STATE OF TASMANIA v MJB 8 DECEMBER 2023
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE MARTIN AJ
Mr B, you have pleaded guilty to a crime of Persistent Sexual Abuse of a Young Person contrary to s 125A of the Criminal Code, committed between about 1 March 2010 and 23 May 2011 by maintaining a sexual relationship with a female victim who was born in May 1995. Underlying that plea was an acknowledgement of ten sexual crimes committed against the victim.
You also pleaded guilty to Persistent Family Violence, contrary to s 170A(2) of the Criminal Code, committed between about 24 May 2011 and 23 March 2019 against the same victim with whom you were in a family relationship. Underlying the plea to count 2 was an acknowledgement of seven crimes of assault and two crimes of assault on a pregnant woman, committed against the victim during that period.
In addition, you asked that I deal with four offences of breaching an interim family violence order, charged on complaint and committed on 7, 9, 11 and 13 April 2019 while you were remanded in custody for the crimes to which you have pleaded guilty.
You are now aged 44 years. You committed the crimes when you were between 30 and 39. The victim is now aged 27 years. At the time you committed the crime of persistent sexual abuse, she was aged between 14 and 16 years, the last specified offence having occurred on her 16th birthday. You committed the family violence crime against the victim when she was aged between 16 and 24 years.
The victim came into contact with you in 2009 when she moved into premises occupied by you and your partner, Ms B. There was one child of your relationship with Ms B, and she had two other children from a previous relationship. The victim’s sister lived with you and Ms B, undertaking household duties and acting as a nanny for the children. About two months later the sister moved out. From the time the victim moved in, you commenced a relationship with her.
As you were aware, the victim had previously been sexually assaulted. You began grooming her by talking to her about drawing boundaries around people, and asking her what she would do if someone was to brush against her breast. You demonstrated by touching her breast. You also asked her where the appropriate place was to be touched on the leg, and you moved your hand up her thigh. You told her you were trying to help her.
Ms B was aware of this relationship, but she continued her relationship with you. The victim had her own bedroom, but would often share a bed and engage in sexual activity with both Ms B and you.
During the period of the relationship, you fathered two children with the victim. They were born in 2016 and 2019.
In late 2010 you and the victim moved address. Ms B continued to cohabitate with you and the victim for a period before ceasing the relationship and moving into a house next door. The move in address saw a shift in your behaviour. You were not working and you started consuming alcohol on a daily basis. The escalation in your alcohol consumption resulted in an increase in family violence. You took greater control in the relationship and of the victim’s personal life. You would often belittle the victim and verbally abuse her when she was at high school. You would throw things in her direction or around the house. It was not uncommon for you to blame the victim for causing your conduct.
Significantly, you began engaging in acts of physical violence which became a regular occurrence. You started off slapping the victim’s face, pulling her hair, pushing and shoving her. As she began to withdraw and isolate herself, you started to punch her to the face and head with a closed fist rather than slaps. The victim sustained several cuts to her head as a result of you throwing objects at her, and at times was knocked unconscious by you either pushing her into something or striking her to the head with an object.
Your family violence offending came to a halt in March 2019 when Ms B, who had ceased residing with you and the victim after your 2010 change of address, contacted police after your last assault upon the victim. Your family violence offending came to a halt in Marsh 2019 when Ms B, who had ceased residing with you and the victim, contacted police after your last assault upon the victim.
As I mentioned, there are 10 specific offences acknowledged in respect of the crime of persistent sexual abuse. First, in March 2010 when the victim was aged 14, you and the victim kissed and you engaged in intimate touching of the victim with your hands to her breasts, bottom and legs over her clothing. You then removed her clothing, touched her breasts and touched and kissed her vagina. Photographs were taken by either you and/or Ms B, including photographs depicting the victim posing in her outfit, her underwear and naked, and of aspects of the sexual activity.
The victim has no recollection of this specific occasion. She remembers you would make her and Ms B dress up in provocative clothing and pose for you. She recalls that you often walked around the house naked.
The second occasion also occurred in March 2010 when the victim was aged 14. She has no recollection of this occasion. You engaged in intimate touching and sexual intercourse with the victim in the lounge room. You placed your penis in her mouth and made her suck it. Ms B also became involved and performed oral intercourse with you in the presence of the victim.
