Why the law can’t stop this love rat from destroying women's lives | 60 Minutes Australia

it's shameful that in australia in 2021 some men still don't get it they think they can treat women any way they want joel benky is one of those men accused of violence or intimidation by more than 20 women all over the country at last count there were nearly a dozen different domestic violence orders against him not that he seems to care one bit benky's case highlights how broken the system has become and how powerless the law is to stop serial offenders like him walking the streets watch his tick tock videos and you'd think joel binky was a lovable rogue smile a cheeky wink and of course no shortage of the seemingly obligatory gym selfies but his charm offensive online is very much at odds with reality wonder why i just shoved you because you can't seem to get anything through the [ __ ] head i believe you've brought something to show me today that was the knife that was used to threaten me coral lee knows all too well the initial excitement and eventual horror of going out with joel benky she met him in south australia in 2019. he said that he'd worked on cattle stations he'd been a diesel mechanic in the mines that he was working on one of south australia's biggest sheep farmers stations that he'd had a crazy ex-girlfriend if you go back through the checklist now about everything that he told you at the outset how much of that is true none of it initially he presented himself as someone coralie could see a future with but as soon as he had her interested their relationship changed from promising to petrifying with joel benke draining coralie financially while also filling her with fear what about that period sticks in your mind probably the violence and the threats that would be the bit that you've got to sort of live with every day nothing demonstrates just how terrifying this man is quite like hearing him in full flight coral lee managed to record one of his violent explosions walk away now the next thing i do is knock your [ __ ] teeth you need to leave the [ __ ] alone but you can't seem to get the [ __ ] head get us through your [ __ ] head and start listening you'll be [ __ ] better off how do you feel when you listen back to that recording sick absolutely nauseated by it i i can barely get through a couple of minutes so just the sound of his voice saying in me a couple of words just turns me [Music] the recording is confronting enough but what makes this story even more disturbing is that this wasn't an isolated incident not even close we've been investigating joel benkie for three months and have uncovered an appalling history of domestic violence allegations against the 29 year old with victims all over the country how many charges he still has pending in your state at the moment joel benke appears to follow the same well-practiced routine every time he uses dating apps and social media to charm women with promises of a future together but it doesn't take long for him to turn he demands money and in some cases has managed to con thousands even tens of thousands out of his girlfriends then the campaign of intimidation begins and he bombards these women he supposedly loves with threatening messages in most cases the damage is done in a matter of weeks before he swiftly moves on to the next girl how would you sum up joel's personality evil he's manipulative he lies he's not anything that he makes out to be i don't think he even has a personality he is a giant ball of negativity that will destroy your life for more than a decade he's bounced from one place to another we've traced his movements from western australia on to new south wales then victoria back to new south wales and from there south australia he's now in queensland of the 21 women who've shared their story with us 15 have gone to police about joel benky's behaviour nine have been granted intervention orders and numerous convictions have been recorded against him but perhaps worse than joel benky's record is the way that authorities in this country respond to offences of this nature and the reality is that women have very few protections intervention orders don't actually register on someone's criminal record so that means the bulk of joel binky's behaviour isn't recognised by police now when he does break the law there's no guarantee that police will act then either because quite often he just skips the state before they get a chance to catch him and when convictions have been recorded generally he's been punished with a slap on the wrist joel yes tom steinfeld from 60 minutes you are up to your old tricks in brisbane these days regarding what right now there are actually two outstanding warrants for benky's arrest but here he is still on the streets free to meet other women what would you say to those women that have accused you of violence and taking them for a ride you're calling the police i've seen it all what are the holes in the system here that allow this to keep on happening unfortunately it is like swiss cheese really there are so many holes hayley foster is the ceo of women's safety new south wales she says the system fails to protect women if you rob a bank 20 times you get dealt with as a repeat offender but if you get 20 intervention orders taken out against you you get dealt with like it's your first one yeah that's right there's no other crime where this is allowed to happen coral lee went to police and joel benky was convicted of assaulting her she was also granted an intervention order that order technically protected her but it means nothing to any other women he sets his sights on well joel is a con artist his job is to be a con artist so he's got very good over the years in manipulating women and tell them exactly what they want to hear sam met joel in adelaide just a few months after he was convicted of assaulting coraline early days what did you think of joel within the first couple of days i thought he was lovely you know he was charming he came across really nice um said all the right things you know we laughed and we had such a good time what do you think joel wanted from you i think joel just wanted an atm just like he did with coral lee joel charmed sam before conning her out of cash she estimates she spent more than thousand dollars in their first three weeks together on the assurance he'd pay her back that money never came but as their relationship developed he became increasingly controlling he would literally take my phone away from me uh he would you know go through my phone and see who who was i messaging why was i messaging them he would start fights over that he would control when i would see my friends when i would speak to my mother every little situation he had to be in control of i wasn't allowed to drive my car he had to drive sam knew she needed to get out of the relationship and that's when benky allegedly turned violent the police were called and he was initially charged with aggravated assault and an intervention order was taken out but the assault charge was later dropped when you went to police do you feel like they took your complaint seriously enough no not at all i think that they've put it in the two hard baskets and i just don't really feel like they take any of us all that seriously how did you meet joel so he sent me a friend's request on facebook i originally ignored it because i thought i don't know who this person is and he said he came across my photo and thought i was beautiful and lovely and all that so he started messaging me so many of joel benky's victims are fearful of revealing their identities but these women agreed to share their trauma it's been two years since renee went out with him but the scars are still so raw for her so i was scared