As he welcomed tourists to Daydream Island, Warren John McCorriston concealed a nightmare past.
The island's director of operations in 2016 and 2017 was on Friday jailed for eight years and six months for brutally raping and assaulting two women between 1980 and 1997.
His crimes were inflicted in the course of domestic relationships, often unprovoked and physically violent, Acting District Court Judge Mark Marien said.
One woman recalled how McCorriston, now 61, would oscillate weekly between giving her flowers and giving her bruises.
She didn't say no every single time he raped her but when she did, the offender would continue anyway.
McCorriston finally ceased his attacks on her after a child shouted out "what are you doing" or "get off (her)" as McCorriston tightly gripped his victim's throat and pinned her arms to a bed.
With similar brutality and regularity, the offender scarred another woman and ignored her pleas for him to stop.
"You deserved to be punished and you deserve to suffer," he told her during one bashing.
One rape came after McCorriston literally ripped her dress off and then hit her until she collapsed on the floor.
In another, his blows broke her ribs, collapsed her lung and left her crying on the floor, unable to fight him off.
McCorriston only took her to the hospital after his victim promised to stick to his story: she'd fallen on cricket stumps.
Judge Marien placed the offences among the worst of domestic violence offending.
"(They were) brutal offences in the extreme, totally unprovoked and displaying a wanton disregard for the innocent victims," he said.
The agreed facts included matters for which McCorriston wasn't charged, indicating his "pattern of physical and sexual abuse and assault" against the two women.
McCorriston went on to work across Australia in hospitality before losing his job at Daydream Island in the Whitsundays after Cyclone Debbie in 2017.
After being extradited in January 2020, he pleaded guilty to five historical charges, including sexual intercourse without consent and intentionally inflicting actual bodily harm with intent to have sexual intercourse without consent.
The court also took into account other offences McCorriston admitted.
"I regret my actions ... (the victims) did not deserve to be treated in such a manner," he told the court on June 3.
A psychiatrist's report noted McCorriston's behaviour, involving sexual entitlement and alcohol abuse, was likely modelled on his violent father.
Judge Marien set a minimum term of four years and six months, saying McCorriston would need an extended period of supervision.
He also placed the offender on a 12-month good behaviour bond for two separate assaults of a 17-year-old in Newcastle in 1980.
Occurring as she walked alone to a train station and while in the surf at a local beach, the assaults both involved her arms being restrained and bookended a series of approaches McCorriston made towards the teenager.
But whilst noting the victim's inevitable terror and stress, the individual offences didn't warrant jail time, the judge said.
Each of McCorriston's crimes came to light during a cold-case investigation into the disappearances of two girls and two women in the Newcastle area.
That investigation, dubbed Strike Force Arapaima, continues.
Australian Associated Press