On this occasion you inserted your fingers into the victim’s vagina and touched her with your hands to her breasts and vagina. It progressed to the point where you engaged in vaginal sexual intercourse.
Again, a number of photographs were taken by either you and/or Ms B. They included photographs depicting the complainant naked and of aspects of the sexual activity.
The third occasion occurred in April 2010 when again you were engaged in intimate touching and sexual intercourse with the victim. You placed your mouth onto the victim’s vagina and engaged in vaginal sexual intercourse. You also placed your penis into the victim’s mouth and made her suck it.
Again, Ms B was present and engaged in sexual activity with you and the victim. Photographs were taken depicting aspects of the sexual activity. The complainant was still aged 14 and has no recollection of that occasion.
The fourth occasion also occurred in April 2010 when you placed your penis into the victim’s mouth and made her suck it. The sexual activity included vaginal sexual intercourse. Ms B was present and engaged in sexual activity with you. Again, photographs were taken. The victim was age 14 and has no recollection of this specific occasion.
The victim’s first recollection of a sexual act was an occasion when you were alone near a beach. You often took her for drives and suggested she needed a father figure.
This occasion occurred between March and May 2010 when the complainant was aged 14 years. You drove her to a beach in the Huon area where you walked in an isolated area above the beach. You removed your penis from your pants and wriggled it, asking the victim whether she had seen a penis before. She said she had. You asked her if she would kiss your penis and she told you that she did not want to get into a situation like the situation she had previously suffered, being a reference to the prior sexual abuse of her. You were insistent, but told her that she could stop if she wanted to. The victim then performed oral sexual intercourse on you, and you told her how good it was. You reassured her she would not get into trouble.
The sixth occasion occurred over the following weeks when you continued to take the victim for drives. Usually in the car, and initiated by you, the victim regularly performed oral sexual intercourse on you. During these acts you touched her with your hands to her breasts and the vagina, and inserted your finger into her vagina. This occurred at least once a week. At that time the victim was aged 14 years and attending year 9 at high school.
The seventh occasion occurred between March 2010 and May 2011 when the victim was aged between 14 and 15 years. At home you noticed scars to the arms and thighs of the victim caused by the victim’s previous attempts at self-harm. You had the victim remove her shorts to prove there were no scars higher up her legs and eventually inserted your fingers into her vagina. You commented that it was nice and pretty.
The eighth occasion occurred between March 2010 and May 2011 when the victim was aged between 14 and 15 years. The victim recalls this as the first time she engaged in vaginal sexual intercourse with you. It involved kissing and touching and the victim performed oral sexual intercourse on you. You inserted your fingers into the victim’s vagina. After you received a positive response to your asking the victim if she wanted to have sex, vaginal intercourse occurred. You did not wear a condom.
This type of sexual activity continued. Ms B was still in a relationship with you and would share a bed with you and the victim. You enjoyed activity such as one of Ms B or the victim performing oral sexual intercourse on you, while the other was making suggestive or provocative comments. This happened frequently and included different types of sexual intercourse. Sometimes the victim would perform oral sexual intercourse on Ms B, while you engaged in sexual activity with her and vice versa. These activities are the subject of the ninth category of sexual abuse within count 1.
Ms B started to withdraw from the relationship and often expressed a desire not to participate. This led to arguments.
The tenth and final occasion occurred on the victim’s 16th birthday at the second premises when she was celebrating with music and alcohol. You engaged in sexual intercourse several times in the lounge room, including vaginal, anal and oral intercourse. By this time you were having sexual intercourse daily, but this was the first time you had engaged in anal intercourse.
The persistent family violence offending to which you have pleaded guilty occurred between May 2011 and March 2019, that is, over a period of almost eight years. As your relationship with the victim progressed, she became withdrawn from her family and friends. Your violence escalated to a constant occurrence. The victim was scared to report your violent conduct to the police and made up stories to explain her injuries.
Under your control, the victim was responsible for attending to the household chores, and looking after both you and the children. You were constantly verbally abusive, regularly criticising her for failing to fulfil what you regarded as her obligations. You would call her “a sour faced cunt”, and complain that she was never nice to you and did not appreciate you. Sometimes you would stay in the bedroom and yell abuse at the victim while she completed her chores.
Your physical violence escalated to a level where injuries to the victim included bruising and swelling to her face and body, cuts, damaged teeth and cracked ribs.
