STATE OF TASMANIA v FOK 24 SEPTEMBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE SLATTERY AJ
FOK, you have pleaded guilty to one count of persistent sexual abuse of a child, contrary to s 125A of the Criminal Code.
The victim of your offending was a child, SC, who is the daughter of a person who, in time, became your life partner.
The maximum penalty for this offence is 21 years imprisonment. Under s 11A of the Sentencing Act 1997, there are two aggravating circumstances. The victim was under your care, supervision or authority. Second, the victim was under the age of 18 years and you were in a position of authority in relation to the victim.
Submissions have been directed to the question of the availability of a discount on your sentence, reflecting the utilitarian purpose of your plea. I will deal with that issue at the time I pronounce sentence. It is sufficient, currently, that I acknowledge that your plea has provided the benefit of the complainant not being required to give evidence and be cross-examined, the State not being put to the expense of a prosecution, and the ability of the Court to re-direct its resources.
Section 125A particulars describe seven occasions of offending in respect of which you have entered your plea. Occasion one occurred in your home. The nature of the act is that you touched and rubbed the complainant’s breasts over her clothing and touched her bottom. This is an indecent assault contrary to s 127 of the Criminal Code.
Occasion two occurred at your home. You penetrated the complainant’s vagina with your penis, which is penetrative sexual abuse of a child or a young person, contrary to s 124 of the Criminal Code.
The third occasion occurred at your home. You penetrated the complainant’s mouth with your penis and touched and digitally penetrated her vagina. This constitutes two counts of penetrative sexual abuse of a child or a young person, contrary to s 124 of the Criminal Code, and indecent assault, contrary to s 127 of the Criminal Code.
The fourth occasion occurred at your home. The nature of the act was that you penetrated the complainant’s mouth with your penis and touched and digitally penetrated the complainant’s vagina. This constitutes the offence of penetrative sexual abuse of a child or young person, contrary to s 124 of the Criminal Code (which is two counts), and indecent assault, contrary to s 127 of the Criminal Code.
The fifth occasion occurred at your home. You penetrated the complainant’s mouth with your penis and touched and digitally penetrated the complainant’s vagina. This constitutes penetrative sexual abuse of a child or young person, contrary to s 124 of the Criminal Code (which is two counts) and indecent assault, contrary to s 127 of the Criminal Code.
The sixth occasion occurred at your home. You penetrated the complainant’s mouth with your penis and touched and digitally penetrated the complainant’s vagina. This constitutes the crime of penetrative sexual abuse of a child or a young person, contrary to s 124 of the Criminal Code (two counts) and indecent assault, contrary to s 127 of the Criminal Code.
The seventh occasion occurred at your home. You penetrated the complainant’s vagina with your penis. This constitutes the crime of penetrative sexual abuse of a child or a young person, contrary to s 124 of the Criminal Code.
The material background facts in relation to this matter are as follows. The complainant is SC. You were in a relationship with the complainant’s mother, KC, throughout the period of this indictment.
The complainant first met you prior to your relationship with her mother. She was dating your nephew. At about the time of the commencement of the COVID pandemic, she introduced you to her mother. You began dating shortly after. In December 2024, the complainant’s mother moved in with you, at your home address. The complainant also moved into that address.
On 26 March 2025, the complainant met with the Assistant Principal of her school and told him that you had sexually assaulted her. On the same day, the police met with the complainant and she participated in her first vulnerable witness interview.
In that interview, the complainant informed police that your offending first started in 2023, following some arguments she had with her mother. She thought that you were trustworthy and someone with whom she could speak. She went to your home. She was about 16 years of age. She was at your home, sitting on a couch and you called out to her. You were in your bedroom. She went to your bedroom and there, you pinned her down, removed her lower clothing and inserted your penis into her vagina. The complainant then went to the home of a friend and she was suffering from pain and bleeding because of that sexual intercourse. She thought this happened in about August or October 2023. She recalled that you were in your work uniform.
At a second interview on 14 April 2025, the complainant told police that she recalled the second time that sexual intercourse occurred, which was in about September 2023, when she was still 16. She went to your home because you needed someone to watch your daughter. When she was downstairs, you sent her a message on Snapchat, telling her to come to your bedroom for a foot massage. The complainant went to your bedroom and lay on your bed. You then started touching her, climbed on top of her, removed her underwear and inserted your penis into her vagina. You were not wearing a condom. The complainant thought you ejaculated at the time. You got up and went outside and had a cigarette, the complainant went back down to the loungeroom to sleep in the area with your daughter.
In the interview, the complainant also disclosed that the first occasion of sexual intercourse was in about August 2023, her family were all at your home and you told the complainant’s mother that she should go to McDonalds and get them all icecreams. The complainant’s mother did as requested. Whilst the complainant’s mother was away, the complainant was outside having a vape, and you were having a cigarette. You started touching her on the breasts, outside of her clothing, you then rubbed her breasts and grabbed her bottom.
