STATE OF TASMANIA v BRODY WILLIAM TRIFFETT 26 AUGUST 2026
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE CUTHBERTSON J
Brody William Triffett, you have been found guilty of two counts of aggravated assault, one count of rape and one count of attempting to commit rape. These offences were committed on 16 April 2024. The complainant, H, was 14 years old at the time. You were 18 years old. H was alone at the house she had been staying at in Bridgewater at the time she was attacked. H identified you as the person who attacked her. You denied being the person responsible. It follows from the jury’s verdicts that they must have been satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you committed these crimes and that H’s identification of you was honest and reliable. I am now required to determine the factual basis of sentence consistent with the jury’s verdicts.
You and H knew each other. A mutual acquaintance suggested that the two of you date each other. H was 14 at the time. She was told that you were 16 years old. The two of you were together for two days. Your relationship with H was not sexual. You had asked H to have sex with you. She did not want to because she had not known you for long enough. I am satisfied that H broke up with you because she found out you were not 16 but that you were an adult. I am also satisfied that you tried to contact H after she ended the relationship. You called and messaged her. She blocked your number. You called her from another phone. She answered the call but hung up when she realised it was you. You left messages which suggested you were annoyed with her for ignoring you. This all happened sometime between late 2023 and early 2024.
When you committed these crimes, both you and H were staying in Bridgewater. H left the house she was staying at earlier in the day. When she returned in the afternoon with her boyfriend C, they had been locked out the house. Other people were in the house partying. H thought she saw you in the house. I am unable to find that you were at the house during the party, but I am satisfied that you found out that H was staying there.
Later in the afternoon, H was at the house by herself cleaning up. She noticed what she thought was a person hiding behind a mattress leaning up against the wall of the loungeroom. She became very frightened, took some video footage of the area and then decided to leave the house. She moved into the loungeroom to get a bong that was in there to take with her. As she did this, you came out from behind the mattress towards her. She froze briefly before running towards the laundry to try and get out of the house via the laundry door. Before she could get to the laundry, you caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, taking her to the ground. You landed on top of her. H was able to get to her feet and again headed for the laundry. You again grabbed her and you both fell to the ground. You were facing each other. You then grabbed and pulled her hair with one hand and then removed your penis from your clothing with the other. You then tried to penetrate H’s mouth with your penis. She was fighting you. You made forceful contact with her chin and bottom lip with your penis while attempting to insert it in her mouth. You told her to “suck your dick”. H was pushing you to try and get away. You punched her to the face, hitting her nose. The jury was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that when you assaulted H in this way, you did so with intent to rape her. This conduct constituted the first and fourth counts on the indictment of aggravated assault and attempted rape.
H was eventually able to push you off her. She managed to get back to her feet and headed back into the loungeroom. You again pursued her and took her to the floor. You were on top of her, straddling her and pinning her arms down with your legs. You removed an ice pipe from your clothing, heated up the bowl with a lighter, took a puff from it and then placed the hot bowl of the pipe on her lips. It was burning hot. You told her as you were doing this, “You should’ve done it the first time”. This was a reference to a suggestion you made to H when you were previously seeing each other that you have sex while she held an ice pipe for you to smoke from. H managed eventually to move her head away from the pipe. You put the ice pipe down, then forcefully pulled her bottom clothing down. You put your hand inside her underwear and penetrated her genitalia with two of your fingers. H was struggling and fighting to get you off her and yelling and screaming at you to stop. You said, “Just stop fighting, you know you want it”. You then tried to get your penis out of your pants again. H was able to kick you away and managed to run out of the font door. The jury was satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that when you assaulted H this time, you also did so with the intention of raping her. Your conduct in assaulting her and penetrating her genitalia with your fingers constitutes counts two and three on the indictment of aggravated assault and rape.
H ran away down the street to where her boyfriend C was living. She was highly distressed. She told people she had been sexually assaulted and that you were responsible. Police were notified. H was taken to the hospital where photographs were taken. H had a noticeable injury to the bridge of her nose and her lips were red and chapped where the ice pipe had been applied. She had an abrasion to the left hand side of the back of her head. She reported tenderness to both sides of her neck and both sides of her lower ribs. She had some bruising to her torso, hips and legs. Her left elbow was sore and she had trouble bending it.
