For years Leroy Fisher was known for his iron fists and quick step.
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In October 2014, after winning a gold medal at the NSW Boxing Championships, a then 19-year-old Fisher spoke to the Mercury about his future career aspirations.
“I want to go as far as I can go,” he said enthusiastically.
“I want to eventually go pro one day. I've always wanted to do it.”
Fast forward nine months and the tag ‘champion boxer’ was to be replaced by an alarming new moniker: he was now Leroy Fisher, ‘alleged rapist’.
Each offence involved anger, jealousy, rage and a desire to dominate his victim.
- Judge Andrew Heasler
Fisher had been accused of holding a woman against her will inside his Berkeley home one evening in July 2015. Police claimed he subjected the girl to a series of degrading physical and sexual acts, causing her to fear for her life.
Fisher was charged and remanded in custody. He repeatedly denied his guilt, but his incarceration meant his dreams of earning a spot at the Rio Olympics were dashed.
But this is not a story about a gentle man wrongly accused of a horrible crime – this is a story about a sadistic, jealous thug who used his superior power to dominate and degrade a woman, then lied about it for 16 months.
But Fisher eventually did confess to his crimes, pleading guilty to four charges on the eve of his NSW District Court trial in Wollongong.
His victim would later tell the court the ordeal had left her a shell of her former self.
Court documents said Fisher dragged the woman by her hair, tied her up with handcuffs and subjecting her to degrading sexual acts for more than nine hours.
She described the pain as “unbearable”.
Fisher has been behind bars since the attack; in Wollongong District Court on Friday, he learned he would be locked away for at least another three years.
Judge Andrew Haesler sentenced Fisher to an overall prison term of eight years and five months, with five years non-parole.
The term will start from when he was first incarcerated, making him eligible to apply for parole in 2020.
Judge Haesler was scathing of Fisher’s behaviour that night, describing it as an “act of dominance and violent control”.
“He demonstrated his physical dominance in a degrading way ….there was a considerable degree of physical violence and each episode [of assault] went on for some time.
“Each offence involved anger, jealousy, rage and a desire to dominate his victim.”
Fisher told the court he planned to move to Queensland and resume his boxing career once he is released from prison.
