A man from a well-known Kimberley pastoral family has been sentenced to four-and-a-half-years’ jail for sexually assaulting an intellectually disabled woman.
Key points:
- Halls Creek man Ray Yeeda was sentenced to four-and-a-half-years jail in the WA District Court on Wednesday
- He was found guilty of attacking the woman in 2009
- Yeeda, now aged 60, is eligible for parole
Ray Yeeda pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual penetration without consent but was found guilty of the charges at a trial in Derby last year.
He appeared in the WA District Court on Wednesday for sentencing.
Court hears details of attack
The court heard Yeeda had a close relationship with the woman when he was living in a remote Aboriginal community in the Kimberley.
The victim, who can’t be named to protect her identity, was at a house with Yeeda in 2009 when he called her to a room.
He raped her, despite the woman repeatedly asking him to stop.
She initially did not tell anyone about the incident because Yeeda had threatened her to stay quiet.
District Court judge Christian Miocevich said Yeeda’s attack on the woman was opportunistic and her intellectual disability made her extremely vulnerable.
The court heard Yeeda had a criminal record and had spent much of his life working on stations in the Kimberley and Pilbara.
Judge Miocevich sentenced Yeeda to four-and-a-half years in prison and backdated the sentence to November last year.
He is eligible for parole.