Punishment way too light

Being unlicenced is bad enough. Raping the passenger is far, far worse. He deserves to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

I agree, raping the passengers was definitely the worse offence of the two.

I have long viewed that if murder carries a mandatory life sentence (as in the UK and many other places) then by logical extension so should rape. I tend to view the pair as roughly comparable in severity.

One alternative once suggested, sadly unlikely to get past human rights law, is for rapists et al to have compulsory sex reassignment surgery and work in nationalised brothels.

I think rape is more severe than murder. The victim of murder need no longer suffer because of his death, but the victim of rape will be greatly affected for the rest of her life.

I hear ya. Rape has, if you like, a 'set' severity; obviously, some are worse than others, but generally most rapes are roughly comparable to each other. Murder, by contrast, varies enormously - quick deaths after dangerous disputes right through to long torture inflicted by those once loved and trusted. For example, if these alleged events happened exactly as described, I'd view that as even worse than what we have here.

By contrast, serial killers with - to sound callous - 'only' a few murders under their belts will receive life without parole in many jurisdictions, including England and Wales. I've never heard of that for rapists anywhere in modern Europe; it surely must be known, but unusual. The UK has people convicted of dozens of rapes who have dates when they can apply for parole. That indicates something seriously fucked up with how sentencing is handled. Surely, those jurisdictions that have it should apply the whole life tariff or local variation?

Therefore, while I might agree a 'typical' rape is worse than a 'typical' murder, in reality such violent crimes rarely come with any two alike and so on balance, I say comparable. Exact sentences are up to judges to a point, but at present the appeals courts would kick down any extension to bring rape sentencing in line with murder as disproportionate unless and until the law is rewritten.