As to the specific occasions acknowledged by you within your plea to the second count, the first occasion of physical violence occurred when the victim was aged 16 years and in grade 10 at school. A female friend had stayed for a few nights and the victim and her friend engaged in experimental sexual activity. You found out and became enraged. You took the victim into the bedroom and manipulated her into shaving her head. She had long hair and you told her she had to prove her love for you by shaving her head. Upset, the victim started to cut her hair with scissors. You provided her with an electronic shaver without a guard, and the complainant started to shave her head but could not continue because she became distraught.
Mr B, your abusive and violent conduct was heartless throughout this period, but this piece of conduct highlights the heartless and demeaning nature of your controlling conduct. You held the victim down and shaved her head. You also threatened to use a standard razor, but did not produce such a razor. This activity took place over a few hours while the victim was naked and covered in snot and saliva.
Following this conduct, you made the victim lie down next to a dog bed in your room and continued to ask her why she had done it. She was unable to give you the answer you wanted, and you instructed her to sit on the side of the bed while you knelt at the end of the bed. You continued to ask her questions and, when you thought she was lying, you grabbed her to the back of the head and also hit her legs and bottom with an unknown object.
As a result of this assault, the victim sustained welts to her legs and bottom, and cuts to her head. She did not seek medical assistance as she did not have access to transport. Nor did she believe that you would let her leave.
You were often physically violent when the children were present or in the residence. The second occasion within count 2 occurred between March 2016 and June 2018. You held the young child up and slapped the victim to the face saying words to the effect of “mummy is being naughty”. This was a phrase the child learnt to repeat whenever you became angry or aggressive in her presence.
The third occasion occurred in June 2018 when the victim and Ms B went camping to celebrate a child’s birthday. The children were present. You had indicated that you did not want to go camping, but late in the afternoon you arrived, still angry about the fact that they had gone camping.
That evening, after the victim put the children to bed, she entered her tent to find you in her swag with the young child. She got your medications and water, and knelt next to the swag with a short metal torch in her mouth to see what she was doing. You pushed out with your hand and connected with the torch, pushing the torch back into her mouth and causing it to strike her lower teeth, chipping her lower front tooth. The following day the complainant went to the dentist. The chip was treated as a class 2 (moderate) fracture which the dentist restored, but noted that the tooth would always be fragile and prone to fracture again. The victim was too scared to inform the dentist how the injury was caused and told the dentist she fell over with the torch in her mouth.
The fourth occasion occurred in January 2019 when a friend was staying with you and doing jobs for you. There were bush fires in the area and the victim had packed the car ready to evacuate.
You were drinking during the day and became aggressive, suggesting the victim was being paranoid about the fire. You became angry that she had not finished plugging the gutters around the house. You were calling her names. The victim left the room for a moment and on her return, you got out of your chair, approached the victim, and punched her twice with a closed fist to the mouth. The blow broke her tooth and cut the inside of her mouth.
On 24 January 2019 the victim attended the dentist and said she had fallen from a ladder. The dentist observed trauma to the victim’s upper lip and her front upper tooth was treated as a class 3 (extensive) fracture. The dentist restored the fracture and noted the tooth would remain fragile or lead to necrosis.
The fifth occasion occurred in February 2019 when you and the victim went camping with your friend. The victim needed to pack makeup for the trip as she had bruises on her face from previous injuries caused by you. Prior to the trip the victim warned you that she would leave you if you became violent.
At the outset there was a problem with the car battery. You became upset with the victim and remained in a bad mood for the entire five day camping trip. The victim could not do anything right and you blamed her for everything. At the last camping locality, you and your friend went for a drive. On your return the park ranger enquired about your parks pass which you did not possess. You became abusive and aggressive, blaming the victim for the oversight. Notwithstanding that the victim was about two months pregnant, the next morning you and your friend planned to go fishing leaving the victim to pack up the campsite. You became angry because you wanted clothes the victim had not packed. You followed the victim around as she continued to pack. You grabbed the victim’s clothing, pulled her hair and pushed her to the body. The victim tried to ignore you and continued to pack. She told you that she did not care anymore and wanted to go home.
