Inner West rapist Darren Kennedy jailed after sexually abusing four women in Sydney

A man once dubbed the “Inner West Rapist” will spend the next decade behind bars after his family’s DNA linked him to a series of attacks in the mid-2000s.

Darren Kennedy was sentenced to 13 years in prison without parole for sexually assaulting four women in a Sydney suburb between December 2003 and March 2004.

The 54-year-old watched via video link as Judge Jennie Girdham announced her verdict at Downing Centre District Court on Friday.

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In May 2023, he pleaded guilty to 13 counts, including four counts of sexual intercourse without consent, two counts of exploiting a person for sexual gratification, and criminal counts of indecent assault.

Judge Girdham also included possession of child abuse material as a separate offence in her sentence after 174 videos and 43 images were found on his phone following his arrest.

In December 2003, Kennedy carried out his first attack on a 43-year-old woman in her home in Croydon.

When the victim awoke, he was crouched in her bedroom. He was wearing gloves, holding a pillow in front of his face and shining a flashlight into her eyes.

She was told to “just be quiet,” “don’t look at him,” and lift up her nightgown.

His victim was forced to perform oral sex in a living room, with Kennedy ordering her to “count to 20 and not tell anyone,” the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

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Less than a month later, in January 2004, Kennedy found his next victim as she walked home from a night out in Bondi, in Sydney’s east.

He grabbed the 23-year-old, dragged her into an alley and threw her to the ground.

The young woman screamed and fought back before Kennedy put his hand over her mouth and told her to “shut the damn thing.”

Kennedy then raped the woman and fled the scene, telling her not to “look back.”

His third attack was on a 17-year-old schoolgirl at her family home in Bexley, also in January 2004.

She was awakened when he climbed through her bedroom window and then stroked her face.

He put a gloved hand over her mouth and told her to be quiet and look away.

In a desperate attempt to alert her family, the teenager asked Kennedy if she could use the bathroom.

The rapist then forced her to climb out of the bedroom window and told her to go to the toilet outside.

Kennedy then pushed her against a brick wall while she screamed for help.

A 51-year-old woman was Kennedy’s fourth victim.

In the early hours of March 2004, the woman was packing her luggage for a flight to her son’s wedding.

The rapist waited outside the woman’s Marrickville home, and once outside, he approached her and told her he “just wanted to touch her breasts.”

He then raped her twice and pulled her nightgown over her head.

After the sickening attack, Kennedy thanked her victim and told her to count to 100 as he walked away.

He added She “did not want to spoil her son’s wedding by telling anyone,” the court said.

In March 2004, a police task force was set up to investigate the attacks in several suburbs, including Croydon and Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west and Bondi in the east.

However, the investigation was closed in 2005 after they failed to find the perpetrator.

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The case was reopened in February 2020, and a forensic investigation in November 2021 traced the attacks to Kennedy through a family DNA match with materials seized at several crime scenes, including a flashlight, a rug, and the victims’ clothing.

Five days later, Kennedy was arrested at home and has been in custody ever since.

All of the victims, aged between 17 and 51, were defenseless and unable to defend themselves, said Judge Girdham.

They were “humiliated and degraded” by the attacks, she added.

“The offence was heinous – it was cruel and dehumanising,” said Judge Girdham.

“To describe the actual damage caused (in one sentence) is an impossible task.”

In their victim impact statements, some of the women described struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and still having trouble trusting people 20 years later.

In a letter to the court, Kennedy apologized to the victims, described his own actions as “regrettable and monstrous” and added that his mind was “shattered and broken” at the time of the crimes.

Judge Girdham found that Kennedy had struggled with his own traumatic past of child abuse and that his past experiences had distorted his views on sexuality.

Kennedy was sentenced to a maximum term of 17 years and four months in prison. He will be eligible for parole in November 2034.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse Victim Support and Reparation Service 1800 211 028

Lifeline 13 11 14

Beyondblue 1300 22 4636