Bekker v Police No. Scciv-00-1120

The appeal was brought by the appellant, Shane Rudolph Bekker, against a sentence imposed by a magistrate. The appellant was convicted of indecently assaulting a six-year-old child during the 1997 AFL Finals Season. The sentence imposed was twenty months imprisonment with a non-parole period of four months. The appellant argued that the sentence was manifestly excessive and based on incorrect principles. The primary legal issues in this case were whether the sentence was excessive, whether the magistrate failed to make an adequate reduction of sentence for the appellant's plea of guilty and his co-operation, and whether the magistrate had regard to extraneous information when sentencing the appellant. The court found that the magistrate erred in failing to make an adequate reduction of sentence for the appellant's plea of guilty and his co-operation. The court found that an allowance of twenty-five per cent should have been made, rather than the sixteen and a half per cent allowed by the magistrate. The court also found that the magistrate erred in having regard to extraneous information, including the complainant's mother's own childhood experiences and her resulting need for counselling and treatment. These matters could not fairly be said to have resulted from the appellant's offence and should have received no weight. The court further found that the magistrate incorrectly took account of the complainant's family's views about sentence as having some relevance. The sentence imposed by the magistrate was set aside, and the appellant was re-sentenced to a term of imprisonment of fifteen months, discounted by twenty-five per cent for the early plea of guilty and the co-operation with authorities. The sentence of imprisonment was suspended on the appellant entering into a bond in the following terms.