CDirector of Public Prosecutions v Bailey

[2023] VCC 1561

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

Case No. CR-22-00966

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
(CTH)

v

PHILIP BAILEY

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE GEORGIOU
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	22 June 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	30 August 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	CDPP v Bailey
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 1561

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:              Early plea of guilty – use carriage service to make available child abuse material – recorded description of child abuse on telephone - possess or control child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service – no prior convictions – mental health – drug use – online chat service – exceptional circumstances.

Legislation Cited:      Crimes Act 1914 (Cth); Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth); Sex Offenders’ Registration Act 2004 (Vic)

Cases Cited:R v Tootell; ex parte AG (Queensland) [2012] QCA 273; R v Gajjar (2008) 192 A Crim R 78; DPP v Smith [2010] VSCA 215; R v Pham (2015) 256 CLR 550; Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169; DPP (Cth) and DPP v Garside (2016) 50 VR 800; Phibbs v The King [2023] VSCA 123

Sentence:                  8 months imprisonment released forthwith on recognisance release order. Sex Offender Registration – 15 years

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	J. Pan (Plea) A. Pham-Nguyen (Sentence)	Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	M. Brown (Plea) S. Russo (Sentence)	Gallant Law

HIS HONOUR:

1Philip Bailey, you have pleaded guilty to the following charges:

·Charge 1 - That on 13 December 2020, at Melbourne, you made available material using a carriage service, the material being child abuse material.

This is an offence contrary to s474.22(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) and has a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.

·Charge 2 - That at Melbourne, you possessed or controlled material, being child abuse material, in the form of data held in a computer or contained in a data storage device and you used a carriage service to obtain or access the material.

This is an offence contrary to s474.22A(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth) and has a maximum penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Circumstances of offending

2The circumstances of your offending are set out in the Amended Prosecution Opening for Plea, Exhibit P1. You do not take issue with that plea opening.

3On 13 December 2020, you used a chat service, Fastmate, to exchange audio messages or recordings with an individual referred to as 'Caller 1'. 

4The chat service used is a service for men to meet each other by leaving recorded voice messages or by speaking directly to one another. The service operates in such a way that individuals calling it may leave introduction messages for others to hear. Once an individual has selected others to whom he wishes to talk, they may move into a private chat room. The private chats are not recorded or monitored. However, all audio messages left, excluding the initial introduction, are recorded and kept by the service. When accessing the service via telephone, and upon entering a private chat room, users hear a pre-recorded message informing them 'for your safety this service is being monitored and may be recorded'.

5Your offending was uncovered when Caller 1 was arrested in February 2021 by members of Victoria Police Supervision Order Special Response Unit. Caller 1 was interviewed in relation to the production of child abuse material, as well as breaches of his Supervision Order. You came to police attention as a result of conversations between Caller 1 and a mobile phone registered to you.

6Charge 1 relates to you and Caller 1 exchanging audio recorded messages that contained child abuse material. In your messages you describe your sexual experiences with older males commencing when you were 12 years of age. Included in your recorded messages are references to oral and anal sexual activity when you were a child, and sexual activity with multiple males continuing throughout your time in high school. You also reference playing with a 'mate’s young boy'. It is not clear how long each of the two messages lasted but they appear to have been brief and each occurred on 13 December 2020.

7Charge 2 follows the execution of search warrants at your place of residence on 9 November 2021. A number of items were seized during the search, including two mobile telephones and an iPad.

8Analysis of the iPhones revealed child abuse material categorised in line with the Interpol Baseline Categorisation. On one iPhone, there were six Category 1 videos and three Category 2 videos. On the other iPhone, there was one Category 1 video and one Category 2 video. 

9Category 1 is defined as material depicting a real pre-pubescent child under the approximate age of 13 involved in or witnessing a sex act or material that concentrates on the genital area of the child. Category 2 is defined as material depicting a post-pubescent child between approximately 13 and 18 years of age involved in or witnessing a sex act or that concentrates on the genital area of the child. It also includes other activity not here relevant.

