CDirector of Public Prosecutions v Patterson
[2022] VCC 1055
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT BALLARAT
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 22-00025
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS (CTH) |
| v |
| JOHN PATTERSON |
---
JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE HOLDING |
WHERE HELD: | Ballarat |
DATE OF HEARING: | 16 June 2022 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 5 July 2022 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | CDPP v Patterson |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2022] VCC 1055 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---
Subject: CRIMINAL LAW – Sentencing.
Catchwords: Plea of guilty – commonwealth offence – no priors – one charge – using a carriage service to cause child abuse materials to be transmitted to yourself – child – psychological reports – rehabilitation – serious offending – sex offender registrar – vulnerable women – out of character – financial dependency – remorse – solicited by you – objective – emotional.
Legislation Cited: Commonwealth Crimes Act 1994– Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic).
Cases Cited:
Sentence:Convicted and sentenced to five months’ imprisonment. Ordered to be released forthwith on entering into a recognisance of $2000.00 to be of good behaviour for a period of two years from today.
---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
For the Commonwealth | Mr S. Campbell | Office of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | Ms A. Beech | Armstrong Legal |
HIS HONOUR:
1John Patterson, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of use a carriage service to cause child abuse material to be transmitted to yourself, contrary to s 474.221A(2) of the Criminal Code Commonwealth. The maximum penalty for this offence is 15 years' imprisonment.
2The circumstances of your offending are set out in the summary of prosecution opening for plea, which should be read in conjunction with these reasons.[1] However, I will briefly summarise your offending.
[1] Exhibit A on the plea.
3Between 6 and 25 September 2020 you used the messaging application, Viber, to communicate with a contact named, 'Sabrina', who is believed to be an adult female located in the Philippines. On 6 September you had a text conversation with Sabrina where she sent to pictures of, 'Alexandra', who is believed to be Sabrina's 12 year old prepubescent sister. In these to pictures Alexandra was fully clothed.
4The charged period commences on 14 September 2020. On this day Sabrina sent you two images and two video files of Alexandra in which Alexandra was wearing a singlet top and short pants. You replied, 'Great', and, 'Take off her shorts'. Sabrina proceeded to send videos of Alexandra, naked, in what appeared to be a shower area. You asked for, 'More babe'. You also said, 'Don't tell anyone else. It is our secret, okay', directed at who you thought was Alexandra, using Sabrina's phone.
5On 18 September 2020 Sabrina sent you a video of herself and Alexandra. In the video Alexandra is naked and her breasts and vagina are clearly visible. You replied, 'Great, thanks'. On 19 September 2020 Sabrina sent you a video of Alexandra naked and putting on underwear. You replied, 'I like'. On
20 September 2020 the following conversation took place: Sabrina: 'Hi, it's me, Alexandra. Can I ask you something?' You said, 'Sure'. Sabrina then messaged, 'I'm a virgin. I'm scared. Put my hands to my pussy. I will show you only it's okay to you'. You replied, 'If you don't want to it's okay'. Sabrina, 'But I do my best'. Sabrina: 'I will - my best for you'. You messaged, 'Thanks'.6Your counsel submitted on the plea that this conversation, and particularly your utterance, 'If you don't want to it's okay', suggests that you were desisting from your conduct, however, there are three further instances of your offending that took place after the 20 September conversation. On 21 September 2020 Sabrina sent you three videos of Alexandra putting on and removing a blue
G-string. In the videos there was a focus on her vagina. You replied, 'Thanks, great'.7On 24 September 2020 Sabrina sent you a view and an image of Alexandra sleeping. You replied, 'Wow', and, 'I wanna see her pussy while she sleeps'. Sabrina then sent you an image of a vagina which appears to be prepubescent. You replied, 'Thanks, babe. I like'. On 25 September 2020 Sabrina sent you two images of what appeared to be a prepubescent vagina and stated, 'That's Alexandra'. You replied, 'Delicious'. Sabrina sent further images of a prepubescent vagina and Alexandra's face. You replied, 'Thanks, babe. I like'.
8The prosecution opening states that a total of 11 videos were transmitted that depicted Alexandra naked and five images that were transmitted depicting what is believed to be a prepubescent vagina.
9On 10 August 21 police attended your home and executed a search warrant. Police located a iPhone on a night stand in your bedroom and identified that it contained evidentiary material. You were not arrested or interviewed on this day. On 9 September 2021 you were arrested by appointment and participated in a record of interview. You made the following admissions. The phone number relevant to this offending was yours. You had the number for about five years. You had exclusive use of that number.