In the police interview, the complainant also disclosed that throughout 2024, you would go into the bathroom when she was having a shower, and you would stand and watch her. She started having a shower dressed in a bra and underwear after that.
On 27 March 2025, police contacted you and told you about the allegations made against you by the complainant. An appointment was made for you to attend for an interview on 1 April. A warrant was obtained and then executed, and in that process your phone was seized.
The browser history on your phone was checked and before any specific allegations were put to you, police identified your browser history showed the following searches:
- Can you be charged if something happens with a under 18
- Can you be charged if you have sexaly hapeens (sic) with a under 18
- Can a 21 year old date a 17 year old
- Can a 20 year old date a 17 year old
- Age of consent in Australia
- Sex and dating legal support in Tasmania
- Can you be charges (sic) if something happens with a under 18
- Sex with someone under 18
- Age of consent laws in Australia
- Is sexting illegal
- Do txt messages save
- Do police use the word allegation when they have…
- If the police ask you to come to the police station do y…
- What is proof of allegation
I am satisfied that this history displays your awareness of the wrongfulness of your conduct and to an extent, your preparedness to attempt to avoid the consequences of that conduct.
A further text message was located on your phone on 22 September 2023, and it corroborates the second occasion of sexual intercourse. It concerned the need for the bedding on your bed to be changed before the complainant’s mother came to stay at your home.
At your interview on 1 April 2025, you agreed that you were in a relationship with the complainant’s mother and, until recently, the family had been living at your home. You admitted having sexual intercourse with the complainant in about September 2023 and at the time you knew the complainant was under 16 years of age. You admitted that this happened at your home, in the bedroom, on your bed and you did not think you ejaculated at the time. You admitted that you had sexual intercourse with the complainant in April 2024, which was after she turned 17. This is not the subject of any charge before this Court. At that time, you were still acting as her stepfather. This happened in the complainant’s mother’s house, on her bed.
You told police that you stopped your behaviour because you knew it wrong and you should not be doing it. You told the police the complainant used a towel to clean up bodily fluids and that between the two times when you and the complainant had sexual intercourse, the complainant performed oral sex on you. You said that during oral sex, you ejaculated in the mouth of the complainant. This happened about four times. On those same four occasions, you touched the complainant’s vagina, including on the outside, and penetrated her vagina with your fingers. You told police that you and the complainant exchanged photographs and videos of sexual acts, including a video of you masturbating.
This recital of offending discloses its objective seriousness, which I consider to be in the upper scale of this type of offending. The effect of this type of offending upon a young female, is well recognised and these effects are universally recognised as having devastating, long-term consequences for the victim, for her ability to form relationships and for her family and loved ones. These are known to be life-long consequences. Not only are these effects devastating, but they are also debilitating of a young female, on the threshold of adult life, who now carries the crushing burden of your offending.
I have earlier referred to the operation of s 11A of the Sentencing Act. I accept that there are aggravating features that I must consider. I accept that the complainant was under your care, given the role that you played in her life during some of the offending and at the time her mother had commenced a relationship with you, during which you were later to cohabit in your home. Because of the developing relationship you had with the complainant’s mother, you became a father figure to her, and she treated you as a person she could trust. I accept the submissions of the prosecution about the operation of s 11A(1)(a)(d). I also accept, more generally, the offending involved a grave breach of trust. You were a person that the complainant initially trusted and you were a person to whom she thought she could go to if she had a disagreement with her mother. Your offending was a violation of that trust, your abuse spanned about a year, and that is a significant period..
You had ample time to consider your offending, to reflect upon the gravity of your behaviour and to cease your behaviour. You did not do so. Also, during the relevant period you were in a relationship with the complainant’s mother and, no doubt, this would have been a very confusing situation for the complainant. It is alleged that you have shown no insight or remorse. It is accepted that for the first 45 minutes of your interview with the police, you denied the offending, and it was only when the evidence was put to you that was so strong, that you desisted from your denials.
The prosecution submits that the serious nature of this offending requires emphasis upon general deterrence, the vindication of the complainant, denunciation of the crimes and specific deterrence. The maximum sentence fixed by parliament reflects the objective seriousness of the crime.
I turn to your personal circumstances.
You are 45 years of age. You have been living in a de facto relationship with the mother of the complainant. You were employed as a truck driver for many years. As a result of the charges you currently face, and because of your employer becoming aware of your offending, you have been laid off from your job and have no employment. In any event, you accept that your employment would have been terminated because of the inevitability of a custodial sentence. You have sold your home in anticipation of a custodial sentence.
I turn to the circumstances of your connection with the complainant and her family. You inform me that your parents were married but they separated when you were about eight or nine years of age. At that time, your mother said to you that you had to choose whether you lived with her or with your father. She told you that if you chose to live with your father, she would terminate all contact with you. You chose to live with your father. You did not hear again from your mother until she made contact in about 2016. You found the separation from your mother very distressing, but as distressing was the fact that she made unsolicited contact with you in 2016. In that context, and at the time, she was very rude and aggressive with you and you were greatly upset by this unsolicited conduct.