10The videos on one phone included penetrative sexual acts with a male child under the age of 5; penetrative sexual acts with a child under 13; pre-pubescent children under the age of 13 engaging in penetrative sexual acts; and children under the age of 17 engaged in sexual penetrative acts. On the second phone were videos of a child under the age of 13 and a male under the age of 17 engaging in a penetrative act and a second video of a male child under the age of 17 stimulating himself.

11You were formally interviewed by police on 9 November 2021. I have read the transcript of that interview. You were cooperative and made a number of admissions. You told police that the subject matter of your ‘chats’ on Fastmate were not real but were fantasy. You told police that there was child pornography on your phone and that you had that pornography for your own gratification. You said that most of the times you would say 'no' if people offered to send you child pornographic material but on a couple of occasions, when drug affected, you said 'yes'.

12You pleaded guilty to Charge 1 at a committal mention on 13 June 2022. It is accepted that your plea of guilty was entered at the earliest reasonable opportunity. You indicated an intention to plead guilty to Charge 2 on 29 March 2023 and you later consented to a direct indictment being filed. The delay in the filing of charge 2 arose because your telephone had not been analysed at the time you pleaded guilty to Charge 1. It is accepted that your plea to Charge 2 also occurred at the earliest opportunity.

13The offences to which you have pleaded guilty are class 2 offences under the Sex Offenders’ Registration Act 2004, pursuant to sections 28D(i) and 28D(ii) respectively of the schedule. The reporting period, pursuant to s34(1)(b)(ii) is 15 years.

Background and Personal Circumstances

14You were born in November 1962. You were 58 years old at the time you offended.

15You are one of four siblings. You described your childhood as one where your needs were met, you were loved and cared for, and you did not suffer from any abuse, neglect, or family violence.

16Your mother died when you were 19 years old and your father when you were in your late 30s.

17Of your immediate family, only two siblings remain. You maintain contact with them although they are not aware of your offending.

18You completed Year 11 of secondary schooling. You report that your grades were satisfactory and you did not have any learning or behavioural difficulties.  

19Since leaving school, you have had a good work history for some 40 years up until the COVID-19 pandemic. You first worked for television productions in staging before moving to a role as a television technician for one of the Melbourne based television stations. You held that position for 17 years. You then worked as a freelance television technician which often meant working overseas. Because of the travel restrictions associated with the pandemic you were effectively unable to work. These charges have also impeded your ability to travel and work. You are currently on the Disability Support Pension due to an anxiety condition.

20You have had one prior serious relationship with your late husband. You and your husband were engaged when you were 27 years of age. You then married and lived together for five years before your husband died. Your last serious relationship was some 20 years ago.

Psychological Report

21You were examined by forensic psychologist Naomi Cameron on 22 November 2022. Her report dated 2 December 2022 was tendered on your behalf.

22You told Ms Cameron that you had been diagnosed with anxiety by your general practitioner some 12 months before her assessment.

23You told Ms Cameron that you first learned about sex at the age of nine in the context of experimenting with school peers and viewing pornographic magazines.

24You reported a history of polysubstance abuse using cocaine, MDMA, methylamphetamine and GHB. You described your use of those drugs as recreational and you denied being addicted.

25With regard to your offending, you reported it occurred in the context of your loss of employment and anxiety over the lockdowns and financial stress. You were also using ice and cannabis during that period. You did not recall what you specifically said during the ‘chats’ other than you would engage in sexually explicit chats with other homosexual males. You said you would make up stories to excite the other male.

26There is no reference in Ms Cameron’s report to the second charge of possessing child pornographic material, as your phone had not by then been analysed.

27Ms Cameron noted that at interview you presented as irritable, hostile, and defensive. Rapport was difficult to build.

28On the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), your results were indicative of mild depression and normal levels of anxiety and stress. Your scores on the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory were interpretable but of questionable validity. You had a tendency to portray yourself in a more positive light and to minimise significantly difficulties or the presence of problems. Overall, your profile indicated a compulsive personality style, however your results may not accurately reflect the degree of your functioning.

29Ms Cameron considers that you suffer from a mild major depressive disorder, characterised by a history of low mood, suicidal ideation, and self-medicating with illicit substances. Your vulnerabilities have likely been further aggravated by your psychological maladjustment in response to life stressors and unhelpful coping strategies resulting in comorbid substance use disorders including Cannabis Use Disorder (mild) and Stimulant Use Disorder (Amphetamines, in remission).

