Director of Public Prosecutions (Cth) v Blight
[2023] VCC 951
•5 June 2023
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT Melbourne CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
CR-22-00692
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS (CTH) |
| v |
| PETER BLIGHT |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 1 June 2023 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 5 June 2023 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP (Cth) v Blight | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2023] VCC 951 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Plea – sentencing
Catchwords: Use carriage service to make available child abuse material - possess or control child abuse material obtained or accessed using carriage service
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1914 (Cth)
Cases Cited:Phibbs v The King [2023] VSCA 123
Sentence:20 months' imprisonment, released after 10 months on recognisance of $2,000 to be of good behaviour for 24 months and attend for CCO-type conditions
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Commonwealth | Mr D. Holmes | Office of Public Prosecutions (Cth) |
| For the Accused | Mr A. Halphen | Balmer & Associates |
HIS HONOUR:
1Peter Blight, you have pleaded guilty to an offence of using a carriage service to make available child abuse material and an offence of possessing or controlling child abuse material obtained or accessed using a carriage service. Each of those offences carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years.
2You have admitted a prior court appearance, although I note that it was for an offence of a completely different character and ended up with the offence being dismissed after the period of adjournment that was originally imposed.
3The prosecution tendered and relied upon an amended prosecution opening for plea dated 23 May 2023 to which were attached annexures A and B specifying the child abuse materials to which Charge 2 relates.
4The charges arose from evidence gathered when you were arrested on 7 October 2021 following the execution by police of a search warrant on your home. A number of electronic storage devices were seized, including a black mobile telephone, a Doogee brand mobile phone, a USB drive and a hard drive. Analysis of the material stored on those devices revealed that there was a total of 496 child abuse files stored across the four devices.
5A total of 354 of those were in category 1 according to the Interpol Baseline 4 Tier Categorisation System and a total of 142 files were in category 2. Essentially, the category 1 material relates to pre-pubescent children perceived to be under the age of 13 years whereas category 2 relates to child abuse material with illegal content relating to children between the ages of 13 and 18.
6Of the 354 category 1 files, there were 65 images and 289 videos. The detail of what was on those is less important than the nature of the material, but suffice to say that it included images of young children including a naked infant and an image depicting a three-year-old male child being anally penetrated.
7Charge 1 related to calls on a telephone chatline called 'Fastmeet'. That is a platform which enables a participant to dial in and leave an audio-recorded message that can be accessed by other users. Charge 1 relates to two messages that you had left on that platform. The terms of those messages concerned the provision of encouragement by you to another user to sexually abuse the six-year-old son of that other user. I do not need to go into the precise detail of the content. That adequately describes the effect of the two messages that you left on one occasion on 30 November 2020.
8After you were arrested on 7 October 2021, you were interviewed by police and declined to comment on the allegations put to you except to confirm that you had used the Fastmeet platform for sexual gratification.
9Your counsel provided me with written plea submissions dated 29 May 2023 along with a report dated 29 May 2023 from Patrick Newton, clinical forensic psychologist (that is Exhibit 2 on the plea hearing), two reports from Dr Harriet Downing, a neuropsychologist (Exhibit 3) and two reports from forensic psychologist Marlese Bovenkerk: the first is dated 9 November 2022 and the second is dated 19 May 2023 (collectively Exhibit 4).
10He also provided me with a letter from Alexandra Storey of Thorne Harbour Health dated 21 October 2022 (Exhibit 5), along with three written references: one from a former work colleague, Sylvia Nomikos dated 12 May 2023; one from Matthew Whittle dated 21 May 2023 and a letter from Lucinda Morris, your younger sister, (collectively Exhibit 6). Those letters of reference speak to some good qualities and speak of a very different person from that which this offending conduct has revealed.
11The reports from the psychologists identify features of your upbringing which may well have had significant influence upon you. Your father was an alcoholic and a stern disciplinarian who exerted strict discipline upon you and singled you out for physical abuse and bullying to a point where your mother had to intervene and seek to protect you on occasions.
12The extent to which that has caused the psychological profile identified by these reports collectively is perhaps difficult to assess, but your father's dominance of you affected your schooling and was likely to have affected you adversely in your later life. The reports indicate that you have been a homosexual throughout your adult life, although you had a relationship with a female for a while.
