man approached in a red car. McCorriston got out, chased the woman, said he had a knife and dragged her towards his car. She broke free, hid in bushes near neighbouring houses, before he left in his car. "The Crown contends, and the offender accepts, that his intention was to force her into his car so that he could seek to have sexual contact with her," the police facts stated. In the District Court on Thursday, McCorriston was identified as the man responsible for the abduction attempt for the first time, after the court lifted a non-publication order. Crown Prosecutor Paul Marr told his sentencing hearing about the day the woman identified her attacker. "One can only wonder the impact on her, 43 years later she chooses one of 20 people in a black-and-white photo array and she chooses him. "He is prosecuted and he admits he is the person who accosted her on that evening. Agreed facts tendered in court said the girl told close friends at the time, but did not report McCorriston to police until 2023. "This occurred when the victim was watching a television show about Gordana Kotevski, a 16-year-old girl who went missing from Charlestown in the mid 1990s," the police facts said. "She rang Crime Stoppers after watching the television program." McCorriston is due to be sentenced on Thursday, June 26. Defence barrister Ben Bickford told the court McCorriston was only a teenager himself at the time of the offending. "None of [the] submissions I've made are intended to downplay this or how frightening it was for the victim," Mr Bickford said. Mr Bickford said his client was remorseful and on a path to rehabilitation. Mr Marr said McCorriston could not blame youth, saying he is wanted for alleged offending in his 50s in Queensland. "There are a number of outstanding allegations that the offender is yet to face in Queensland," Mr Marr said. "The date of the allegations has [the] offender at about 58 years of age at the time of the allegations being made."