10You spoke to a lot of adult women from the Philippines via applications such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. You had sent a lot of money to these women after they had sent naked images or videos of themselves to you. You said that you did not view this practice as exploitative and you were completely against any exploitation of women. You teach English to Vietnamese woman via the Zalo application. You do not ask for money for this and do not ask for naked pictures or videos of these women.
11You denied using the Viber application at the time of the interview but suggested that you may have used it in the past to teach English to women from Thailand. When shown an image of the face of Alexandra you said you did know her but that you had sent her about 4000 Philippine pesos to pay some school fees but could not remember when you did this. You did not remember seeing naked images or videos of the prepubescent female as September 2020 was a long time ago.
12You said that Alexandra showed you a few naked videos of herself and then said that she was a virgin. You said that you then stopped your behaviour. You thought Alexandra was 14 or 15. When shown an image of Alexandra and Sabrina you said Sabrina was the older sister of Alexandra and you had been friends with Sabrina for a long time. You had sent Sabrina a lot of money in return for naked sexually explicit videos. You believed that the older sister was over the age of 18.
13I now turn to your personal circumstances. You are now 61 years old and were aged 59 at the time of your offending. You are the eldest of four children with one twin brother and two younger sisters. You were raised in inner Melbourne. Your father was a minister of the Uniting Church and your mother was a pharmacist. Your upbringing emphasised and prioritised education and service to the community.
14You attended local primary schools and then Scotch College. You completed Year 12 at Scotch College and then commenced but did not complete an engineering degree. After a gap year you returned to study agricultural science at La Trobe University. You also completed a Diploma of Education in 2009 and a Certificate III in aged care in 2020.
15After graduating from La Trobe you started working at a large agricultural company focussed on seed development. You then shifted focus and worked in IT at Apple as a specialist. You worked for 18 years, first at Logical Solutions and later at Clemenger Group. In 2009 you embarked on another career change and started teaching. Your work as a teacher was largely as a relief and volunteer teacher. However, you still found that you had not found your calling. In 2017 you began volunteering at Foodbank. You continued to volunteer there until you were charged with this matter and lost your working with children check.
16Your first significant relationship was with, 'Annette from 1994 to 2010'. You had a son together, who was in your care from 2010 to 2017. You and your son maintain a close relationship. You married your second wife in 2017 but separated shortly thereafter. Later in 2017 you became gravely ill after a heart attack. You underwent aortic valve replacement surgery and a coronary bypass. You were in intensive care both before and after the surgery. After your discharge you moved in with your elderly parents in 2018 to recuperate. Your condition is now managed with medication. You are also medicated as a result of Type 2 diabetes and it was not submitted that your problematic medical conditions were a significant ongoing consideration as to the appropriate sentence.
17In early 2020 the pandemic commenced. During periods of lockdown you were confined to home, living with your parents. In the same period your father also suffered a serious heart attack that required hospitalisation. It was submitted during the plea hearing that your offending occurred in circumstances where you were experiencing a very difficult time emotionally and had become isolated and depressed in the circumstances of the pandemic, your father's ill health, the decline in your career and the responsibilities of caring for your parents, who are both in their 80s.
18Tendered at the plea hearing were letters from your mother, father and sister, who were in attendance at court during the plea. A letter was also tendered on behalf of your son.[2] Part of your father's letter states:
'John has been living with us in Hurstbridge since early 2018 following major heart surgery. Before John moved in with us he'd been through a very difficult time. He had been extremely unwell prior to his surgery, his career had slowed to a halt and he was forced to return to live with Barbara and I. The COVID-19 pandemic then hit us and John found himself even more isolated and lonely. I found him to be secretive and disconnected at this time. I then became unwell, suffering from a heart attack in March 2020. I was hospitalised and underwent a significant operation. After I returned home I relied on John and Barbara to care for me'.
[2] Exhibit 2 on the Plea.
19Your mother similarly described in her letter you being, 'emotionally disconnected', during the offending period, which was a period of 11 days, commencing on 14 September 2020. In 2021 you completed a Certificate III in community services. You then successfully gained employment in the field of aged care services in March 2021. Your work has in the main been providing assistance to elderly men in their own homes. I was told during the plea that you enjoyed this employment and had been working for a company named Sequel that provides home care services. Your counsel, Ms Beech, submitted at the plea hearing that this employment was for you the most satisfactory career that you have experienced and that you felt you had found your purpose in life. The letters from your mother and father state that they saw a significant improvement in your disposition. When you commenced this work your mother described you as having a renewed sense of purpose and meaning in life and that you appeared to be no longer isolated and lonely.
