STATE OF TASMANIA v BRAYDON MARK SHEPHERD 17 SEPTEMBER 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
Braydon Shepherd, you plead guilty to persistent sexual abuse of a young person. To protect the identity of the victim I will refer to the victim as the complainant. The crime is committed if you, during the indictment period, committed an unlawful sexual act against the complainant on at least three separate occasions. In this case, there are three occasions of unlawful sexual acts which are relied upon, all of which occurred during the period of just over three months between 1 November 2021 and 11 February 2022. At the time you were aged 26 and 27. The complainant was a female aged 15. You both lived in a regional town in northern Tasmania and she attended the local high school.
She first contacted you in October 2021 after having been given your contact details by a school friend. It is not disputed that she contacted you expressing a sexual interest. You began communicating regularly through Snapchat and the exchanges were of a sexual nature. She complied with your request to send you naked photographs of herself and she continued to do so daily during the offending period. At one stage you became annoyed when she stopped sending the images and asked her to resume. You sent her naked photographs of yourself.
The first occasion of an unlawful sexual act was in November 2021. You agreed to meet her at the end of the driveway to her home at midnight. Her parents were in bed. In your ute, you had her perform oral sexual intercourse on you until you ejaculated. You then had sexual intercourse in the tray of the ute by penetrating her vagina with your penis until you ejaculated again.
The second occasion occurred in very similar circumstances. You met her in your ute at the end of her driveway around midnight. You penetrated her vagina with your fingers and then engaged in penile vaginal sexual intercourse in the cabin and the tray of the ute until you ejaculated.
The third occasion was in late January or early February 2022. It was at the same place but, on this occasion, you were driven there by another person. To avoid discovery you waited until that person left before meeting the complainant and engaging in penile vaginal intercourse on the grass to ejaculation.
Your conduct was discovered when a friend of the complainant found out what was going on and told her mother, who in turn informed the complainant’s parents. They took her phone and contacted the police. At first, the complainant defended you. She told you to delete any messages and images you had and declined to make a statement to the police. Because the communications were on Snapchat they were not preserved, apart from one image you sent on 11 February 2022 asking whether she had told anyone.
The complainant did not make a formal statement to the police until almost two years later, on 1 December 2023. It was suggested that she may have been under pressure from her parents to do so, but the delay is consistent also with her, with increased maturity and insight, realising the wrongfulness and impact of your conduct.
You were not charged until 30 October 2024. The matter was listed for trial to commence 7 September 2026. You indicated a change of plea on 1 September 2026.
You are now aged 31. You are single but you have two children, the youngest of whom lives in Tasmania but is not, I infer, in your primary care. You have consistently held employment since leaving school. You are currently employed as a farm hand and you are well regarded by your employer. You have no relevant prior convictions and no subsequent convictions.
The prohibition of sexual acts against children is founded on the presumption of harm. The paramount object of the law is to protect children and young persons, not only from those who would take advantage of them, but from decisions made when they may lack the emotional and intellectual maturity to fully appreciate the consequences. It is well understood that the emotional, psychological, sexual and behavioural impact of premature unlawful sexual relations, even when freely agreed to, can be profound and long lasting and the true extent may not emerge until much later. The complainant’s victim impact statement is to be treated with the usual circumspection. There may be other factors at play. However, it describes the type of impacts which may be expected from what occurred: impact on her relationships with her parents and friends, reduced confidence and interference with her ability to form new relationships through lack of trust and fear of betrayal. It was put on your behalf that the complainant persistently pursued her sexual advances to you. However, her agreement is not mitigating. You were aware of her age. She was a child and you were more than 11 years older. She was in a vulnerable position by reason of her immaturity and circumstances. It was your responsibility to control yourself and refrain from participation in sexual acts with her. Instead, you indulged your own sexual gratification. The period of offending was limited to just over three months but you did not stop until you were discovered. None of the factors of aggravation listed in the Sentencing Act 1997, s 11A, apply. However it is aggravating that each instance of sexual intercourse was unprotected, thereby exposing the complainant to the risk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease, even though there is no evidence that either eventuated.
The delay in resolution of this charge is not mitigating per se. However, your plea of guilty is an important matter in your favour. It was not an early plea. It was entered only a week or so before the trial was to commence after the complainant and her parents had been briefed. It resulted from late disclosure of the evidence of your incriminating phone message, and so it gives no indication of remorse. However, it involves and acceptance or responsibility, carries a utilitarian benefit, facilitates justice and most importantly, spares the complainant from the additional trauma of having to give evidence. As a result I will moderate the head sentence, suspend part of it and allow the earliest opportunity for parole. I was asked to suspend all of the term or order home detention, but the need to denounce your conduct and to make clear to others what is likely to happen if they act as you did means that actual imprisonment is required.
You are convicted on the indictment. From the nature of your crime I am not satisfied that you do not pose a risk of committing another such offence. I direct that the Registrar under the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005 cause your name to be placed on the Register and that you comply with the reporting obligations under that Act for four years from your release.
You are sentenced to imprisonment for two years from 10 September 2026. I suspend six months of that term for two years from your release. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served half of the 18 month operative part of that term.