William Thomas Kiernan was sentenced in Penrith District Court late last week after he was found guilty by an Armidale jury of two counts of inflicting actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse. 

The 47-year-old was extradited from Queensland by Armidale detectives in 2013 to face court over the 2001, attacks after a breakthrough in the investigation. Detectives tracked Kiernan down after they discovered he was living in northern Queensland and were granted an arrest warrant, which was executed in March 2013. 

He was originally charged with a raft of offences, before a three-day trial was held in Armidale District Court in August last year. 

It took the jury just an hour to find him guilty on the two charges on the indictment, before his bail was revoked and he was taken into custody. 

The jury rejected Kiernan’s version of events of when the physical altercation unfolded in the Highlander Van Village on October 8, 2001, and found him guilty of inflicting actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse with a victim, and a second charge of inflicting actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse with other person. 

The trial heard Kiernan had lived in a caravan on the Glen Innes Rd site for more than three years and often carried out odd jobs for the owners. 

The couple, who had travelled to Armidale for a residential school program, checked into a tent site for two days before the attack occurred. 

The park owner at the time gave evidence at the trial, and told the court he was called to the park about 8pm after reports of an altercation. 

He said he found Kiernan in an irate and intoxicated state with a metal baseball bat in his hand, and the female victim very distressed on the ground, while the male victim was nursing a broken arm. 

The crown had maintained in its case that Kiernan attacked the woman, whom he tried to have sexual intercourse with, and then turned on her partner, attacking him after he tried to intervene. 

During a sentencing hearing last Thursday, Judge Stephen Hanley imposed a three-year prison sentence on the 47-year-old for his attack on the woman, and a two-year sentence for the attack on the man. 

He ordered Kiernan to serve an aggregate sentence of three years and six months from August last year, with a minimum non-parole period of 18 months. 

Kiernan won’t be eligible for parole until February next year.