The sixth occasion occurred on the same day as the occasion I have just described. Your friend was driving as you travelled home. You were in the front seat drinking and the victim was seated behind the driver. Throughout the drive home you threw items at the victim from the front seat. You told the victim you would throw a carton of eggs at her if she did not answer your questions. Ultimately you threw the carton of eggs at her, one at a time. You also threw a pocket knife at the victim which struck her in the head, causing a cut. You threw cans of beer, both empty and full, and the complainant sat in the back seat crying, covered in broken eggs.
During the drive home you made your friend stop the car frequently. You got out the car, reached over and slapped the complainant to the face multiple times. This occurred about twenty times on the way home. You ignored your friend’s requests for it to stop.
Your conduct left the complainant with a cut on her head, scratches to her arms and face from the egg shells, a swollen right eye and mouth and cuts to the inside of her mouth.
On the same day occasion seven occurred. Upon arrival at home you went straight inside leaving the victim to unload the car. She grabbed an armful of items and went to the bathroom to shower.
You entered the bathroom while the victim was in the shower. She asked you to leave and said she would talk to you later. Instead of leaving, you slapped her to the face causing her front tooth to break again. You told her that now her tooth was broken, she looked like she should. Previously you had told the victim that you would aim for her tooth.
On 26 February 2019 the victim went to the dentist and said she had run into a rock while swimming. Her front upper tooth was again fractured and treated as a class 2 (moderate) fracture. The dentist again noted the tooth would remain very fragile.
The eighth occasion occurred in February 2019. You woke up in a bad mood and followed the victim around the house, getting angry when she walked away from you. You became verbally abusive, telling her she was a piece of shit and she would not get a job. You started to ask her if she had been talking to anyone, and suggested she had something planned. This was followed by you kicking the victim to the legs and torso with your bare foot.
The victim was struggling to breath and told you that she could not breath and that you had really hurt her. She was gasping for air. You told her off for being dramatic and trying to manipulate you.
The victim continued to complain of pain to her ribs and struggled to breath. You told her that if she called police or ambulance, welfare would take her children away as she was the one with mental issues that made you act this way. The victim telephoned Ms B who later attended and offered support.
As a result of your conduct, the victim had a lump and experienced pain to her ribs for a number of months.
The final specific occasion occurred in March 2019 when the victim was pregnant. You had driven to collect a 14 year old female who was coming to stay, and on the way home you stopped at Port Huon as you and the children wanted to swim. It was dark as you travelled home, and just before arriving home you told the victim to collect the young child from Ms B’s residence. The victim suggested the child was likely to be asleep. However, another child was sent in to collect the young child, but returned a few minutes later saying the child was asleep. You became irritable, saying you did not care and you did not want the child staying with Ms B overnight.
The victim collected the young child and after arrival at home put the child to bed. You started to call the victim a “stupid bitch”. She responded that she did not care and started making dinner. In response to a request from another child asking for a towel, the victim went into the bedroom and you asked her what she was doing. She explained, but you grabbed the towel from her and said words to the effect of “if [the child] is that much of a poofter, he can get his own towel”. You started hitting the complainant to the body with a towel. She told you to stop, but you continued to hit her several times with the towel. In response to her telling you to stop, you got right in her face, and she told you not to touch her.
As the victim went to leave the room, you grabbed the cardigan she was wearing and tried to pull her back. The cardigan slipped off and she kept walking away. You followed the victim and continued to abuse her. She tried to tell you that the child had done nothing wrong and continued to organise dinner. You continued to follow the victim around the house and claimed you did not know what you had done to upset her. The victim’s attempts to explain were unsuccessful. You became more aggressive and raised your voice.
The victim made her way to the lounge and tried to shut the door. You struck the door and smashed a glass panel. When the victim tried to leave the lounge, you grabbed her by the throat. You got her into the bedroom and pushed her towards the bed. The victim told you not to put your hands on her, and you backed off a bit. However, you then put your face towards the victim and said words to the effect “come on then, hit me, hit me”. You then followed the victim into the kitchen and instructed the older child to get Ms B and tell her the victim was being hysterical. Ms B came over and collected the children. Later the victim walked to Ms B’s.
As a result of this assault, the victim sustained red marks to side of her neck. She was treated by Ambulance Tasmania and transported to the Royal Hobart Hospital for observation of her pregnancy.
It was following this incident that Ms B immediately contacted Tasmania Police who attended and conveyed the victim to the police station. The victim gave an outline of the assault to the police, and over the following weeks provided detail of the sexual nature of your relationship and other occasions of physical violence.