You left the area after attacking H and eventually made your way to a friend’s house in Bridgewater. You were arrested there in the early hours of the following morning. Your friend, J, gave evidence on the trial. She said you appeared to be sad when you arrived.
After your arrest, you were interviewed by police. You denied attacking H. You said you had been at your friend D’s house for most of the day before you went to J’s house. D gave evidence at the trial and said he had only seen you briefly on 16 April 2024 when you dropped off a back pack.
I have received a victim impact statement from H. She describes the terrible impact of your conduct. It was clear from the evidence given during the trial that H had previously experienced trauma. She had previously used methylamphetamine but described herself as being clean from that drug for about nine months. She had been getting her life back on track, was attending school again, had some part-time work, lots of friends and was social. After your sexual assault, she relapsed into methylamphetamine use to try and forget. She stopped going to school and stopped working. She has lived with fear, anxiety and sadness since that time. She has been hypervigilant and suicidal. At the time of her statement in November 2025, she was still having nightmares about the events. She has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. She is receiving counselling and medication.
What H has experienced since your attack is unsurprising. The judges of this Court hear all too often the dreadful impact such terrible conduct has on those who are unfortunate enough to experience it. H is working hard to heal and does not want to let your actions define her. She has shown remarkable resilience and courage in spite of what you did to her.
I am also required to take into account your personal circumstances when sentencing you. You are now 20 years old. You have been in remanded in custody since your arrest on 17 April 2024. Six months of that time in custody has been allocated to sentences imposed in the Magistrates Court on 2 October 2024. Any sentence of imprisonment I impose will be backdated to 18 October 2024.
You have a number of prior matters. [redacted – s 108 of the Youth Justice Act 1997]. …..
You appear to be quick to anger and to have difficulty managing any actual or perceived rejection from girlfriends or those you would like to be in a relationship with, responding in violent and degrading ways. [redacted – s 108 of the Youth Justice Act 1997.]
I have been provided a copy of a forensic psychological assessment undertaken by Dr Grant Blake together with a presentence report [redacted – s 108 Youth Justice Act 1997]. I also ordered a psychiatric presentence report for the purposes of sentencing you for the current offences which was authored by Dr Lloyd.
All reports highlight you have a significant history of parental physical and emotional abuse and neglect. You have been the subject of child safety orders which have included placements in residential care. You have been exposed to violence and drug use from an early age. You have a diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (cPTSD), borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and methamphetamine and cannabis use disorders. You do not have an intellectual disability. Your cPTSD causes you to reexperience traumatic events. You experience emotional dysregulation, and difficulties maintaining meaningful intimate and family relationships. Your borderline personality disorder has resulted in instability in your interpersonal relationships, unstable affect, and impulsivity. You also experience acute sensitivity to real or perceived abandonment and rejection. This can result in volatile anger. Your antisocial personality disorder manifests as a persistent pattern of disregarding and violating the rights of others. Your substance use contributes to the chaos you experience in your life. It also makes your anger, volatility and impulsivity worse, making violence more likely. The psychiatric report identifies that you present an ongoing and persistent risk of violent and sexually violent behaviour. You are most likely to act in a sexually violent manner in the context of a relationship ending. Dr Lloyd considers your actions are likely to be calculated and focus on a self-entitled desire to overpower and punish the victim for abandoning or rejecting you. Your use of methylamphetamine is particularly problematic as it reduces your inhibitions and increases your sexual arousal and anger.
These are matters that need to be addressed by you with counselling and psychological treatment. The main barrier for you to access treatment is your own attitude and ambivalence towards it. Dr Lloyd identified that you have some understanding that your personality and substance use contributes to you being violent towards others. You appear not to have the same level of understanding of your risk of sexual violence. Overall, the picture that emerges from these reports is that you are a very damaged young person with significant psychological and personality problems that manifest in violence to achieve outcomes and control.
