STATE OF TASMANIA v BLAKE ELLIS JETSON 8 SEPTEMBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Blake Jetson, you were found guilty by a jury of indecent assault and two counts of rape. Subject to consistency with the verdicts it is for me to determine the facts for sentence. Facts adverse to you must be proved by the prosecution to my satisfaction beyond reasonable doubt. Facts in your favour must be proved by you on the balance of probabilities. In this case, and as the case was conducted, the facts are largely determined by the verdicts.
The crimes were committed in the early hours of the morning of 23 January 2021 in a room at the Cornwall Hotel in Launceston. You were then aged 22. A girl you knew, who I will call S, also at the party. She was 17. She introduced you to the complainant, a female aged 15. At around midnight, the three of you left the party together. It was agreed that you would all stay at the hotel room you had booked for yourself so you would not have to drive home after the party. In the room there was a large bed and two single beds. At the relevant time, S was asleep on one side of the large bed. The complainant was trying to go to sleep on the other side. You had been in a chair in the room or on one of the single beds, but you climbed from the end of the large bed into the middle, between the two girls, and got under the blankets. I find that by that time you knew the complainant’s age. You removed the pants you were wearing and started to touch the complainant’s bottom. You tried to take her underwear, a G string, down. She attempted to stop you but you continued and got the underwear to her ankles. You then rubbed your penis on her bottom, upper legs and vagina area. That was the indecent assault. She tried to move away but you pulled her back. From behind you penetrated her vagina with your finger. That was the first rape. The penetration was for only a few seconds because she pushed your hand away. However you then hugged her close and, still from behind, penetrated her vagina with your penis. That was the second rape. This penetration lasted a few minutes, she could not say precisely. She could not say whether you ejaculated. You were not wearing a condom. While it was occurring the complainant tried to wake S by calling out to her but was not successful.
After the sexual intercourse stopped, you left the hotel. The complainant immediately phoned her sister who arranged a ride share for the complainant to go home. She left the hotel before S woke. The complainant told her mother and father what happened and the police were notified. I accept the evidence of her sister and her mother that the complainant was extremely distressed when she was relating what had happened to her.
The only issue at trial was whether the sexual contact and sexual intercourse occurred. You denied any sexual acts took place. It follows from the verdicts that the jury rejected your account and was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the truth of the complainant’s evidence in all essential respects.
You are now aged 27. You were brought up in northern Tasmania and completed year 10. You have worked steadily since then. You have no relevant prior convictions. It has been more than five years since this crime was committed. In the immediate aftermath of these events, and since then, you were subjected to serious threats by text messages and Facebook posts. The complainant was not responsible for them but associates of hers are likely to have been. The threat extended to you being shot at. All of this was notified to the police and with their agreement you relocated to Queensland before you were charged with these crimes in 2023. In the intervening period you have held responsible employment and entered into a relationship which only four months ago resulted in the birth of a child. Your partner has, in the circumstances, returned to her family overseas but you hope to undertake your role as a parent as soon as you are able to do so.
At the time of this crime you were a relatively youthful offender, but the principles which apply to youthful offenders assume less importance when dealing with such a serious crime. You have no subsequent convictions although you were fined in Queensland in 2022 and 2023 for what must have been relatively minor breaches of a domestic violence order. The delay since this crime is not mitigating per se. The absence of any subsequent sexual offending tends to reduce the importance of specific deterrence as a sentencing factor and give an indication that rehabilitation is possible. One factor relevant to sentence will be the conditions of your custody. The threats to you persist and will mean that imprisonment may be more difficult for you.
You are not entitled to the mitigation a plea of guilty would have attracted. Where there is a plea of guilty in such matters, there is usually a reduction in sentence because the complainant is spared the trauma of having to wait for trial and give evidence in public about matters of considerable intimacy. The only aggravating factor specified in the Sentencing Act, s 11A, which applies is that the crime was committed in the presence of another person, S. That did not add to the trauma of the complainant in this case. To the contrary, the complainant tried unsuccessfully to wake her up. There were no threats or violence, although some degree of physical pressure was involved. However, rape is an inherently serious crime. I accept the evidence of the complainant that she told you to stop and tried to push you away and began to cry. You ignored her distress and overcame her resistance by pulling her towards you. I also accept her evidence that, at one stage, you put your hand over her mouth. I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you knew that there was no consent. In any event, sexual intercourse was unlawful regardless of her consent. Although you were only 22, you were seven years older than her and, I find, much more physically and emotionally mature. No condom was used which exposed her to the risk sexually transmitted disease. I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you ejaculated, but that does not mean that there was no risk of pregnancy. She was given medication at the hospital to address that possibility. As with all crimes of this nature, the psychological effects on victims can be profound and very long lasting. I have already referred to her immediate distress. She was subjected to the further embarrassment and distress of the hospital examination and interview which was undertaken. The complainant’s victim impact statement describes the type of effects which might be expected. Her relations with her family and friends were affected, her education was disrupted and she was medicated for depression. The verdict brings her some degree of vindication.
I intend to impose a single sentence. Because these are child sexual offences, I am required to identify the sentence that would have been imposed for each offence, had separate sentences been imposed. On count 1, I would have imposed a term of three months. On count 2, I would have imposed a term of two years. On count 3, I would have imposed a term of three and a half years. The term I impose is what I regard as, after taking into account proportionality and totality, an appropriate response to the criminal which conduct occurred as part of a continuous series of events over a short period.
Blake Jetson, you are convicted on each count on the indictment. I am not satisfied that you do not pose a risk of committing a reportable offence within the meaning of that term in the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005 in the future. I make an order directing that the Registrar cause your name to be placed on the Register and that you comply with the reporting obligations under the Act for a period five years from your release. You are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of four years from 21 August 2026, the date you were remanded in custody. I order that you not be eligible for parole until having served half of that term.