20In August 2021 police attended at your parents' home and conducted a search warrant that subsequently revealed your offending. You were interviewed and charged on 17 September 2021. Since December 2021 you have voluntarily engaged in seven sessions of Sex Offender Treatment Program, SOTP, with provisional psychologist, Geoffrey Burrows.[3] This program entails: (a) understanding the destructive impact of your offending behaviour and accepting culpability; (b) instigating fantasy management techniques to assist you in avoiding similar arousals in the future; and (c) relapse prevention planning to reduce your risk of reoffending.
[3] Exhibit 4 on the Plea.
21Mr Burrows regards your progress as relatively slow but states that you have developed some good insight into the factors that contributed to your offending behaviour and to the destructive impact of your actions. You have also begun to implement fantasy management techniques and relapse prevention planning. Mr Burrows ultimately states that you would benefit from more extensive engagement in the SOPT program to continue your progress. You have also been assessed by Dr Barth, who supervises Mr Burrows. Dr Barth also strongly recommends in his report that you continue to receive ongoing offence specific treatment.[4] Importantly, he notes that while your treatment is incomplete, your commitment to voluntarily engaging in that treatment suggests that the treatment would have a genuine protective benefit.
[4] Exhibit 5 on the Plea.
22Dr Barth describes your history in terms of having, 'intimacy related problems'. His assessment is that your offending was not the result of any mental disorder or similar condition. He regarded your pattern of communicating with young adult females online as enabling you to engage in sexual behaviour with them, 'without having to navigate the complexities of an adult sexual relationship'. He states:
'His empathy towards the women he was communicating with was not well developed. Therefore he did not cease in participating in the online interactions regarding the 12 years old complainant and this culminated in him experiencing deviant school cognitions about her sexuality'.
23Dr Barth assessed your risk of reoffending as, 'low/moderate', stating that, 'This risk that is extant in his case is almost entirely related to online sexual offending'. He states that:
'On a positive note, Mr Patterson's offending spanned a very brief period of time. His personal background does not indicated entrenched sexual deviance. He has no convictions for non-sexual criminality and his conduct did not involve any concomitant violence. This mitigates his risk'.
24In sentencing for a Commonwealth offence the court is required to have regard to the matters set out in Part 1B of the Crimes Act 1914 Commonwealth, the Act, and in particular, the non-exhaustive list of matters set out under s16A(2). Section 16A(1) of the Act requires the court to impose a sentence which is of a severity appropriate in all the circumstances of the offence. Section 17A of the Act imposes an obligation on the court to only pass a sentence of imprisonment after having considered all other alternative sentences and decided no other alternative sentence is appropriate in all the circumstances of the case.
25The prosecution submitted in this case that the only appropriate sentencing disposition is a sentence of imprisonment. In an outline of written submissions it is stated that appellate authorities indicate that ordinarily this type of offending involving child abuse material results in a point of impact with release on a recognisance release order after serving some portion in actual custody. I have read the prosecution submissions carefully and without recounting every detail of those submissions, emphasis is placed correctly, in my view, upon the presumption of harm that is caused to children who are the subject of child abuse material and the importance of general deterrence as a primary sentencing consideration for offences of this type. The prosecution cites the defence concession that this offending involved exploitation of, 'an especially vulnerable child living in what appears to be poverty stricken and desperate circumstances'.
26The prosecution argued that the relationship between you and Sabrina might be viewed as having created an element of financial dependence. It was pointed out that some of the messages referred to Sabrina picking up money on 14 September 2020 after you had made a request of Sabrina to, 'take off her shorts', in reference to the child. The prosecution submitted that this reveals that you were paying for the child abuse material. I accepted that to some extent there was a relationship of financial dependence which in these circumstances would have been an incentive for the child to be exploited by you and her older sister in the manner that it occurred.
27At the commencement of the plea hearing I asked the prosecutor about the particularisation of the charge against you as having, 'caused material to be transmitted to himself using a carriage service', the material being child abuse material. Section 474.22 of the Criminal Code is as follows:
'A person commits an offence if: (1) the person accesses material; or (2) causes material to be transmitted to himself or herself; or (3) transmits, makes available, publishes, distributes, advertises or promotes material; or (4) solicits material, and the person does so using a carriage service and the material is child abuse material'.
