Kiwi sex attacker jailed for Sydney rapes

Shannon Curreen's victims sat in the rear of the Sydney courtroom, some huddled and holding hands, as the brazen sexual predator was sentenced to almost two decades in prison.

Curreen, 23, did not react as Sydney's Downing Centre District Court Judge Paul Berman handed him a maximum sentence of 25 years for a string of attacks, including two rapes, on 12 victims aged as young as 16.

Some of his victims had screamed, while others pretended to be pregnant or offered him money.

The attacks occurred between February 27 and August 2 last year, with 10 offences occurring in the last two days.

"His brazen, repeated conduct ... is remarkable," Judge Berman said.

After raping his first victim at knife-point after he surprised her walking through the Woollahra golf course at Rose Bay, Curreen gave a chilling warning.

"He told me, 'Don't look back, keep walking. I've stalked you for two days, I know where you live,"' the woman said in a victim impact statement read to the court yesterday.

The second rape, also at knife-point, occurred at Mona Vale on June 29 as the victim was walking home.

After the attack the woman asked, "Why?"

"Some people are just f---ed up," Curreen replied.

"I know what I'm doing, I've done this before and I will do it again."

Some victims, who the court heard were out for a morning jog or walk when attacked, had escaped when Curreen was spooked by barking dogs, the sound of car immobilisers, or other people out walking.

In his final offence, Curreen went after a mother of two young children who had gone out to buy milk in Bondi.

"You scream and I will kill you," Curreen told the woman, holding a blade to the woman as she returned home to where her one-year-old son was.

The pair struggled before Curreen fled, and police were able to collect DNA from under the woman's fingernails where she had scratched her attacker.

"With two young children to bring up, this incident leaves me feeling flat and doubting the safety of the world I brought them into," the women said in her statement.

New Zealand-born Curreen was arrested on August 25 last year, and pleaded guilty to the offences this year.

Judge Berman ordered Curreen to serve at least 18 years and nine months in prison. With time already served, his earliest date of release is May 2028.

He imposed a maximum sentence of 25 years.

Curreen had fantasised after watching rape scenes on YouTube, Judge Berman said.

"The offender told [a psychologist] he felt good after raping his victims. It gave him power ... He enjoyed the power he felt when he heard the victims scream," the judge said.

Curreen's victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, did not speak to reporters outside court, but a police officer associated with the case said the women were "very happy with the matter being over".

- AAP