You maintain contact with your grandmother who has played an important role in your life. Your father died [redacted – s 108 Youth Justice Act 1997] in 2023. This was difficult for you. You had been spending more time with your father [redacted – s 108 Youth Justice Act 1997]. During this time, you were engaging with medical treatment and youth support services, attending school, and undertaking counselling for drug and alcohol use and anger management. You were playing football. This engagement did not last, [redacted – s 108 Youth Justice Act 1997].
There is in my view, a clear link between your experience of childhood deprivation and your offending conduct. You are not someone who has the usual emotional and social resources to guide your decision making. This is a matter I must take into account. There are, however, other important factors that must also be taken into account when sentencing you.
These crimes are serious examples of such offences. The rape and attempted rape were committed in circumstances of significant violence. This is a matter I am required to take into account pursuant s 11A of the Sentencing Act, but I recognise that you are already to be punished for the offences of aggravated assault because of that violence. In my view, aspects of your conduct were likely to seriously and substantially degrade or humiliate H. I am particularly referring to you burning her lips with the ice pipe together with the words you used when doing so. Telling H that she “wanted it” was also particularly humiliating and degrading when she was fighting you and clearly did not want any of this to happen. It is also a circumstance of aggravation that you were not at the house where this occurred at the invitation of anyone who was living or staying there at the time. H was only 14 years old at the time. You were older and stronger than she was, and used your strength to try to overpower her. H was understandably traumatised by your conduct. It was a terrible invasion of her right to control her own body, a right you totally ignored. I need to make clear to you and others that this way of behaving towards females is completely unacceptable. Rejection is no excuse for behaving in this way. The harm you caused to H is an important consideration in the sentencing exercise. You are not entitled to the mitigating benefit of a plea of guilty. While H was not cross-examined about the detail of the offending, she was still required to attend court and clearly found the experience upsetting and difficult.
It is also important that you be encouraged not to behave in this way again. [redacted – s 108 Youth Justice Act 1997]. This offending represents an escalation in your conduct. [redacted s 108 – Youth Justice Act 1997] This is, however, your first experience of adult prison and one I am told has been difficult for you. It seems you are still accessing drugs when you can while in custody. You have limited insight into your need for counselling and other supports. Dr Lloyd noted in her report that you have limited plans to address your issues and have not accessed supports that may be available to you in prison. I accept, however, that it is likely that your access to programs and supports is more limited when you are on remand. You are still a young person. You were only 18 when you committed these crimes. Your rehabilitation remains an important consideration. It is too early to say that you have no prospects of rehabilitation. If you take the opportunities available to you to address your issues, this will benefit you and the community. If you do not, you will inevitably spend long periods of time in custody in the future.
As you are being sentenced for reportable offences, I am required to make an order pursuant to s 6 of the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act 2005 unless I am satisfied that you do not pose a risk of committing a reportable offence in the future. I am not so satisfied. The information before me suggests you pose an ongoing risk of committing such offences in the future. As you are being sentenced for four Class 3 reportable offences, the maximum period of order that I can make is for the remainder of your life. I am satisfied a lifetime order is not required in this case but that a lengthy order is appropriate in light of your risk. I order that the Registrar cause your name to be placed on the Register and that you comply with the reporting obligations under the Community Protection (Offender Reporting) Act for a period of ten years on your release from prison.
The factors of general and specific deterrence, the need to protect the community, and to recognise H’s interests are of particular importance in this case. I do not ignore your experience of childhood deprivation and its impact on your culpability, and have considered this when determining the weight to be given to the other relevant considerations. This factor highlights the importance of rehabilitation in your case and the desirability of making a parole eligibility order to encourage your reform and support your reintegration into the community. I intend to impose a single sentence of imprisonment. The order I make for parole eligibility will be longer than the minimum to reflect the period I have determined should be served in the interests of justice.
Brody William Triffett, you are convicted on all counts on the indictment. You are sentenced to a period of six years imprisonment backdated to 18 October 2024. I order that you not be eligible for parole until you have served three and a half years of the sentence.
Because I have imposed a single sentence for offences which include more than one child sexual offence, I am required to identify the sentence that would have been imposed for the charges of rape and attempted rape if separate sentence had been imposed. I would have imposed three years imprisonment on each count.