As to the incident which is the subject of occasion nine, on 24 March 2019 you were arrested and interviewed. You acknowledge consuming beers on the day of the last occasion and said there was an argument between the victim and the elder child who refused to dry himself. You said this angered you.
According to your interview, the victim had a towel tightly rolled up and was waiving it in your face. This made you nervous. You said you grabbed the towel and gave it to the child. You denied striking the victim with the towel or calling the child a “poofter”. You suggested the victim called the child a “faggot”.
In your interview, you said the child laughed and this set the victim off who slammed the door and broke the glass, causing a cut to your wrist. You denied grabbing the victim to the throat or pushing her. You denied goading her, but conceded you might have said words to the effect of “slap me”.
In that interview you told police the victim had “family dramas” that day and was already upset. You said she had ongoing issues with Ms B, and her pregnancy made her temper worse. You did not recall the victim having any marks to her neck and could not explain how the injuries were caused.
As to an earlier occasion, being number eight, you said you did not recall kicking the victim and it did not happen. You claimed the victim had not complained about sore ribs and denied threatening to call welfare in relation to the children. You told police you have depression, anxiety and PTSD.
On 14 June 2019 police invited you to participate in another interview, but you declined.
As to the breaches of family violence orders charged on complaint, an interim violence order for the protection of the victim was made in the Hobart Magistrates Court on 25 March 2019. It included a number of standard conditions. Subsequently you corresponded with the victim in breach of that order.
On 7, 9, 11 and 13 April 2019 you wrote letters addressed to the young child who was then aged three and not capable of reading the letters. Each letter was intended to be read to the child by the victim, but the back page was intended for the victim. It is unnecessary for me to read the contents of those letters.
Mr B, in outline that is the offending for which I am to sentence you. In totality it represents nothing short of an appalling course of conduct over many years. You groomed a young and vulnerable teenager for your own purposes. She was more vulnerable than average because she had previously been the subject of sexual abuse. She was living in your home, and in a practical sense you and Ms B were responsible for her welfare. In a real sense you were, together with Ms B, in a position of trust which you repeatedly abused. I will come to your psychological state in a moment, but you and the community should understand that there was simply no excuse whatsoever for your conduct.
Your sexual offending was not just an isolated lapse in self-control or good judgment. It was a deliberate grooming of the child for your own sexual purposes, which was successful and was followed by a lengthy course of sexual gratification at the expense of the child.
Your persistent sexual abuse continued until the child was old enough to consent. You were then in a relationship with her, which included the birth of two children and during that relationship you abused the victim over a number of years. The abuse occurred in the context of the relationship. That abuse was marked by controlling, abusive and demeaning behaviour, together with physical violence. Again, this was not an isolated losing of your temper or failure to control your impulses. This was repeated abuse and violence, for no reason whatsoever, committed by you against the victim who remained vulnerable to your controlling and violent conduct.
As to the effects of your crimes, I have been provided with a victim impact statement which graphically demonstrates the damage you have caused. The victim feels there is no way she can properly convey the years and years of pain, and damage or second guessing that she will do for the rest of her life. The victim has eloquently described how you found her at the beginning of her formative years and moulded her into her present state. She has told me that the fear and anxiety that she carries every day is debilitating. I will quote some of what she said:
“I’m still unlearning so many things. The manipulation, lies and abuse impacted on me so much that I now only rely on and can trust myself. However I still doubt whether I can still trust myself. I feel I have failed to learn basic life skills.”
“I have no social life or coping tactics because I am scared for asking for help.”
“I cannot plan for the future because I struggle with the day. I cannot take my daughter to school or leave her there without panic. I don’t trust anyone to look after them.”
“I have been subject to degradation and humiliation that affects the way I see myself and my worth. I don’t know if I will ever recover. Most nights I deal with nightmares or an inability to relax enough to fall asleep.”
The victim has explained her difficulty in conveying the entirety of the effects and the lasting trauma because she is still coming to terms with these matters herself. She has random flashbacks. The fear and anxiety she carries every day is debilitating. She is unable to trust people and struggles at times with paranoid thoughts. She suffers from severe anxiety and panic attacks. She lacks the basic social skills because she was so isolated with you, and now finds it hard to hold eye contact let alone have a conversation with someone. She is on edge and overwhelmed around people, and for this reason chooses to isolate herself. She finds she is unable to talk to people, particularly men.
