A 13-year-old girl has courageously stared down a rapist who grabbed her as she walked to school in Newcastle and repeatedly sexually assaulted her over five horrific hours.

The victim confronted Brett David Hill at Newcastle District Court on Tuesday before Judge Roy Ellis jailed the 49-year-old for 23 years and six months with a minimum term of 17 years.

Hill was homeless and angry after losing his job when he grabbed the then 11-year-old girl by the neck and dragged her screaming off a path in June 2018. He repeatedly raped the terrified girl at three separate locations while ignoring her desperate pleas to be let go.

Judge Ellis said Hill warned the girl before the first rape: “Don’t move, I have a knife. Shut up or I’ll kill you. Do you want to live tomorrow?”

Hill tied the girl to a tree and sexually assaulted her before putting her in the back seat of his car, covered her with blankets and drove to a remote bush location where he raped her again.

He then drove to a second bush area, dragged the girl out of the car by her legs, blindfolded her and attacked her again.

The girl later told police: “I was so scared because I didn’t know what he was going to do.” Judge Ellis was in no doubt the victim had been “unbelievably terrified” of Hill.

As Hill was being led away on Tuesday the girl’s father yelled out: “I hope you burn in hell, you scum.”

The judge said Hill had shown no sympathy, empathy or compassion for the girl during the attack.

A psychological report revealed the teenager now has suicidal thoughts because she feels worthless.

The victim was supported in the witness box by her mother and family dog as she described how she’d been a carefree girl who loved her life, walked around with a smile on her face and was scared of nothing before Hill grabbed her as she walked to school in Adamstown.

The girl told Hill she was now too scared to even walk her dog. She suffers from constant flashbacks — reliving the day when she was frozen, numb and helpless and wanted to die as Hill violated her.

She sees Hill’s face everywhere she goes and can’t sleep at night.

“I hate who I am today,” the girl told Hill.

She said it was hard to live each day in her body which had been stolen by Hill. The girl said she looked normal but there was a “massive invisible scar written across my face”.

“I am scared somebody is going to take me and do it all over again. My world is not safe. I can never forgive you,” she said.

Hill pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated kidnapping, seven counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 16 and one count of possessing child abuse material.

Three other counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of aggravated sexual assault were withdrawn following Hill’s guilty pleas.

The paedophile was armed with a pair of scissors when he abducted the girl as she walked through Hudson Park about 9.15am on June 12. He released her at Kotara railway station about 2.15pm.

Prosecutor Lee Carr SC said the fear the girl must have felt was incomprehensible.

“This young girl is simply treated by this man as a sexual toy,” the prosecutor said.

Hill told the court he’d taken synthetic cannabis which can make you go “crazy”.

He told the girl: “I’m so sorry. I never set out on this day to be a horrible person. I did something I thought I’d never do. I hope one day you can move on from this.”

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