30Ms Cameron suggests that several factors contributed to your offending behaviour. She refers to your early sexualisation at the age of nine and indicates that this likely distorted your sexual scripts and boundaries which then led to implicit offence-supportive attitudes: that is, viewing children as sexual beings. Your offending was also partly predisposed by your personality and mental health vulnerabilities that reinforced your isolation, loneliness, and sexual intimacy deficits.

31Ms Cameron states that imprisonment would likely weigh more heavily on you than a person without your mental vulnerabilities and that the prison environment could exacerbate your depressive symptoms.

32Ms Cameron considers that you are in need of appropriate counselling and treatment to target your mental health needs and offending behaviour.

33In March of this year, you commenced therapy with Ashley Brown, clinical psychologist. At the time of writing her report on 5 June 2023, Ms Brown had seen you on four occasions. Ms Brown has assessed you as having an Adjustment Disorder with mixed anxiety and depression due to legal stressors. Your treatment involves helping you to develop cognitive behavioural strategies to help manage your anxious and depressive symptoms.

Sentencing submissions

34Ms Pan, who appeared on behalf of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, submitted that I should sentence you to a term of imprisonment and release you forthwith on a Recognisance Release Order pursuant to s20(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth). Subsection 1(b)(iii) requires this Court to be satisfied that there are ‘exceptional circumstances’ warranting your immediate release.

35Ms Pan referred to the decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal in R v Tootell; ex parte AG (Queensland)[1] submitting that 'exceptional' is an ordinary, familiar English adjective, and not a term of art. It describes a circumstance which is out of the ordinary course, or unusual, or special, or uncommon.

[1] [2012] QCA 273.

36At paragraph [24] the Court stated:

'What emerges, then, is there is no one clear prescription for what circumstances are capable of being regarded as exceptional.  Consideration must be given not only to the unusualness of individual factors but to their weight; and factors which taken alone may not be out of the ordinary may in combination constitute an exceptional case.'

37Ms Pan submitted that a term of imprisonment is warranted in your case to achieve the paramount sentencing purpose of general deterrence, as well as the objectives of specific deterrence, denunciation and protection of the community. However, it was accepted that given the minimal child abuse material messages and the low number of videos possessed, coupled with your pleas of guilty, your advanced age and lack of criminal history, it is open to the Court to find that exceptional circumstances exist.

38Regarding the objective seriousness of your offending on Charge 1, Ms Pan noted that the material was made available over a single day where you described fictitious sexual activity you experienced when you were 12 years of age in two separate audio messages.

39In relation to Charge 2, Ms Pan informed the Court that the majority of videos depicted children under the age of 13, including two depicting children under the age of five. The sexual activity depicted involved real children and given the sexual activity in which they engaged with adult males, your offending was described as serious. Ms Pan submitted that the depravity of the material is the primary focus, with quantity being a secondary consideration. The age of the children is a relevant consideration, as is the nature of the sexual activity depicted.

40Ms Pan informed me that the videos range in time from 35 seconds to six minutes 52 seconds.

41The children depicted in the recordings are unidentifiable, Ms Pan stated, but they have nevertheless been exploited. There is a presumption of intrinsic harm caused to such children. The harm done to exploited children, it was submitted, has been described as profound and is exacerbated by the continued circulation of images on the internet. Your conduct in possessing child abuse material contributed to the market for its creation. These are not, Ms Pan submitted, victimless offences.

42The prosecution accepts that the material was not for the purpose of sale or further distribution. They do not allege that you profited from the offending and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it may be inferred that you were motivated by sexual gratification with a sexual interest in children.

43Ms Pan submitted that specific deterrence is a significant sentencing consideration, and the Court must ensure that you are deterred from engaging in similar conduct in the future. Relying on the Victorian Court of Appeal’s decision in R v Gajjar,[2] the fact that you do not have a criminal history is a matter in mitigation given limited weight in offences concerning sexual offending against children. Ms Pan also referred to DPP v Smith,[3] where it was said that it is the experience of the courts that such offences are committed frequently by persons otherwise of good character.