The victim explained that when she fell pregnant, the threat that you made that her children could be taken away from her was, as she calls it, “the go to threat”. Now, as the victim sees it, if it were not for her children she would be dead. As she sees it at this time, she has no prospects for her future and no hope of being happy. I quote again, “he could die tomorrow and I’ll still never escape him. My one silver lining is that other women will.”
Mr B, I need to emphasise that none of this was the victims fault, in any way whatsoever, You have caused enormous damage, the effects of which will be felt by the victim for the rest of her life. You took away the joy of her teenage years and you have left her in a devastated state.
As to matters personal to you, I have had the assistance of two reports and submissions by your counsel. They reveal an unfortunate upbringing during which your education was repeatedly disrupted and you were subjected to physical and emotional abuse. You also witnessed this type of behaviour as a regular occurrence within the family. During your childhood you were sexually abused by four different people between the ages of 4 and 14. As your counsel put it, you grew up with a significantly reduced feeling of safety and protection and you were exposed to adult sexual relationships in which the use of violence was normalised. It appears that as a young person you were exposed to what is inappropriately called the adult industry involving pornographic material. Over the years you have worked in hospitality and retail industries, but more recently you were on a Disability Support Pension by reason of chronic back pain and injuries. To your credit, until you commenced the offending with which I am concerned you did not engage in any offending of relevance. A psychiatrist who assessed your mental state in 2021 described you as cognitively intact and possessing substantial intelligence. Your medical history resulted in diagnosis of anxiety disorders, such as, panic disorder, PTSD, and alcohol dependence. From 25 November to 3 December 2019 you were admitted for medically supervised alcohol detoxification and again, from 29 March 2021 to 6 April 2021. Over the years you have taken quantities of prescribed medication which have had adverse effects upon your memory.
A clinical psychologist who prepared a report for these proceedings assessed you as suffering from a borderline personality disorder, also commonly referred to as complex PTSD which presents with classic anxiety symptoms including panic attacks, hypervigilance and avoidance behaviours. In her opinion you have demonstrated impulsive and reckless behaviours and a lack of judgment with respect to sexual behaviour. The psychologist noted your account in respect of your sexual conduct that you did not give consideration to the victim’s age, nor the age difference. The psychologist, however, doubted this explanation. She said “I am unsure this account can be believed given the very large age gap. I think it is more likely that his tendency towards impulsive decision-making with regard to sexual behaviours especially when using drugs, played a greater role. I do not see that he had any impairment in mental functioning in regard to the persistent family violence charge as he clearly knew this behaviour was wrong and he disputed the facts.
Mr B, your unfortunate childhood and mental issues attract a degree of sympathy, but I have no doubt that you were well aware that your sexual conduct with the victim was wrong. She was aged only 14 and you knew it when you commenced grooming her. You were then aged 30. You were in a position of trust within the household in which the victim was living and you were aware of the victim’s vulnerability due to past sexual abuse. You used that knowledge in part in the process of your initial grooming of the victim. You took advantage of your position and her vulnerability for your own sexual gratification. Over a lengthy period you abused your position of trust in the most serious ways including repeated sexual intercourse, so-called threesome episodes and the taking of photographs.
I now quote from the remarks of Justice Jago recently made when sentencing an offender for this type of offending. Remarks which can be directly applied to the circumstances of your crimes and they are remarks with which I agree entirely:
“The relationship was intense. It involved you exposing the complainant to particular forms of sexual practice when the complainant was young and at an impressionable and formative stage of her emotional and sexual development. The law prohibits conduct of this nature because of the potential harm that can result to young persons from premature sexual activity. The law recognises that a person of this age is simply not mature nor experienced enough to make considered and informed decisions about engaging in sexual activity. Nor is a person of this age able to adequately recognise or assess the harm that may flow from engaging in such activity.”
Those remarks apply directly to the circumstances of the matter before me.
