Wayne Gregory Astill: Former prison guard who raped women has appeal rejected

A former NSW prison guard who sexually assaulted female inmates has failed to convince an appeals court that his conviction constituted a miscarriage of justice.

Wayne Gregory Astill was sentenced in March 2023 to a maximum 23 years in jail for the rape and indecent assault of nine women while working as a guard at Dillwynia Correctional Centre, in Sydney’s west.

On Monday, a panel of Supreme Court justices dismissed Astill’s appeal to overturn the conviction and sentence.

Astill, who is now in his late 60s, will spend at least 15 years and four months behind bars for abusing his position of authority to commit offences over several years, up until his suspension in 2019.

Astill’s lawyers argued in the appeal bid that a direction given to the jury during his 2023 trial regarding his tendency to act in a certain way towards female inmates resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

Tendency evidence relied upon by crown prosecutors included Astill giving favourable treatment to some inmates and making sexually suggestive comments towards them.

However, the justices agreed it would have unduly increased the complexity of the jury’s task, not allowing evidence given by an inmate to support tendency in relation to other complaints by the same inmate.

Astill’s lawyers also argued that both his maximum and minimum sentences were manifestly excessive. However, the appeal panel ruled while the sentence was “stern”, it was appropriately so.

“(Astill) exploited the vulnerability of the victims in a deliberate, repetitive and systematic way in respect of which he showed no remorse,” Justice Richard Button stated in the judgment.

“His actions involved a gross and continuing breach of trust, damaging in immediate terms to the inmates.”

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