A serial criminal who once appeared on a list of Australia's most wanted has had two rape convictions overturned on appeal and must now be re-sentenced for his role in a meth-fuelled criminal rampage.
While his appeal partially succeeded, Rodney Bloxsome failed in a bid to quash two other convictions linked to the three-day crime spree across Canberra in February 2018, including one for unlawfully confining the same woman he was accused of raping.
The rampage began when Bloxsome and a group of others affected by methamphetamine, including former Brothers 4 Life prison gang leader Damien Featherstone, gathered at a Narrabundah home.
Believing they were about to be robbed, Featherstone tried to convince the group to steal from a gun shop and "tool up" in preparation.
When one of the group protested, Featherstone shot him in the thigh. Bloxsome then stabbed the man in the forearm and hand when he would not stop screaming.
They then drove a woman, who was a friend of the injured man, to a Casey home. There, they held the woman captive and Featherstone hit her in the face with a broom. Bloxsome was accused of raping the woman at the home multiple times.
The next day, Bloxsome and Featherstone, the latter armed with a gun, were part of a group that carjacked some elderly people in Ainslie.
The crime spree entered a third day when Bloxsome and Featherstone travelled to the Military Shop in Fyshwick. They were again members of a group, which smashed glass cabinets and stole knives.
Bloxsome was convicted of eight offences. He admitted to aggravated burglary, car theft and property damage, while a jury found him guilty of two rapes and one count each of unlawful confinement, intentional wounding and aggravated robbery.
He was jailed for a total of 11 years and one month, with a non-parole period of six years and 11 months.
Featherstone was also convicted of eight offences and received a jail sentence of seven years and nine months. He must serve a minimum period of five years and two months.
The former prison gang leader was found guilty at trial of unlawful confinement and using an offensive weapon in circumstances likely to endanger life. He admitted to aggravated robbery, possessing a prohibited gun, car theft, aggravated burglary and property damage.
Both men launched appeals against some of their convictions following their trial, while Bloxsome also challenged an element of his sentence.
On Friday, the ACT Court of Appeal dismissed all grounds of Featherstone's appeal.
But a full bench of the court overturned Bloxsome's two rape convictions.
One of the guilty verdicts was deemed unsafe and unsatisfactory because the alleged victim had confirmed during the trial that there had been no penile-vaginal intercourse as alleged.
The other rape conviction related to the alleged digital penetration of the same woman. The Court of Appeal called that guilty verdict "an affront to common sense" because there was no difference between the evidence on that charge and a third count of rape, of which the jury had acquitted Bloxsome.
Bloxsome, who was listed among Australia's most wanted men in 2011, also appealed against his intentional wounding and unlawful confinement convictions, but failed to have those overturned.
Because the rape convictions have been quashed, Bloxsome must be re-sentenced on the six charges that remain in his case.
The re-sentencing will take place at a later date.
