Queensland rapist Nicholas Crilley sentenced to life in jail

Nicholas John Crilley tortured a woman to within an inch of her life. Photo / News Corp Australia

WARNING: Graphic content

A Queensland man who drugged, raped, assaulted and burned a woman so badly that paramedics thought she was dead has now been sentenced to life in jail.

Nicholas John Crilley, 34, assaulted, raped and burned the woman during the three-week ordeal.

He was this week convicted in the Brisbane District Court of 54 offences during the 23-day assault on the woman in June 2017.

The woman, who was 22 years old at the time, was so severely injured that paramedics initially thought she was dead when they found her.

"The horror [she] would have been experiencing is almost unimaginable," prosecutor Sandra Cupina said during sentencing.

The woman suffered burns to 46 per cent of her body, as well as broken bones and deep lacerations.

Some of her wounds were infected and infested with maggots.

When paramedics found her, she was semiconscious and "on the brink of death".

The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was placed in an induced coma and spent two months in hospital recovering.

She has had to learn to walk again.

"I have been disfigured both mentally and physically. It is something I would not wish on my worst enemies," she said in her victim impact statement to the court.