28My query of the prosecutor was in relation to s 474.22(4) that is solicits material, and whether I was entitled to regard the messages sent by you as part of the gravamen of the charge. The prosecutor indicated that it was the policy of the Commonwealth DPP that a charge was usually particularised as, 'solicits material', when such acts occur without the actual transmission of the material'. Where the result of the solicitation is that material is transmitted to the person soliciting the charge is usually particularised as causing material to be transmitted to oneself. The prosecutor submitted that I was entitled to have regard to the messages sent by yourself as part of the relevant circumstances of the offence.
29The defence did not dispute that I could have regard to the messages as part of the relevant background to the offending but submitted, as I understood it, that the seriousness of the offence was to be determined only by the objective nature of the material that was actually transmitted, without regard to the fact that the creation of the material may have been through encouragement or solicitation. I reject that submission. In my view, this offence is rendered more serious by virtue of the fact that production of the material was solicited by you. In particular, you sent messages to the sister when made aware that the child was sleeping, that, 'I want to see her pussy while she sleeps', and the following messages, 'It is so cute and delicious', are concerning and a serious aspect of the offending in this case.
30The prosecution point out that the offending period was for 11 days and cannot be said to be a momentary lapse of judgment. The parties were not in dispute that you entered your plea of guilty at the earliest opportunity and in the circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such a plea entitles you to additional amelioration of your sentence due to both the fact that the backlog of trials in this court is relieved by virtue of the matter not having to run to trial and also because conditions of imprisonment are more difficult in circumstances where correctional authorities impose additional restrictions in an effort to fight the pandemic.
31You also have significant health issues and your ability to isolate yourself from catching the pandemic may be reduced in circumstances where you serve a period of actual custody. Sections 21(b)(2) and (3) of the Commonwealth Crimes Act specifically concern offenders convicted of a Commonwealth child sex offence. The effect of these provisions are that if a court is sentencing an offender for such an offence and is of the view that a sentence of imprisonment is warranted, the court cannot order immediate release under a recognisance release order unless the court is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances. The prosecution in their written submissions state, 'Exceptional circumstances are those which militate against a term of imprisonment involving actual custody where a court is imposing release by way of a recognisance release order'. The Crown submits that it is a matter for the court as to whether exceptional circumstances are established here.
32The prosecution did not take issue with your previous good character. You have no prior convictions, but placed emphasis on the fact that where general deterrence is regarded as the predominant sentencing consideration, evidence of previous good character and your prospects of rehabilitation, 'should not be given undue weight'. The prosecution has also placed before me a table of comparative sentences. There is no issue that such a table is not to be regarded as establishing precedence but, rather, as a guide to appropriate sentencing principles and may in some circumstances give guidance in the sense or providing an appropriate, 'yardstick', as to the types of sentences imposed for similar offending conduct.
33During the plea hearing the prosecutor readily conceded that the table in terms of providing a, 'yardstick', was of limited utility given that the cases referred to in the table dealt with much greater material than was involved in this case. The defence relied upon a number of objective circumstances of the offence that were not in dispute to submit that this was, 'low gravity offending'. Emphasis was placed on the following facts: the offending period was limited to 11 days; the number of videos and images was limited, there was one victim only, the material was not possessed for sale, distribution or profit, the nature of the material could be said to be, 'low range', in the sense that it did not involve interactions with adults or depictions of actual sexual activity. The material was only found on you mobile phone in the Viber application and not on any other electronic devices, therefore there was no evidence that the images and videos were specifically saved to the phone's camera or any other devices, nor was there any evidence that the materials were accessed by you on more occasions after it was originally received.
34In relation to matters of mitigation personal to you the defence pointed to the chronology of the procedural history in this matter. In particular, it was argued that the period of offending occurred in a very dark period in your life. Reliance was placed on references from your family members as demonstrating that the offending was out of character. This submission was supported by the fact that you ceased your offending in September 2020 and in the intervening period between your offending and being charged, you successfully obtained a qualification in community service and obtained meaningful employment.