Your crime of persistent sexual abuse is a serious example of this type of offending. As to your persistent family violence I regard your offending as falling within the higher end of the range of seriousness for offending of this type. As is so often the case with this offending the victim was vulnerable because of the domestic circumstances including responsibility for a very young child, but this victim was particularly vulnerable because you had groomed and subjugated her to your dominance and control when she was a child. You were in domineering control, sexual and overall physical and emotional control from the time the victim was aged 14. Your family violence offending commenced when the victim was already subjugated to you and she was still a child aged only 16. Your conduct continued unabated for the next 7 years and about 10 months, so nearly 8 years Mr B. You repeatedly subjected the victim to verbal and physical abuse, domineering and demeaning conduct and emotional abuse. Your conduct ceased only because Ms B intervened and contacted police.
As to the future, you will be in gaol for a significant period. Given your medical and psychiatric condition you will probably find imprisonment harder to deal with than many other prisoners. In respect of future sexual offending it appears you have gained a degree of insight into the unlawfulness of your conduct and you have pleaded guilty. You gave an early indication of a guilty plea. I am told you have taken steps to address your psychological issues. The psychologist considers it unlikely you will re-offend in a similar manner against a young person, but said she is not of the view that specific deterrence should be eliminated. While there is reason for a degree of optimism, I am far from satisfied that on release you will not pose a risk to young female persons in the sexual context. It appears to me unlikely that your psychological issues will be resolved to the point where you do not pose a risk. In my view, you are likely to find it difficult to establish normal adult relationship on your release such that they would assist in removing the temptation to give into your sexual impulses.
In respect of your family violence offending, for a long time you remained in denial. You did not accept responsibility, which included disputing the victim’s evidence when you spoke to the psychologist in August 2022. Your trial was listed to commence in May 2023 and you entered a late plea on 27 April 2023. Your late plea meant the victim was required to prepare for trial including being proofed by the Crown. This would have necessitated the victim being required to undergo the traumatic exercise of recalling the history of your relationship. As to the future, I harbour grave reservations as to your capacity to rehabilitate in this area of your life. Specific deterrence, that is deterring you from re-offending in this way remains a significant factor.
Of particular importance with respect to both types of offending are the factors of general deterrence, that is deterring others minded to commit these types of offences, vindication of the victim, denunciation and punishment. Distressingly, these types of offences are far too prevalent. They cause great harm to young, vulnerable members of our community, that is to children, and to vulnerable others within the context of domestic relationships where victims should feel safe and protected. These types of crimes are often difficult to detect. These types of crimes cause great disquiet throughout our community.
You are convicted of both offences and of the matters on complaint. I am far from satisfied that you do not pose a risk of committing a reportable offence in the future. I order that your name be placed on the register pursuant to the relevant Act and that you comply with reporting obligations under that Act for a period of 7 years following your release.
I direct that count 2 and the matters on complaint be recorded as family violence offences.
I make a family violence order which I direct remain in force until revoked by a court of competent jurisdiction. The order will be in the same terms as the order made in the Magistrates Court on 7 October 2020 – matter number 150111/2019, FVMS: 95993 – but there will be two amendments. They are amendments to paragraphs 3(a) and 3(b) by removing the word telephone last appearing in each paragraph.
As to the matters on complaint, there is no additional penalty.
As to count 1 – persistent sexual abuse of a young person – had it not been for your plea I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment for 6 years. After allowing for your plea, I impose a sentence of 4 years and 9 months’ imprisonment commencing 2 April 2023.
As to count 2 – persistent family violence – had it not been for your plea I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment for 9 years. Allowing for your plea, and the allowance is less than on count 1 because of the lateness of the plea, I impose a sentence of imprisonment for 8 years.
Mr B, I come now to the question of the total period you must serve. As I have discussed, your family violence offending occurred in the context of your earlier conduct in grooming the young victim, leading her into a sexual relationship and dominating and controlling her in an abuse of power. Notwithstanding that context and connection they were distinct and separate crimes. There is no causal connection between them. When the sexual relationship ceased to be unlawful, the relationship could have continued without any additional offending but you commenced a prolonged and continual course of offending over a period of almost 8 years for which, as I said, there was no excuse whatsoever. Even though they are distinct and separate crimes it is not just a matter of adding the two sentences together. I must have regard to the question of totality and ensure that the total fairly and properly reflects the gravity of your total criminal conduct. I must also bear in mind the question of whether the total amounts to a crushing sentence such that it should be moderated. I direct that of the sentence of 8 years imposed on count 2, 5 years and 3 months be served cumulatively on the sentence on count 1, making a total sentence of imprisonment for 10 years. I direct that you not be eligible for parole until you have served 6 years of that sentence.