A serial sex offender who claims to identify as a woman has been sentenced to a maximum of three years and four months for assaulting a woman and attempting to rape her as she was walking home. Benjamin Charles Jones, who previously used the name “Lisa Jones,” but is now referring to himself as “Willow,” had just been released from a women’s prison one month prior to being arrested for the sexual assault.
Jones, who previously served a sentence in Germany for sexually assaulting a child, appeared in the Downing Centre Local Court last Thursday, where prosecutors explained that on the evening of September 8, he grabbed a 31-year-old woman as she walked past St. Mary’s cathedral in central Sydney.
CCTV footage recorded the attack as Jones pulled her by her waist into a hidden corner. When she demanded to be let go, Jones replied, “I want to f–k you. Just let me f–k you.”
As the woman struggled to get free, Jones pulled down his pants and attempted to force an object into her mouth to silence her. When she was finally able to break free, she ran towards bystanders who helped her flag down a police car. After a brief search, law enforcement arrested Jones.
According to courtroom reports from the Sydney Morning Herald, Jones was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. He reportedly told a psychiatrist that he lived in an “astral world,” and that the devil had made a bargain with his “sex spirit,” and forced him to “engage in sex rituals.”
But when Jones was standing before the court, he reportedly exclaimed, “I identify as transgender and queer… I had nothing to do with it.”
Judge Troy Anderson described the crime as “intentional and, frankly, very frightening”. However, during sentencing he took into consideration Jones’ diagnoses of schizophrenia, gender dysphoria, historic substance abuse and depression and anxiety. In Sydney, the maximum penalty for rape, or an attempt to commit it, falls under the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years; whereas Jones, a repeat criminal on the sex offender registry, was handed a three-year sentence. With time already spent in custody, Jones will be eligible for parole in just two months, on November 21.