35When you were charged, approximately a year later, you had stopped offending and you had dealt with the allegations in a manner conducive to your rehabilitation. You made your conduct known to your close family members and you have subsequently undergone professional treatment that is likely to result in you gaining insight into your underlying vulnerabilities that led to your offending. The defence submitted that in all the circumstances a community correction order was the appropriate sentence that could be imposed in this case.
36I do not accept that submission. In my view, the relationship of financial dependency in circumstances where you were plainly made aware of the age of the child and continued to encourage photographs and videos of the child to be produced and sent to you, makes this a serious offence that can only be dealt with by way of a period of imprisonment being imposed. However, I do regard the combination of factors relied upon by defence to amount to exceptional circumstances, allowing you to be released forthwith under a recognisance release order with appropriate conditions that you continue to receive appropriate counselling programs directed towards your ongoing rehabilitation.
37In particular, I accept on the basis of the plea of guilty and the references tendered on your behalf, that you are genuinely remorseful in respect of this offending. I also accept that this offending occurred in a particular time in your life when you were struggling emotionally in dealing with your own isolation, the illness of your father and the downturn in your career. I do regard it as a significant factor in mitigation that your offending was limited to an 11 day period and that there is no evidence that you continue to view the offending material outside of that period. Despite your limited insight as described in the psychological reports, the reference material provided by your family persuade me that your prospects of rehabilitation are sound.
38I am of the view that the evidence indicates that you stopped offending almost a year before you were charged and undertook a course that provided you with a further qualification. You then obtained work in the field of aged care for elderly men in their own homes. Such work, according to the references provided by your family, provided you with a regained sense of purpose and allowed you to become, or to return to being a contributing member of society.
39It would appear that your offending would not be in any way related to this type of work and hopefully you can maintain meaningful employment. One of the matters that I regard as part of the exceptional circumstances in this case is that should I impose upon you a period of actual imprisonment, not only would you lose the sense of purpose and meaning in your life provided by your employment but you may well be placed in the company of other individuals in prison that have the deviant sexual interest that you are presently seeking to extinguish by way of professional treatment.
40Having carefully considered the submissions and material placed before me, and taking account of the various sentencing considerations as expressed in the Commonwealth Crimes Act, I sentence you as follows: on Charge 1 of using a carriage service to cause child abuse material to be transmitted to yourself, you are convicted and sentenced to five months' imprisonment. Pursuant to s21B(3) of the Commonwealth Crimes Act, I order that you be released forthwith on entering into a recognisance of $2000 to be of good behaviour for a period of two years from today.
41I order that the following conditions be attached to the recognisance release order, which will run for 18 months from today:
you are to be under the supervision of the deputy commissioner, Community Correctional Services and sex offender management or his or her nominee for a period of 18 months;
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;
you are to undertake and complete the course of the sex offender treatment program with Geoffrey Burrows and Dr Mathew Barth;
you are to undergo any mental health assessment and treatment that may include psychological, neuropsychological, psychiatric or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the regional manager, Community Correctional Services;
you are to report to the South Morang Community Corrections Centre at 4A/545 McDonald's Road South Morang, Victoria 3752 by 4 pm, that is two clear business days after the date of this order;
you are to report and receive visits from a Community Correction officer or officers;
you are to notify an officer of the specified Community Correction Centre of any change of address or employment within two clear working days after the change;
you are not to leave Victoria except with the permission of an officer at the specified Community Corrections Centre;
and you are to obey all lawful instructions and directions of Community Corrections officers.
42Those conditions have been replicated in the order and recognisance that will require a signature by you and I will ask that that document and perhaps the final conditions of my order be emailed to the parties and if there is any concern about the wording of the orders and whether it complies with the provision of the Crimes Act I will allow you an opportunity to bring that to my attention..
43I also order that you are to be placed on the Sex Offender Register as a consequence of this offending for a period of eight years from today and you are to comply with all of the necessary obligations of that order, and I indicate
- just pardon me for a minute. Mr Campbell, it is the situation, is it, even with Commonwealth matters that it is required to give a s6AAA sentence indication?44MR CAMPBELL: That is so, Your Honour, where there is a CCO of more than two years or a term of imprisonment.
45HIS HONOUR: Thank you. Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act I declare that had you not pleaded guilty to this offence I would have imposed a sentence of 13 months' imprisonment with a condition that you serve four months' imprisonment before being released pursuant to a recognisance release order that would have run for a period of two years in the amount of $2000.
