Women aged under 40 banned from man’s farm

A convicted criminal in Australia's Northern Territory who was jailed after he threatened backpackers with a knife and forced one of them to watch him masturbate while posing as a tour guide isn’t allowed to have women aged under 40 on his farm.



Correctional services workers report that William Nicolas O’Donnell now denies responsibility for his crimes and has been employing backpackers in his “horse business” at ­Dundee since he was released on a suspended sentence bond, after serving 11 months of a two-year prison term, in ­December. He has been arrested and charged with drinking alcohol in breach of his conditional­ ­release. O’Donnell, 42, admitted he had a new backpacker girlfriend living with him when he faced the NT Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Trevor Riley asked the woman’s age, and a tearful O’Donnell said: “She’s over 18.” Chief Justice Riley said: “You will have to survive some time without her ... you have brought this on yourself.” He released O’Donnell on bail with a condition not to have women under 40 on his farm, and said he hoped male backpackers who chose to work on the property could “look after themselves”. Prosecutor Matthew Nathan said O’Donnell failed to “grasp the chance for rehabilitation” since his release.



The accused last year admitted three assault charges and deprivation of liberty. Three travellers, one man and two women, bought tour guide services he advertised online, and he took them to Litchfield National Park, in January, 2014. He got drunk and insisted one woman sleep in his tent, then spooned her naked against her wishes. He had a tantrum and ­demanded money, threatening the ­travellers with a 15cm cooking knife, when the victim said she was leaving. He got drunk again and forced the same woman to stay in a car with him while he ­masturbated after pestering her for sex. The prison sentence was backdated to allow for time spent in custody.