STATE OF TASMANIA v R S J BLOW CJ
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE 8 JULY 2019
R S J, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of aggravated sexual assault. The victims of these crimes were your adopted daughter and her daughter. When that adopted daughter was aged about 10 or 12, there was an occasion when she was in bed with you and your wife. You were in your late forties. She woke up to find that you had your hand inside her underwear, and your fingers in her vagina. More than 20 years later, on an occasion when your granddaughter was visiting your home, when she was aged 12 or 13, you put your hand into her pants, inserted your fingers into her vagina, and moved them in and out. It hurt, and she started to bleed.
These were not isolated offences for either girl, but they are the only offences that you have been charged with. You sexually abused each of them on multiple occasions. I do not have the power to sentence you for sexual assaults that are not the subject of charges. However I would have to impose a relatively lenient sentence if these two events were isolated acts. They were not.
The psychological consequences for each of the two victims have been devastating. You ruined their lives. Your daughter kept the abuse secret for nearly 30 years. She had problems with drugs and with unsuccessful relationships, amongst other consequences. Your granddaughter had problems with bedwetting and dysfunctional relationships, and has continuing problems with depression and anxiety.
You are nearly 80. You suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis, but not from any medical condition that would warrant a reduced sentence. You have prior convictions, but I do not regard any of them as significant. You have led an industrious working life as a seaman over a career lasting 46 years. Because of these crimes, and the other abuse of your daughter and your granddaughter, your wife left you after a marriage which, I think, lasted over 30 years. That is not surprising. It counts very much in your favour that you pleaded guilty to these charges on your first appearance. In fact you came from another State to do so. It is clear that you are genuinely sorry for what you did. One of the comments that you made indicates that you are relieved that the years of secrecy have come to an end.
Because of your early plea of guilty and your remorse, I am going to impose a sentence that is around 25% shorter than it otherwise would have been. And, because of that factor, and your age, I am going to impose the shortest possible non-parole period.
You are convicted on both charges. I sentence you to two years and four months’ imprisonment with effect from 6 May 2019. You will not be eligible for parole until you have served 14 months of this sentence. I think it is unlikely that you will re-offend at your age, but I cannot entirely rule out that possibility, and I therefore have to make an order putting you on the sexual offenders’ register. I order that the Registrar appointed under the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005, s 42, place your name on the register under that Act and that you comply with the reporting obligations under that Act for seven years from today.