A schizophrenic “transgender” child sex offender has been jailed for trying to rape a female stranger outside a Sydney cathedral, but could walk free in just two months.
Benjamin Charles Jones, 49, a man who claims to be a woman, stalked his victim for 11 minutes on October 22, 2024, before grabbing her from behind, dragging her into a hidden corner at St Mary’s Cathedral, pulling his pants down, forcing a plastic object into her mouth to silence her, and trying to rape her.
The woman managed to break free and run to bystanders who had heard her screams, and police later arrested Jones, who has a long criminal history in multiple states and countries, and was serving a community corrections order for child sex offending at the time of the attack.
Jones declared “I identify as transgender and queer … I had nothing to do with it” when he faced court after his arrest, but eventually pleaded guilty to attempted sexual intercourse without consent and stalking, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
He was sentenced on Friday to three years and four months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years, by NSW District Court Judge Troy Anderson, who took into account Jones’s schizophrenia, gender dysphoria, depression and anxiety diagnoses, along with his history of substance abuse.
Judge Anderson also took into account that Jones had spent nearly two years in custody in isolation since his arrest due to threats from other inmates, and said this would make a custodial sentence “weigh more heavily” on him than it would on other criminals.
“It is certainly a difficult sentencing exercise given the appalling nature of the conduct itself. But the subjective case of the offender is powerful,” the judge said while making Jones eligible for parole on November 21.
The court heard that Jones was homeless at the time of the attack after moving to Sydney from Melbourne with no money, and had recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
He told a psychiatrist he lived in an “astral world”, and that his “sex spirit” had made a deal with the devil to force him to “engage in sex rituals”, but also claimed that since being medicated he was “confused and bewildered” by his behaviour.
Jones’s victim told the court she had been permanently affected by the attempted rape, which she described as an “unprecedented, unexpected, and aggressive act”.
“I had always walked freely without fear or intimidation, and this experience fundamentally changed my sense of safety. I had become more prepared, but also more vigilant, knowing that one’s life can be suddenly disrupted by extreme violence, even when simply trying to get home,” she said.
Header image: Left, St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, CC BY-SA 2.5, Link.
