A serial rapist known for luring young women onto his luxury yacht has apparently “forgiven” his three victims “in his heart”.
Despite having been convicted of rape in three separate trials, John Collins, 77, continued to protest his innocence when he fronted the Queensland Court of Appeal on Wednesday asking to have them overturned.
Representing himself Collins declared he had “not committed one single crime against those females,” according to the Queensland Times.
“I’ve spent five years in a jail because of these lying people. I’ve forgiven them in my heart. I’ve forgiven them for what they’ve done to me,” he told the court.
“I’m going to die in jail because of these people, because of their filthy lies.”
Collins was found guilty of several offences, which took place on the Gold Coast, Hamilton Island and Kawana in the 1980s and 2000s and has already served five years of his more than 12 year sentence.
He said his conviction for raping a 17-year-old girl on board his yacht could not be upheld because he hadn’t testified at the original trial.
Prosecutor David Nardone said there was nothing to suggest Collins had suffered a miscarriage of justice.
His appeal was unsuccessful.