The Bloody Tale of the Rockhampton Rapist

Leonard Fraser was a man without a conscience who committed violent sexual crimes with ease.

Many may remember him as the callous man who took the life of nine-year-old Keyra Steinhardt, but his history of crime goes back much further.

By all accounts Fraser had a relatively normal upbringing. He was born in Ingham, north Queensland on June 27th 1951. When he was just six, his three siblings and parents moved to Mount Druitt in Sydney. There was no indication at all that anything in Fraser’s childhood would have caused him to become a man with violent sexual leanings. He left school at 14 and was functionally illiterate. This is where it all begins.

At 15 Fraser served 12 months at the Gosford Boys Home for stealing. Very soon after his release he was served a two-year bond for assault, as well as for driving unlicensed, stealing cars and offensive behaviour. He went on to serve 12 months of hard labour. In the next few years Fraser was in trouble with the law on a frequent basis. He got fines, jail time, probation, and another hard labour stint for everything from transporting stolen goods to living off the earnings of prostitution, with lots of robbery in between.

The Rapes Begin

Amongst all this, and without investigators having any idea, Fraser had started his career as a serial rapist. His first victim was a 37-year-old tourist, whom he raped in broad daylight at the Sydney Botanical Gardens. Hiding in some banana trees he’d waited until she’d walked past, then grabbed her and dragged her out of view. After raping and beating her to the point of semi-consciousness, he was interrupted and fled.

Of course, investigators wouldn’t know this until Fraser himself admitted to it five years later after he was arrested for a string of rapes only three weeks after his release from prison. By this time, Fraser had identified what would become his signature move: approaching women from behind and twisting their arm behind their back to subdue them. He used this successfully on what police assumed was his first rape, on July 11th 1974. After forcing her into a secluded area and raping her, Fraser held the woman’s hand as he walked her back to the road. He really did believe she had enjoyed him assaulting her.

There were two more close calls within the next nine days. In one instance six days after the first, Fraser attempted to rape a woman working alone at a dry cleaning shop, but he was interrupted by customers. In another three days following he attacked a woman walking down the road. She managed to convince him that she was in fact in the mood for sex, but suggested they go back to his bed. At the first opportunity she managed to break free and raise the alarm.

Fraser confessed to the rape and two attempted rapes (although he told police that the woman in the dry cleaner’s wouldn’t have to be forced, she was “just about to come across”). He also confessed to raping the tourist five years before. During his trial a court psychiatrist said that he felt Fraser was beyond helping. He claimed Fraser had no conscience, no impulse control, and nothing to stop him doing whatever he wanted. Fraser was sentenced to a maximum of 22 years, but the law demanded a parole period of just 7 years. The judge noted that in no way was the suggestion that Fraser should be released at this time.

Unfortunately he was.

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