TASMANIA v PATRICK SHAUN DEAN 27 OCTOBER 2009
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE CRAWFORD CJ
Patrick Shaun Dean is to be sentenced for unlawful sexual intercourse with a young person under the age of 17 years. His guilt was established on his own admission to the police that he had had vaginal sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl on one occasion. The girl, of course, complained that she had been raped but was acquitted of that and the sentence must not contain any component that reflects the fact that he was charged with rape.
The evidence established that the act of sexual intercourse was a relatively brief one and it seems unlikely that it went as far as ejaculation.
He is 36 years. He has no record for offending prior to this. He does have a record for offences since this which I infer related to the breakdown of his matrimonial situation but I do not know and it does not really matter. I must take into account the fact that he was in custody on remand for the present matter for over 4½ months, that is from 22 July to 11 December 2008. He was also in custody for about 5 months up until about July 2009 but that custody was largely because of the more recent matters and to an extent that cannot be ascertained, the magistrate who sentenced him for the more recent matters on 2 July 2009 did take some or all of that period in custody into account.
The crime of sexual intercourse with a young person under the age of 17 years is designed primarily to protect young people from sexual activity until they are old enough and mature enough to make sensible decisions on their own behalf. The accused will be sentenced upon the basis that he took advantage of a 14-year-old girl when she was too immature to make such decisions.
Because of his time in custody I do not deem it appropriate to return him to prison. I think that the best way of resolving this case is to sentence him to 4 months' imprisonment and backdate it to the time when his imprisonment originally commenced. I will also make an order under the Community Protection (Offending Reporting) Act. The reason I will do so is that I am not satisfied that he poses no risk under that legislation. He was prepared to have sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, and there was evidence that he was sending texts to her. I am not satisfied that he does not pose any risk in the light of all of that.
The orders of the Court will be as follows. A conviction is recorded. Patrick Shaun Dean you are sentenced to imprisonment for 4 months commencing on 22 July 2008. It is ordered that the Registrar under the Community Protection (Offender Reporting ) Act place your name on the register and that you comply with the reporting obligations imposed by that Act for a period of 4 years. It is ordered that a victims of crime compensation levy of $50 be paid by you within 28 days.