STATE OF TASMANIA v DGW 17 APRIL 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE BLOW CJ
Mr W has pleaded guilty to a charge of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person under the age of 17 years. He is now in his thirties, but this charge relates to things that he did when he was 19 and 20 years old. During a period of a little over five months, he committed unlawful sexual acts with a girl who was a little over five years younger than he was. She was 14 when the first unlawful acts occurred and 15 when the last one occurred. All of the acts in question were consensual, but the girl was too young for any consent by her to make Mr W’s conduct lawful. The acts in question ranged from vaginal sexual intercourse on two occasions to merely kissing on the lips on other occasions. It is conceded that the acts of kissing the girl on the lips amounted to indecent assaults.
I have to sentence Mr W in relation to his conduct on seven separate occasions. On the first occasion, at the home of one of the girl’s relatives, Mr W indecently assaulted her by kissing her on the lips, putting his tongue inside her mouth, taking hold of her hand, placing it inside his clothing, and getting her to play with his penis until he ejaculated. While she was masturbating him, he committed the crime of aggravated sexual assault by inserting at least one finger into her vagina. On both the second and third occasions, in a vehicle parked on a track, Mr W kissed the girl on the lips and had vaginal sexual intercourse with her, using condoms. On the fourth occasion, at the girl’s parents’ home, he cuddled her, kissed her, took her hand, placed it inside his clothing, got her to masturbate him until he ejaculated, and inserted at least one finger into her vagina while she was doing that. On the fifth occasion, at a sporting venue, Mr W indecently assaulted the girl by licking her vagina in such a way as to cause her to suffer pain. She protested and he eventually stopped. On the sixth occasion, at the girl’s home, he quickly kissed her on the lips when they were alone together. On the seventh occasion, in a parked car, he spent some time kissing her on the lips.
At a later date, the girl bravely confronted Mr W and told him that what he had been doing had to stop. To his credit, he did stop. However he had taken advantage of a girl much younger than himself, and that resulted in dreadful long-term psychological consequences.
The complainant lost her self-confidence, became withdrawn, struggled to cope, performed badly at school, and experienced feelings of shame and guilt. She ran away from home when she was 16. She developed an alcohol problem. She sought assistance from a school counsellor.
As a young adult, she told her parents what had happened, but got the impression that they did not believe her, and became angry as a result. Several years ago she sought assistance from a psychologist for what she described as bad anxiety and depression. She has continuing psychological symptoms, including sleeplessness, nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks. She avoids the company of most men. For many years she had little or no contact with family members. She has been treated with antidepressants on occasions.
Ever since ceasing his sexual relationship with the complainant, Mr W appears to have led a totally blameless life. He has no convictions. He has not experimented with illicit drugs. He drinks in moderation. Since completing his education he has been in full-time employment, except for a period of three months when he was unemployed as a result of a fire in his employer’s premises. He and his partner own their home. He does not have children. When he was first contacted by the police about this matter in 2017 he co-operated fully, taking part in an interview and making admissions. He has pleaded guilty, with the result that the complainant has not needed to give evidence. A probation officer has reported that he demonstrated “appropriate victim empathy”; that he acknowledged the continued impact of his behaviour on both the victim and her family; and that he did not seek to justify or minimise his conduct.
As the probation officer could not rule out any risk of Mr W re-offending, I will have to make an order for his name to be placed on the sexual offenders’ register.
Although the impact of the unlawful sexual acts on the victim has been long-lasting and severe, I do not think this is a case that calls for a prison sentence. Mr W offended when he was an immature young man. He has since led a totally blameless life for many years. If I had sentenced him when he was 20 years old, I would have imposed a community service order. The complainant’s delay in reporting Mr W’s conduct to the police is completely understandable. It would not be appropriate for me to take a more lenient course than I would have taken years ago, and I will therefore make an order for community service.
DGW, I convict you and make a community correction order that includes a condition that you must within the next 12 months satisfactorily perform community service as directed by a probation officer or a supervisor for 105 hours. I order that the Registrar appointed under s 42 of the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005 place your name on the register under that Act, and that you comply with the reporting obligations under that Act for two years.