Robert David Bennett
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Robert David Bennett (12 September 1875 - 26 September 1932) was an Australian criminal and sex offender. He was convicted of the rape of a young girl in Western Australia in 1911 and, despite receiving a life sentence for the crime, he was released in June 1914 under controversial circumstances.
Robert David Bennett | |
|---|---|
 Bennett photographed in 1917 | |
| Born | 12 September 1875 Hutchesontown, Glasgow |
| Died | 26 September 1932 (aged 57) HM Prison Pentridge, Australia |
He would later be hanged at Pentridge Gaol on 26 September 1932, being the first execution there, he had first arrived in Australia on 4 June 1886.
His criminal career began when he was sentenced to life in 1911 for rape, but released only six years later. He then went in for armed robbery with an accomplice, Angus Murray, got caught, and was sentenced to 15 years.
The two men escaped from jail in 1923. Murray got clean away, committed a murder during a bank robbery, and was hanged in 1924. Bennett was quickly caught and made to serve his full sentence. Within days of his release he raped a four-year-old girl, for which he earned the dubious distinction of becoming the last man executed for rape in Australia.