Heath Lance Chatters, one of Australia's worst criminals, has been sentenced over the abduction and rape of a Tasmanian woman.
Chatters, 42, has served at least 68 separate prior jail terms for crimes including theft, abduction, sexual assault, armed robbery and other violent offences.
In the Hobart Supreme Court, Chatters was sentenced to 10 years for abducting and raping a 25-year-old woman in Devonport in 2015 in the state's north-west.
Chatters had only been out of jail for a violent assault for a matter of weeks when he abducted the service station attendant from her workplace at knifepoint and took her to a caravan park.
Justice Michael Brett said what followed was three hours of terror, with Chatters threatening to slit her throat, and track down her partner and children if she made too much noise.
"It's difficult to imagine the sheer terror she must have felt," he said.
"You treated her in a cruel, degrading manner, you threatened her life and on a number of occasions you threatened the safety and welfare of her family.
He said Chatters had "little if any insight" into the seriousness of his conduct and showed no signs of remorse.
Justice Brett said given the low probability of Chatters' rehabilitation and the high probability of reoffending, he had placed Chatters on the sex offenders register for the maximum 15 years.
Chatters will serve at least six years in jail but despite a community petition and lobbying of the Attorney-General, Chatters has not been declared a dangerous criminal.
Former victim 'shattered'
It is not the first time Chatters has abducted and assaulted women.
Jacqui Jenkins was 23 when Chatters tried to abduct her from a busy Hobart street in broad daylight. She managed to fight him off and escape, but minutes later he abducted and assaulted another woman.
"I was shattered when I heard about his latest victim," she said.
"At first I was angry – how on earth is this guy out in the public, able to reoffend with a history such as his, where he shouldn't even have been out of jail to start with?
"It's indescribable the profound effect that an event like this has on you … and his latest victim … I just can't image how she feels."
Ms Jenkins said she still remembered every detail of the morning she was walking to college in 2001 when Chatters pretended he was lost and then tried to physically force her into the stolen car he was in.
"No-one helped me, cars kept driving past ... no-one stopped," she said.
"He was trying to force me into the door of the car – he ripped out all of my hair where he dragged me, I had grazes all up my back where he had also dragged me along the pavement.
"People could see me laying on the ground as he was trying to put me in the car.
"All my nails were broken and they [police] had to test for DNA to see if there was anything of him ... otherwise [they would not be able to charge him] because no witnesses came forward."
Campaign for dangerous criminal status
After the Devonport rape and abduction, Ms Jenkins began lobbying the then attorney-general Vanessa Goodwin to have Chatters declared a dangerous criminal.
The tag would have meant Chatters would be locked up until he could convince a Supreme Court judge that he was no longer a risk to the community.
A court-ordered forensic mental health report said Chatters had an antisocial personality disorder.
The order is characterised by a callous unconcern for the feelings of others; a disregard of social rules and obligations; aggression; impulsivity; a lack of guilt and a failure to learn from experience.
The court heard the disorder usually diminished with age but Chatters' offending had escalated over time.
The career criminal originally pleaded guilty to the 2015 abduction and rape but then changed his mind and sacked his lawyer, asking the court to allow him to change his plea to one of not guilty.
After months of battling to find a lawyer willing to represent him, the application was heard and rejected in August.
At that point after years of mounting pressure from the public, crown prosecutors flagged their intention to make an application to have him declared a dangerous criminal.
But then in court on Tuesday, crown prosecutor Madeleine Wilson told Justice Brett the DPP would not be urging him to make the declaration.
Fears 'monster' will offend again
Ms Jenkins believes Chatters should never be let out.
"He's an animal, he's a monster - honestly if you took a serious look at his record you would realise that it's not if he's going to reoffend, it's when," she said.
"I don't think there's going to be any form of adequate sentencing for a criminal at this level.
" I don't believe that anybody, especially any of his past victims truly will ever feel safe while he's out of jail."
"I do not want this to happen to anyone else. He should not be let out ever."
Chatters has served time in both Queensland and Tasmania.
Only 10 people have been declared a dangerous criminal in Tasmania.
Melbourne gangland figure, the late Mark "Chopper" Read, is the only person in the past 16 years to have been successful in having the tag lifted and been released.
Summary of dangerous criminal declaration applications
| Name | Year of application | Declaration made | Application for discharge of declaration |
| Jamie Gregory McCrossen | 1991 | Yes | Application in 2013 – rejected 2016 Second application to be heard 2017 |
| Mark Brandon Read | 1994 | Yes | Application in 1997 – accepted and released |
| Thomas Hueston | 1995 | Yes | No application made |
| IRS | 1995 | Yes | Application in 2012 – rejected in 2013 |
| Colin John Sparkes | 1997 | Yes | No application made |
| James Maxwell Evans | 1999 | Yes | No application made |
| Kevin Richard Bell | 1999 | Yes | Application in 2010 – rejected in 2011 Application in 2015 – rejected in 2016 |
| Anthony John Minney | 2003 | No | N/A |
| Ian Brumby | 2003 | Yes | No application made |
| Brendan James Freeman | 2004 | Yes | No application made |
| Paul Vincent Phillips | 2006 | No | N/A |
| Gavin Raymond McIntosh | 2013 | No | N/A |
