A serial rapist who attempted to abduct a teenage girl to rape her 45 years ago has avoided jail time.
Warren John McCorriston pleaded guilty to trying to abduct the 17-year-old in 1980 near Newcastle after she got off a bus near her home.
Newcastle District Court heard McCorriston “did by force detain [the woman] against her will with intent to carnally know her”.
The girl eventually broke free and hid in bushes in her neighbours’ front yard before he drove off.
During McCorriston’s sentencing hearing on Thursday, the court heard the 64-year-old was a registered sex offender.
He previously served eight-and-a-half years in jail for attacks on three women around the same area as the attempted abduction from 1979 to 1999.
Judge Tim Gartelmann said he had to factor in time spent behind bars when considering the sentence for the offence.
McCorriston was sentenced to two years and three months in jail, with a non-parole period of one year and three months.
Due to time served, the judge granted an immediate release from the dock.
Victim would have been terrified
On the night of the attempted abduction, the teenage victim had watched a film at a Newcastle cinema, the court heard.
She caught a bus which dropped her about 600 metres from her home.
As she walked home, a red hatchback pulled up in front of her and McCorriston got out of the car.
He told the girl he was armed with a knife and she should get into his car.
He told police he planned to force her into his car for sex.
The victim didn’t report the crime until 2023, after watching a program about another teenager who was abducted in Newcastle in the 1990s.
She identified McCorriston from a black and white photo.
‘Totality’ of sentence
McCorriston was convicted in 2021 of raping three women over two decades.
The victims were as young as 17.
At McCorriston’s sentencing hearing, Judge Gartelmann said he needed to consider time served when handing down this sentence, and spoke about “the principle of totality”.
“The sentence he had been serving was imposed for several offences,” the judge said.
“Sentences for those offences were effectively partly concurrent and partly cumulative.
McCoriston’s non-parole period for after his term for attacking his three other victims ended last year.
Despite this, the court heard he stayed an extra 200 days in prison before he was released in February this year.
The judge said he had shown remorse and his dysfunctional childhood lessened his moral culpability.
He will be subject to further supervision while on parole until February next year.