Robert Rickerby appeal dismissed : An abusive man who abandoned his dying girlfriend to collect pizzas has faced widespread condemnation for his “brutal, cruel, and sadistic” behavior.
Robert Rickerby, 31, who left his partner Jessica Geddes, 27, fatally injured at their Endeavour Hills home in 2020, has been denied a reduction in his 15-year-and-six-month prison sentence by Victoria’s highest court.
The couple met on a dating app in Queensland in 2017 and moved to Melbourne together shortly after. On November 6, 2020, paramedics discovered Ms. Geddes dead with multiple severe assault injuries.
Rickerby phoned triple-0 at 6:41 p.m., claiming that she had been “fine” when he left an hour earlier to pick up pizzas — only to return and find her critically injured.
Robert Rickerby Appeal Dismissed After ‘Sadistic’ Abuse of Girlfriend
However, the court later concluded that Rickerby had violently assaulted Ms. Geddes earlier that day, with her condition deteriorating “likely over several hours.
During sentencing, Justice James Elliot stated that the attack was not an “isolated incident,” noting that Ms. Geddes had endured serious injuries in the preceding days, weeks, and months.
After once again beating Jessica on the afternoon of November 6, 2020 — and doing so severely — you failed to seek the urgent medical help she so desperately needed. Astonishingly, instead of helping her, you chose to leave the house to pick up pizzas,” Justice Elliot said.
Abusive Partner Left Dying Girlfriend to Collect Pizzas
When appealing his sentence, Rickerby argued that Justice Elliot had wrongly treated his lies as an aggravating factor and claimed that his prison term was “manifestly excessive.
However, in a sharply worded decision delivered by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, a panel of three judges dismissed his arguments, stating that the sentence was “just, proportionate, and entirely appropriate.
Justices Phillip Priest, Robert Osborn, and Stephen Kaye noted that if Rickerby had chosen to remain silent — as was his legal right — it could not have been used against him.
Court Finds Rickerby’s Attack Was Not an Isolated Incident
But because he tried to mislead police, deflect blame, and falsely accuse the victim, the judges ruled that his deceit rightfully made his crimes more serious.
The judges also determined that Rickerby’s sentence was appropriate, given the extreme severity of his crimes and his ongoing abuse of Ms. Geddes.
Jessica Geddes endured horrific mistreatment and violence at the hands of the appellant over a long period. His behavior was brutal, cruel, and sadistic, leaving her in an extremely vulnerable state,” the three judges stated.
It is no exaggeration to say that she suffered severe injuries from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
Rickerby was originally charged with murder, but prosecutors later accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter just two days before his trial was scheduled to begin in April 2024
He will be eligible for parole after serving 11 years of his sentence, in April 2033.
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