A man who forced homeless and mentally impaired victims to perform depraved sexual acts for years has shown no remorse while being sentenced to decades in jail.
Northern NSW man Francesco "Frank" Paul Parese violently threatened, stole from and sexually abused four victims with cognitive impairments from mid-2017 to early 2020.
The 45-year-old preyed on those he knew were vulnerable through an ice-induced "drug haze" that spurred on his anger and affected his sexual desires, Judge Nicole Noman said on Thursday.
A wheelchair-bound Parese watched by video link from Long Bay prison while he was sentenced to a maximum of 28 years behind bars with a non-parole period of 18-and-a-half years.
In April, after an almost eight-week trial, a jury found him guilty of 34 charges, including 20 counts of aggravated sexual assault of someone with a cognitive impairment.
The Grafton man met some of his victims online, while two of those abused were homeless at the time of the offences.
Two of his victims initially consented to sexual activity, but Parese persisted with his crimes even when they said "no".
“The acts were brutal and forceful," Judge Noman said in Sydney's Downing Centre District Court.
"He was exploitative in taking what he wanted.”
The victims were vulnerable due to cognitive impairments that included complex PTSD, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury.
Parese was aware of these limitations but treated his victims as a "sexual commodity", the judge said.
He threatened them with knives to get them to hand over money and property as well as perform sexual acts.
His victims vomited, gagged, were choked and were physically assaulted during the sexual abuse.
One man was tied up and handcuffed, and forced into various sexual acts multiple times over a day.
He sent one female homeless victim explicit photographs, including one of himself in front of images of naked and semi-naked women with the phrase "monster" across it.
He later raped the woman on the front porch of a friend's home where she was spending the night.
Another woman was forced to perform sexual acts on Parese because he was supplying her with drugs.
“The offender said he was the ruler of her and that he owned her because of the drugs,” Judge Noman said.
Parese used rape as punishment whenever one of the victims did something he did not like, such as self-harm or break a microwave plate.
He also injected his victims with ice without their permission, the judge said.
In statements to the court, the victims demonstrated the harm that had come from Parese's actions, including fear, self-blame, loss of trust, anxiety and loss of social independence.
Parese had continued to deny the offending occurred and had shown no remorse, the judge said.
With a two-decade long criminal history spanning multiple states and territories, the 45-year-old showed an unpredictable risk of re-offending and had not made any meaningful progress towards rehabilitation, Judge Noman added.
She warned Parese - a high-risk inmate - that he might not be released once his prison sentence was up with the NSW Supreme Court able to make further detention or extended supervision orders.
Parese's maximum prison sentence will expire on May 4, 2048 and he will be eligible for parole on November 4, 2028.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
