By Daniel Piotrowski for Daily Mail Australia
Published: 23:16 GMT, 19 February 2019 | Updated: 23:16 GMT, 19 February 2019
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Sentence slashed: Alan Simmons' crime was 'one of the worst sexual assaults on a random female victim, who has not been subsequently murdered', a judge found
A rapist whose 'animalistic' assault on a woman was 'one of the worst' attacks a judge has seen in 36 years practising criminal law has had his sentence slashed on appeal.
Alan Simmons, then 18, raped, beat and taunted a young woman in Bathurst who he spotted walking home from work on a Saturday evening in August 2015.
The horrendous hour-long assault took place on the banks of the Macquarie River.
The attack involved Simmons biting her, pulling a mouthful of her hair out with his teeth and telling her he was raping her 'because you like it'.
About two years ago, District Court Judge Jeffrey McLennan sentenced Simmons to 18 years' imprisonment, including a 12 year non parole period.
Judge McLennan described the attack in stark terms. It was one of the most terrible assaults he had seen in his more than three decades practising criminal law in two states.
'Simply put, this is one of the worst sexual assaults on a random female victim, who has not been subsequently murdered, that I have encountered,' he told the court on sentencing.
But in a decision handed down this month, the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the judge's ruling and slashed three years from Simmons' total sentence.