[2](2008) 192 A Crim R 78 at [27]-[29]

[3][2010] VSCA 215 at [23]

44Ms Pan noted the opinion of Ms Cameron that you displayed difficulties with insight and judgment related to your offending behaviour, and that your remorse and regret was mostly due to the ramifications your offending has had on your life rather than the victims of childhood abuse.

45Ms Pan accepted the relevance to sentencing of your early pleas of guilty, and the utilitarian value that such pleas provide to the Court, particularly during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. She also acknowledged that the pandemic has caused added difficulty and stress to those sentenced to an actual term of imprisonment. Furthermore, it was accepted that there has been delay in having your matters dealt with because of the need to complete the analysis of your telephones. Your matter, listed to be heard on 7 December 2022, was adjourned to enable that analysis to occur.

46Ms Pan provided a number of comparable sentencing cases. She noted that the High Court in R v Pham[4] stated that comparative sentences provide guidance as to the identification and application of relevant sentencing principles, and that comparative cases may yield discernible sentencing practices and possibly a range of sentences against which to examine a proposed sentence.

[4](2015) 256 CLR 550

47Your counsel, Ms Brown, agreed that I impose a term of imprisonment that provides for your immediate release on a Recognisance Release Order. Ms Brown submitted that a combination of factors satisfied the exceptional circumstances threshold in s20(1)(b)(iii).

48It was submitted that the offending in Charge 1 occurred over a matter of minutes on a single day in December 2020. The child abuse material made available by you consisted only of spoken descriptions. Ms Brown noted that no child had been harmed in the commission of Charge 1 and that this factor places your offending at a lower level of seriousness than offending in which an actual child has been abused.

49In relation to Charge 2, while conceding the material depicted penetrative sexual activity between adults and children, Ms Brown submitted that the child abuse material is limited to 11 files found across two separate devices.

50Your offending, it was submitted occurred in the context of you being socially isolated and abusing methylamphetamine. Your use of the chat service, it was submitted, was a deeply misguided endeavour to connect with adult men. In relation to the second charge, Ms Brown submitted that you were offered the child abuse material and although you had previously resisted, in a drug affected state you agreed.

51Ms Brown submitted that the fact that you, at the age of 60, do not have any prior convictions is a matter of particular significance.

52You have had a steady employment history for approximately 40 years, ending only when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. Ms Brown also relied on the psychological reports and the diagnoses you have variously been given. You have begun voluntary treatment with Ashley Brown which adds to your prospects of rehabilitation. As to those prospects, Ms Brown submitted that given your age, employment history, and lack of prior convictions, they are to be regarded as good.

53Ms Brown relied upon your early pleas of guilty and your significant admissions to police when first interviewed in November 2021. Reliance was also placed upon the fact that your pleas of guilty were entered at a time when the ordinary operations of the Court have been affected by the COVID‑19 pandemic. Relying on the decision in Worboyes v The Queen,[5] Ms Brown submitted that any plea in these circumstances should attract an 'actual and palpable amelioration of sentence'. Your pleas of guilty, it was submitted, are also indicative of your remorse.

[5] [2021] VSCA 169 at paragraph 35

54Ms Brown noted that you are a first-time offender and that you have found the experience of being criminally charged with two offences to be highly disturbing and exacerbating your level of anxiety.

55Ms Brown also relied on the fact that the plea hearing was listed for 7 December 2022 and was adjourned so that the prosecution may analyse the phones seized from you on 9 November 2021. You did not oppose the adjournment. After the child abuse material the subject of Charge 2 was found on your phones, you cooperated and consented to a direct indictment being filed. While it is not put that the delay is inordinate, the fact is that there has been further delay through no fault of your own. Having the proceedings hang over you for that additional period has caused further stress and anxiety.

Sentencing Considerations

56Section 16A Crimes Act (Cth) sets out a number of matters to which I am to have regard in passing sentence.

57The offences which you committed are inherently serious offences. This is clear from the maximum penalty of 15 years that may be imposed on each charge.

58As was stated in DPP (Cth) and DPP v Garside[6] child pornography offences are considered especially grave by both the courts and the legislature.

