Rapists refused leave to appeal

Press, 4 June 1988, Page 7

Rapists refused leave to appeal

PA Wellington Two men involved in the gang rape of a young woman in Hamilton have been refused leave to appeal against the eightyear prison terms imposed. on them. Gregory James Attwood and Owen Francis Bishop had been found guilty by a jury on a charge of rape. In a Court of Appeal decision yesterday, Mr Justice McMullin said the complainant was invited by the pair to a house in Hamilton. It turned out to be the headquarters of a gang called the Outcasts. She was dragged into a workshop by Attwood, Bishop and another man. Each of them raped her while the others held her.

Several other men then came in and she was raped by some of these before she was able to escape.

Mr Justice McMullin said it was claimed neither Attwood nor Bishop were members of the gang. But they took the complainant to the house late at night knowing it was the gang headquarters. “There was a real risk, if not a probability, the complainant would be illused by the gang members likely to be present,” he said. "In these circumstances a sentence of eight years imprisonment imposed on each offender' dn the charge of rape,was in no way excessive,” Mr Justice McMullin said.