'Cubby house' rape chilling: judge

The victim was driven to Drouin, 100km southeast of Melbourne, where the man used a fake name to rent a house fitted with two eye-bolts and a soundproof cell the victim called a "cubby house". Photo / Getty Images

A man spent 13 months tracking a woman before abducting the target of his obsession and imprisoning her at an isolated Victorian property where he'd built a sound-proof "cubby house".

Michael Allen Pilgrim, who had also been watching other women, kept the victim in chains for almost a week, repeatedly raping her, as part of his meticulous and "chilling" plan.

Jailing him for at least 19 years, Victorian County Court Judge Michael Tinney said Pilgrim had engaged in an incredible level of planning that unmistakably spoke of an obsession with the 25-year-old he abducted for sexual purposes.

"It is quite chilling to comprehend," Judge Tinney said.

"You dedicated months of your life preparing to abduct her."

Judge Tinney said Pilgrim had also been surveying a large number of other women with whom he had no relationship.

Pilgrim, 34, of no fixed address, had used fake identities, disguises, a Taser and chloroform the day he tracked the woman to a friend's house in July last year.

Wearing a fake beard, he tasered the man who answered the door.

He forced the woman into the boot of a car, later telling her he felt like "carving someone up".

Pilgrim then drove to Drouin, 100km southeast of Melbourne, where he had used a fake name to rent a house fitted with two eye-bolts and a soundproof cell the victim called a "cubby house".

It was purpose-built to silence the woman, Judge Tinney said.

For five days he repeatedly raped the woman, who he had come to know when she was a sex worker.

Judge Tinney said the impact on the victim had been profound.

"You told her you planned to keep her there and use her," Judge Tinney said.

"It was appalling conduct."

He said Pilgrim was incapable of fully understanding the impact of his crime.

In assessing him, a psychologist wrote that Pilgrim was "still somewhat surprised at the victim's account that it was non-consensual".

Pilgrim was sentenced to a total of 23 years and six months in prison with a non-parole period of 19 years.

He had pleaded guilty to a string of charges including false imprisonment, abduction, stalking and four counts of rape.

- AAP