[6] (2016) 50 VR 800 [19]

59I was referred by both counsel to the Court of Appeal decision of Phibbs v The King.[7] I note that there are a number of similarities between the applicant’s offending behaviour in that case and your offending behaviour. Those similarities include the use of a gay chat line on which the applicant and another man 'discussed in explicit and abhorrent terms the sexual activities in which they had engaged with children and the sexual activities they wanted to engage in with children.'[8] Also found on the applicant’s phone were two videos and one image of child abuse material. It was common ground between the prosecution and defence in that case that the applicant’s offending fell within the low end of the spectrum of seriousness. The applicant’s risk of recidivism for online or non-contact offending was found by a psychologist to fall within the low-moderate risk category.

[7] [2023] VSCA 123

[8] Ibid [7]

60In Phibbs, the Court stated:

'It is well established that all offences relating to the sexual abuse of children are very serious and that factors personal to an offender carry less weight than general deterrence and protection of the community. The courts recognise that significant lifelong harm is caused to children who are sexually abused. Accessing or possessing child pornography is not a victimless crime – it is abhorrent because it supports a market for the production of images that involve the sexual exploitation of children. For these reasons, this Court has repeatedly emphasised that, ordinarily, persons who commit child pornography offences will be sentenced to an immediate term of imprisonment.'[9]

[9] Ibid [51]

61Regarding the recorded conversations, the Court noted that the statements were not simply items of conversation between two men which were without consequence. The fact that they were recorded meant that they could be accessed by others, that the behaviour described could be normalised, and that individuals might be encouraged by the statements to engage physically in the behaviour or to access child pornography that depicts that behaviour.[10]

[10] Ibid [53]

62In determining the gravity of your offending, I am required to have regard to the nature and circumstances of the offences you committed.  

63In my opinion, notwithstanding the dangers of the type of behaviour in which you engaged, the objective gravity of Charge 1 is relatively low. Your conduct did not involve actual children, was constituted by words communicated over the telephone on two occasions, and occurred over a very short period of time, on a single day.

64Charge 2, however, is more serious. The child abuse material you possessed fell within categories one and two, depicting young and very young children engaged in penetrative and other depraved sexual activity with adults or other young children. I have no doubt that such child abuse material is exploitative and profoundly harmful of the children involved. As was submitted by the learned prosecutor, your possession of the material is not a victimless crime. Without persons such as yourself, possessing and viewing such child abuse material, there would not be a market for its creation.

65I accept that the number of images you possessed is relatively low. I also accept that you did not possess the child abuse material for further distribution or sale or profit. Charge 2 is based on a single day of offending, namely 9 November 2021.

66The fact that you may have been drug affected when you committed the offences charged in Charges 1 and 2 does not in any way less your degree of moral culpability.

67The principle of general deterrence is the paramount sentencing consideration. Persons engaging in sexual offending involving children should understand that they risk stern punishment, usually gaol sentences to be served. This court, through its sentencing, must also condemn and denounce such exploitative and abusive behaviour.

68Given your age, good work history, and the absence of prior and subsequent convictions, I agree with Ms Brown that the sentencing considerations of specific deterrence and protection of the community, may be somewhat moderated. In this regard I also take into account your prospects of rehabilitation, which I assess as reasonable.

69I have had regard to each of the sentencing decisions to which the learned prosecutor referred as comparable sentencing cases. Notwithstanding the assistance derived from each of those cases as to current sentencing practice, each case must ultimately depend upon the application of relevant sentencing principles and its own facts and circumstances, both objective and subjective.

70In my opinion, your offending on each count is serious enough to warrant a sentence of imprisonment. This was conceded by your counsel in her sentencing submissions.

71Section 20(1)(b)(iii), as I earlier stated, precludes, where a person is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the immediate release on a Recognisance Release Order unless the Court is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances. I am satisfied in your case that by reason of a combination of factors I am able to find there are exceptional circumstances justifying an order that you be released immediately. Those circumstances include that your offending, although serious, falls towards the lower end of the scale of seriousness; your early pleas of guilty; your co-operation with the investigating authorities; the additional delay caused by the late examination of your telephones; that you are a mature first time offender; there are no subsequent convictions; your good work history up until the time of COVID-19; your voluntary undertaking of counselling; your reasonable prospects of rehabilitation; the need for further treatment; and the objective of rehabilitation.

