The judge stated a minimum term of 7 years before he can apply for release on licence. He will be on the sex offenders register for life, forever having to report his whereabouts, every time he moves address etc.

I really just goes to the "Is prison a punishment, a rehabilitation system, or a deterrence". If someone isn't rehabilitated after 10 years, then they also won't be after 20 (IMO). And there are lots of studies that show lengthy sentences don't really function as a deterrence due to human brains poorly conceptualizing 5 vs 10 vs 15 vs 20 years. At some point it's just "A long time in jail" and advocating for 10 vs 20 years doesn't benefit the deterrence aspect. Also, your average violent criminal isn't thinking "Well I WOULD rape her if it was only 5 years, but since it will be 10, I won't"

So then it's just about punishment. And 10 years in jail is a very very intense punishment. Forced to choose, I would take a LOT of other punishments to not have to spend the next 10 years in jail which, for what it's worth, often leads to rape from others in the prison.