STATE OF TASMANIA v XYZ 12 AUGUST 2019
COMMENTS ON PASSING SENTENCE PEARCE J
XYZ, you have pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault. In each case the victim is your daughter who was aged 12 or 13. She lived with you and her mother and her two younger siblings. The first indecent assault occurred when, late in the evening you called her out from the bedroom she shared with her younger sister. You asked her to sit on your lap. You pulled down her pyjama pants and underwear and for about five minutes you touched her genitalia with your finger. On the next occasion you again called her from her bedroom, sat her on your knee, removed her pyjama pants and touched her genitals with your hand for about ten minutes before sending her back to bed. On a Sunday night late in 2018, when she was 13, you called her from her bedroom to the living room, asked her to sit on your lap and again removed her pyjama shorts and underpants, touched her genitalia and then penetrated her vagina with your finger, moving it around slowly then quickly. You asked whether she liked it and she told you she did not, and that what you were doing was not alright.
This happened again in December 2018. You woke her from sleep and took her to the dining room where you again penetrated her vagina with your finger for about 15 minutes. At one point she asked you to stop but you continued. You then apologised, sent her back to bed and told her it would not happen again.
Your crimes came to light in early 2019 when your daughter told one of her friends about what you had been doing. A school social worker was informed and then child safety services and the police. When confronted by your wife you admitted that the complaints were true. When interviewed by the police on 16 February 2019 you made admissions which made clear, when combined with what your daughter has said, that there have also been other occasions of sexual touching and digital penetration. You are not to be punished for other uncharged conduct, but it means that you are not to be sentenced on the basis that the acts which are the subject of the charges to which you plead guilty are isolated acts.
Your crimes are aggravated by the fact that the offending started when she was only 12. There could hardly be a greater breach of trust than a sexual crime committed by a parent against a child. The crimes were committed at an important time in her physical, emotional and sexual development in what should have been the safety and security of her own home. Your conduct was all initiated by you, was repeated, and continued despite statements of protest and distress. She has prepared a victim impact statement in which she speaks of your close relationship and of her ongoing love and respect for you, and says that she has not been adversely affected. Your imprisonment will be difficult for her and her siblings. She is still only 14. The terrible situation in which she now finds herself results from your crimes. Moreover, sexual abuse of children by trusted adults is presumed to cause psychological harm which can be lifelong. Enduring and pervasive effects may only emerge after the victim matures and life circumstances change. Punishment and deterrence are strong sentencing considerations.
You are now aged 34. You have a good employment record and no prior convictions. Those are factors of little weight for crimes of this nature. I take into account the contents of the psychological report I was given but it reveals nothing which reduces your blameworthiness and does not explain your behaviour. You fully appreciated the wrongfulness of your conduct. If anything, the report suggests a lack of insight into the seriousness of your crimes. However you have entered a very early plea of guilty. In cases like this, a very early plea of guilty warrants a substantial reduction in the sentence which would otherwise have been imposed. That is primarily because your daughter has been spared from the additional trauma and indignity of having to prepare for and give evidence at a trial. It also facilitates justice and indicates that you have assumed some responsibility for your conduct, although your repeated acts over many months reduce any claim to genuine remorse.
I am required to make an order under 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. Because of the nature and circumstances of these crimes I am not so satisfied and, accordingly, I must make an order.
XYZ, you are convicted on each count. 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 obligations under that Act for a period of six years from your release. You are sentenced to imprisonment for five years from 9 August 2019. In order that the sentence contains sufficient punishment and deterrence, I order that you are not eligible for parole until having served three years of that term.