72Section 19(5) of the Crimes Act requires, in effect, that a sentence of imprisonment imposed for a Commonwealth child sex offence be served cumulatively with another sentence of imprisonment imposed for another Commonwealth sex offence. However, s19(6) states that sub-s(5) does not apply if the Court is satisfied that imposing the sentence in a different manner would still result in sentences that are of a severity appropriate in all the circumstances. Having regard to the objective and subjective features of the case, the principle of totality, and the need to impose a just and proportionate sentence, I do not intend to impose cumulative sentences. The sentence I intend to impose is, in my opinion, of appropriate severity in all the circumstances.

73You are to be sentenced as follows:

·Charge 1 – 1 month imprisonment.

·Charge 2 – 8 months’ imprisonment.

74Both sentences are to commence this day.

75Pursuant to s 20(1)(b) Crimes Act I order your release forthwith upon you giving security by recognisance of $1,000 to comply with conditions that:

(a)   you be of good behaviour for a period 15 months; and

(b)   you be subject to the supervision of a probation officer for a period of 15 months; and

(c)   you obey all reasonable directions of the probation officer; and

(d)   you not travel interstate or overseas without the written permission of the probation officer; and

(e)   you undertake such treatment or rehabilitation programs that the probation officer reasonably directs.

76You are to report to the Melbourne Community Corrections Centre located in Franklin Street within two clear working days of the date of this order. You are to report to and receive visits from a community corrections officer or officers. You are to notify an officer of the specified Community Corrections Centre, that is the Melbourne office, of any change of address or employment within two clear working days after the change. You are to attend for assessment, and if assessed as suitable, treatment for sex offender programs or programs to reduce reoffending as directed by the Deputy Commissioner Community Correctional Services and Sex Offender Management or his or her nominee. Do you understand each of those conditions, Mr Bailey?

77OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

78HIS HONOUR:  Do you consent to being placed on such an order?

79OFFENDER:  Yes, Your Honour.

80HIS HONOUR: This order is being made because Mr Bailey was charged with the following federal offences: Charge 1 using a carriage service to make available child abuse material contrary to s474.22 of the Criminal Code and Charge 2 possession or control of child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service contrary to s474.22A of the Criminal Code, and that the Court has sentenced the defendant to a term of 8 months' imprisonment, and that I have decided that the defendant be released forthwith if the defendant complies with the conditions of this order.

816AAA – Mr Bailey, had it not been for your pleas of guilty the sentence I would otherwise have imposed is a period of 14 months’ imprisonment to be released on a recognizance release order after serving 6 months.

82Further, as Charges 1 and 2 are Class 2 registerable offences pursuant to the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 (Vic) (‘Sex Offenders Registration Act’), you are to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and you will be required to comply with the reporting obligations for a period of 15 years.

83I need to explain to you the effect of the orders I have made. You will be released immediately. You are placed on a recognisance of $1,000 to be of good behaviour for 15 months. You must comply with the conditions of the order. In other words, you must follow the directions of the probation officer and indeed the Deputy Commissioner, Community Correctional Services officers, and those of the Sex Offender Management Unit.

84If you fail to comply with the conditions of my order, you can be brought back before the court. If a judge of this court considers that you failed to comply without a reasonable excuse, the judge can fine you up to $1,000, can extend the period for which you are to be of good behaviour,  can revoke the order and make a different order which may include ordering you to be imprisoned for the term that I have indicated. Do you understand that? You will have to say something.

85OFFENDER:  Oh yes, Your Honour, sorry.

86HIS HONOUR:  Thank you.

87As I have said, you must comply with the reporting requirements of the Sex Offenders Registration Act for 15 years.

88Further, you must comply with the reporting requirements of the Sex Offenders Registration Act for 15 years. Now those obligations are onerous and what I am going to do now is provide to you a document that sets out your obligations under the Sex Offenders Registration Act. It explains what are your obligations. If you do not understand those please speak to your lawyer and I am sure he will explain to you not only those obligations but also the potential consequences of any breach of those reporting obligations. You may be seated.

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