46Mr Patterson, the law requires that I explain the orders that I have imposed upon you. Essentially you need to understand, and I think it has probably been explained to you by your counsel and various people, that whilst it can seem innocuous and that it is just communication over the internet, the law regards children being depicted sexually over the internet as an extremely serious offence. It carries a maximum of 15 years gaol and this was quite an unusual set of circumstances that enabled you to avoid serving actual imprisonment by the skin of your teeth, so to speak. It had to be established that there were exceptional circumstances for that not to occur, and one of the things that I have outlined in my sentencing remarks that you have just listened to is that I was persuaded that this was out of character, a limited period in your life and that you moved on from it and in fact were able to stop doing this.
47If that had not been the case there is little doubt that you would have had to be spending real time in custody, but it is important for you to realise that your offending that you are discussing with your counsellor was still so serious that it had to be, in my view, adequately punished by a period of imprisonment.
48Under the Commonwealth legislation there is in effect what used to be called under the State legislation something that is equivalent to a suspended sentence. It means that you now have a criminal record where you have been sentenced to gaol and that will be forever the case, and anybody that looks at that criminal record will appreciate the seriousness off conduct. That period of gaol is five months but because of the exceptional circumstances I have effectively suspended it in the sense that you have promised, and it is called a recognisance release order, in an amount of $2000. You do not pay the $2000 now but that is like an amount of your promise that you will be of good behaviour for a period of two years.
49What good behaviour means is not easily defined. It is not a parking ticket, for example, but if there was any suggestion that you were looking at under age children on the internet in sort of sexually explicit way it is almost inevitable that you would have to serve that five months period of imprisonment because you would be charged with breaching the promise. You would forfeit the $2000 and you would have to be re-sentenced in circumstances where it is likely that you would have to serve that period of imprisonment. Do you understand that promise? Yes. You need to unmute and I need to hear it on the transcript.
50OFFENDER: Yes, I do, Your Honour.
51HIS HONOUR: All right. The other thing that has been required is that the Commonwealth legislation also says for circumstances like this it is important to impose a sentence that promotes your rehabilitation, and that is where the other part of it comes into it, where it is a condition of this promise and this recognisance that you comply with all of those various conditions that will be monitored by a State body called the Office of Corrections, and they will require you to be monitored in the sense of you do not leave Victoria without permission, that you follow their directions. They are likely, as I understand it, because I looked at their report, to use the benefit that you have already involved yourself in with the counsellors privately, and that they are likely, as I understand it, to require you to continue to do that, and you will have to do that for as long as they say. I have set that period as 18 months. That is a period under which you are obliged to comply with the directions of the Corrections who may say, continue with Dr Barth and Mr Burrows. So you must just comply with all their conditions.
52If there is any reason that you cannot it is your obligation to - for example, if you become ill or you cannot attend appointments or something like that, it is your obligation go ring them up and to tell them that before there is any problem so that they understand the position. Basically it is a monitoring type of condition where you must comply.
53That is also completely separate from your obligations that are mandatory under what is called the SORA legislation, that is Sex Offender Registration. Again, there will be documents given to you and Ms Beech will explain your obligations under that. Again, this requires you to do such things as if you require a motor vehicle, provide your registration number, if you use particular internet symbols, email addresses, you need to provide those to people. Basically your use of the internet needs to be monitored and permitted for eight years from today.
54Normally you would be in court and I would sign the order. You would be at the back of the court and you would sign the order, but I think I have adequately explained to you now the provisions and the sentence that I have imposed upon you and I would like you to again verbally indicate that you agree to complying with all of these obligations. Do you agree?
55OFFENDER: I agree to comply with all the obligations, Your Honour.
56HIS HONOUR: Thank you. We will now make the arrangements for the documentation to be sent to you. I will sign it, you will sign it, and you will deliver that to your solicitor's office and they will undertake to provide the prosecution with a copy of the signed order and it will be lodged with the court. Thank you. Are there any other matters that I need to attend to before I disconnect the link and have the document signed and sent to the parties?
57MR CAMPBELL: Not from my perspective, Your Honour.
58MS BEECH: No, thank you, Your Honour.
59HIS HONOUR: Thank you. Can I thank you both for your very helpful submissions and, Mr Patterson, you will be contacted in the next few moments by email and please print out the document and follow the things that we have discussed.
60OFFENDER: Thank you.
61HIS HONOUR: Thanks. We can disconnect the link now.
62COUNSEL: If the court pleases.
- - -
0
0
0