i feared my life so i went to the police and said what can i do about this like you know help me i want i want this guy stopped from being able to contact me all they did was took notes put it on his name and sent me away and i was literally an absolute mess at the police station how they could turn me away i don't know but they did you honestly feared for your life yeah i did and my job my family you thought he was capable of harming you yeah i did he sorry it's hard like i'd imagine and this shows how much he still affects you this day or all this time on like over almost two years later and it still affects me you try not let it but you can't sorry with a lack of action from authorities dozens of women have now come together online chasing justice it seems extraordinary that police haven't caught up with benky given the arrest warrants out against him we managed to find him hiding in a new city joel tom steinfeld from 60 minutes how are you since we began looking into joel benky three months ago the evidence against him has been piling up just as he has moved state to state sotu has our investigation we followed leads all over the country and spoken to more than 20 women who allege deceit intimidation and in many cases violence is it right that he boasted to you about how many women he'd been with yeah i was told one night that i was number 197 did he seem proud of it oh yeah yeah really proud of it a little too proud of it coral lee has experienced the worst of joel banky he's the purest form of narcissism i've ever seen as a narcissist then i'd imagine he'll be watching this what's your message go to hell you deserve to be there at the very least he probably deserves to be behind bars currently there are two outstanding warrants for his arrest in new south wales but here he is at a pub in queensland free to go about his life joel benky's trail of destruction has led us all over the country and while authorities have been trying to find him for the last few months unsuccessfully we've managed to track him down living in brisbane's cbd he's checked into this apartment complex under his own name joel tom stanford from 60 minutes how are you good himself going well thanks you are up to your old tricks in brisbane these days regarding what how many intervention orders and domestic violence orders do you now have out against you i've absolutely none mate so i think you've got the wrong first no you're joel benky i'm not yeah binky's victims claim he's a con artist and instantly he tries to lie his way out of this situation by saying we've got the wrong guy that is easily disproved we just get a shot of the tattoo on on his right leg here so we can match it up there we go joel your profile online shows that tattoo of you working out in the gym i don't have any profiles next this man wanted by police in new south wales asks queensland police who are guarding a nearby quarantine hotel to save him from our questions you've got a fair bit of bravado when it comes to dealing with uh women in your life why are you going to water when we approach you that's interesting my other set i've got no idea what this is about why do you think this is a man who clearly lives in denial we've actually seen screenshots of the threatening messages that you've sent to women we've seen the allegations of domestic violence repeatedly from numerous women across the country what do you say to those women that have accused you of violence and taking them for a ride you're calling the police i've seen it all but you're you're accused of harassment by numerous women all over the country we let new south wales police know we'd located joel and even offered to help them find him as well so he could be arrested but to our disappointment and amusement we were told that's not possible the offences that he's wanted for aren't extraditable so for now he continues to evade justice it seems to sum up perfectly why the women in this case feel so let down by the system it's a very permissive message that we're sending to offenders at the moment essentially as you've seen in this case you can get away with it and we need to make sure we've got stop gaps right throughout the system to ensure that that doesn't happen but that has to start with understanding it and taking it seriously hayley foster is ceo of women's safety new south wales and is campaigning for changes to the way we deal with this sort of offending in australia the case of joel benke almost feels like a window into the bigger situation at the moment indeed you know this is um essentially the tip of the iceberg it's really great that 60 minutes is uncovering this particular case but at the end of the day we should not be having women and children in in fear and terrorised in their own homes and there are practical things we can do about it this is about political will um and it's high time that we you know rolled up our sleeves and got the work done do you think we're at a bit of a moment for this country where we're starting to draw a line in the sand for this kind of behaviour absolutely i think we've seen over the last you know six to eight weeks uh australians are not tolerating this anymore we can't keep putting this in the too hard basket we can't keep sidelining this is just a women's issue um it's it's absolutely high time that we place this squarely front and center um as a key national priority to address this issue um and i think australians have made that loud and clear haley believes joel binky's ability to move from state to state and re-offend illustrates why we now need a national approach to tackling violence against women we might be able to keep a bit of an eye on somebody whilst they're in new south wales or whilst they're in queensland alone for example but if somebody wants to jump the border it's almost like they're scot-free they can just go on to reoffend putting women and children at serious risk in the community we need to get on and get this national register really quick smart any improvements to the system will come too late to help the brave women who've shared their stories of abuse with us but for coral coralie finding her voice is in itself a victory over this man who's tormented her for so long it's like a bad dream that you really don't want to tell anyone happen to you because i look back now and think you silly girl how did you not see it earlier and at the same time i have this feeling of well i really hope what i'm doing right now saves somebody else and maybe just maybe wakes the system up to doing something about these serial offenders i think a lot of people who watch this won't be saying silly girl they'll be saying good on you for standing up thanks this is my life and he didn't finish it yeah he disrupted it for a little while but he didn't finish my life i've got it back if this story has raised issues and you need to speak with someone there is support and counselling available by calling 1-800 respect which is 1-800-737-732 hello i'm sarah arbo thanks for watching 60 minutes australia subscribe to our channel now for brand new stories and exclusive clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minutes segments and full episodes of 60 minutes on 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Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 696,545

Rating: 4.758019 out of 5

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Liam Bartlett, Tom Steinfort, Sarah Abo, karl stefanovic, 60Mins, #60Mins, love, rat, caught, out, cheat, tinder, tiktok, bumble, scammer, theif, fake, joel, beinke, queensland, steal, money, relationships, bad, toxic, manipulative, womens rights, law, police

Id: _kk-Og6JOP4

Length: 17min 54sec (1074 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021