Your father worked shifts and to better support his family, he worked extra shifts and this meant that you spent a considerable amount of time on your own. Your father very much regretted the fact that he could not spend time with you because he was working to support his family, and you were affected both by his absence and his regret at not being able to spend more time with you.
You accept your conduct was plainly wrong. You should have known better. You accept that you have abused the trust of the complainant’s mother, but also especially the trust of the complainant. You understood that she wanted to confide in you and to have a close friendship with you.
Your counsel informed me that you regret your decisions. The prosecution contends that you showed no sign of remorse. Your counsel submits that your guilty plea is a genuine sign of remorse. You accept criticism that you did not make full admissions immediately in the record of interview.
In the terms of your own position, you have a daughter from a prior relationship who is 12 years of age and who does not live with you.
You are otherwise in good health, you have never suffered any mental health issues and you have no prior convictions.
Your counsel also submitted that your offending occurred over a period of about eight months. There were seven or eight occasions of offending. Your counsel submitted that the complainant did not become pregnant or suffer any sexually transmitted disease because of your offending. I am unable to give those submissions much weight at all. The significant criminal offending in this matter was the decisions you made to sexually offend against this complainant child.
Your counsel also submitted that there was no suggestion of any drugs or alcohol being involved, or being used to encourage or bring about the offending. There were no inducements offered to the complainant and there was no effort made by you to dissuade her from reporting the offending. I have been urged to take those matters into account. I have taken those matters into account so far as I am able, and I have given them the weight that I consider appropriate.
I am also required to consider the operation of the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act. Your counsel urged upon me that although it is necessary for your name to be recorded on the Register, I have a discretion as to the duration of the period of the registration of your name. Your counsel urged upon me that it should be a short period and not a lengthy one.
Submissions were also made about the timing of your plea. The prosecution agreed that there was an indication in November and then confirmed on 4 December 2025, that there would be a new charge, which is the existing charge that you face on the indictment, namely persistent sexual abuse of a child. There was then a challenge to the period of the indictment and it was necessary for the defendant to identify the period during which the alleged offending took place. I am satisfied that by 9 June 2026, the matter had been resolved and an agreed statement of fact had been settled such that your guilty plea could be entered. I am satisfied that you have entered your guilty plea to the charge on the indictment at the earliest possible opportunity. I have considered all the submissions of the prosecution in relation to the timing of the fresh indictment, and the entry of the guilty plea. I was informed that conversations occurred between the prosecution and your counsel about when the guilty plea should be entered. In submissions in reply, I was informed by the prosecution that Ms Lancaster of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who had carriage of the matter, wrote to your solicitor in November 2025, advising that there was to be a charge of persistent sexual abuse of a child, and later confirmed on 4 December 2025. I am also satisfied that the terms of the indictment were not settled until April of 2026. Prior to that time, the Director had been given a very clear indication that you were prepared to plead guilty to the relevant charges and it would always resolve on some basis. I accept that position.
I turn to sentence.
I accept the submissions of the prosecution that there is a significant aspect of the need for condign punishment and personal and general deterrence involved in this sentencing process. You have committed a most heinous crime against a child. You committed that crime in circumstances of a developing putative relationship of stepfather with that child and in circumstances where the child plainly trusted you, and sought your involvement in the difficult issues she was having with her mother, and treating you as a trusted confidante. You immediately abused that trust and you abused that relationship. I am required to take those matters into account in fixing your sentence.
Similarly, there is a high level of objective seriousness about your offending. The level of penalty associated with this crime plainly demonstrates the objective seriousness with which Parliament, and therefore Tasmanian society, views your offending. Parliament has taken special steps to ensure the protection of young people and to facilitate the prosecution of those who would offend against children, such as the complainant in this matter, and in the circumstances in which you found yourself. Your offending is objectively serious and that objective seriousness must be reflected in the level of deterrence associated with the high penalty for your offending, together with the well known and well understood abhorrence of society for offending by adults, especially those in a position of authority against children.
I received further submissions this morning from your counsel in relation, first to threats made against you in the prison environment and also threats made against your family outside of the prison environment. I have been informed that you family have notified the police in relation to those threats. I have been informed that you have not notified the prison authorities in relation to those threats. I take them into account and give them such weight as I consider appropriate.
I make the following orders. You are convicted of the crime to which you have pleaded guilty. I make an order under the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005, directing that the Registrar cause your name to be placed on the register, and that you comply with the reporting conditions obligations under that Act for a period of five years following your release from custody. For your offending, I would have sentenced you to a period of six years and eight months imprisonment. However, I recognise utilitarian purpose and value of your early plea. In recognition of that position, I reduce your sentence by 20%. You are sentenced to a term of imprisonment for a period of 64 months, commencing 21 August 2026, the date you were remanded in custody. I order that you are not eligible to apply for parole until you have served 32 months of that sentence of imprisonment.