13Your sexual relationships have largely been of a short duration with adult males, and you have also resorted to pornography, including child pornography of the kind revealed by the facts in this case. The reports indicate that you have used child pornography to stimulate masturbation over a significant number of years and you have had to wrestle with your own conscience in continuing that activity. You have not been able to desist of your own accord.
14Nevertheless, it is clear that in more recent years you have sought to obtain counselling treatment for this sexual deviance and address the causes of your offending conduct. In still more recent times you have begun to have a clearer understanding of the harm which is caused by child sexual abuse and the creation of the imagery of the kind the subject of Charge 2. That is recognised as progress and there seems to be no reason why you should not continue to make further progress with continued counselling.
15Your conduct and the discovery of it has brought considerable shame upon you. I have no doubt that you are remorseful. That is reflected in your pleas of guilty and supported by the letters of reference to which I have already referred. That in itself will act as a considerable incentive for you not to reoffend and these proceedings will have caused you to think very carefully about any further resort to obtaining or accessing child pornography.
16The report of Mr Newton assesses your risk of reoffending as moderate. That is a reflection of the difficulty that you seem to have had in understanding the nature of the harm that accessing material of that kind can have, in that it feeds the industry which necessarily relies upon abuse of children, and quite often very young children. Nevertheless, it seems to me that you have reasonable to good prospects of rehabilitation. With further treatment of the kind that you are already receiving those prospects will become increasingly good.
17You have worked throughout your life, in more recent years as a public servant. It is noteworthy that when this offending conduct was discovered you resigned from your position with the Australian Public Service. You suffer from reactive depression of a severity that it is almost certain to impact severely upon your capacity to cope with a term of immediate imprisonment. I bear that in mind. Your counsel has invited me to apply principle 5 of what are known as the Verdins principles. I accept that submission. Indeed, no arguments were raised against that by the prosecution.
18It is also noteworthy that you have been assessed as a potentially vulnerable prisoner, not just because of your psychological profile, but also as a result of the nature of the offending conduct. I note that you have indicated a suicidal tendency. That is something which needs to be communicated to those responsible for your care during the period of your incarceration.
19You are an intelligent man and, despite the social deficits from which you have suffered throughout your life, you have the capacity to apply reason and application to your further rehabilitation.
20The offending the subject of Charge 2 is serious. The offending the subject of Charge 1 less so, but it is serious enough to warrant a term of imprisonment. You have pleaded guilty to these offences and you indicated a plea of guilty at an early stage. I give you full credit for your pleas of guilty, particularly since they have been tendered during the currency of the continuing COVID pandemic. The restrictions upon prisoners are probably less severe than has been so in the last two or three years, but there is still a pandemic which is affecting the way in which prisons are run and the access of prisoners to rehabilitative programs.
21Your counsel urged me to impose a term of imprisonment but to order your immediate release upon recognisance. He accepted that it would be necessary to persuade me that exceptional circumstances exist to justify taking that course. He referred me to the precedent of the case of Phibbs v The King[1], where the offending the subject of the appeal was not dissimilar to the offences to which you have pleaded guilty. In that case, the sentencing judge found that there were exceptional circumstances and ordered the immediate release of the offender on recognisance.
[1] [2023] VSCA 123
22The Court of Appeal agreed with that assessment and did not interfere with the judge's sentence other than to reduce the sentences that were imposed. Your counsel argued that the circumstances were similar to those that apply in your case.
23With great respect to him I have come to a different conclusion. Whilst many of the features are very similar, the most significant difference is that the offending in the case of Phibbs was at the lower end of the objective seriousness and related to a very small number of child abuse files. Your case involves a very much greater number of files, particularly relating to the category 1 material.
24I also regard the offending generally as more serious than that in the Phibbs matter. Doing the best I can to balance the competing factors that bear upon sentence in this case and applying the requirements of s.16A(1) and (2) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), I note that general deterrence is an important factor in sentencing. I have been assisted by reference to comparative cases set out in Exhibit C supplied by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and also by sentencing submissions provided by counsel for the Commonwealth, which are Exhibit B on the plea hearing.
25Taking into account all of those matters and seeking to apply the sentencing considerations with due regard to parsimony, I am now ready to impose sentence upon you, part of which will be to release you on recognisance. I shall go through the terms of the recognisance in due course. But it will be necessary for you to signify your willingness to comply with the terms of the recognisance.
26Peter Blight, on Charge 1 you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for three months.
27On Charge 2 you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for 19 months.
28The sentence on Charge 1 will commence today. The sentence on Charge 2 will commence after you have served one month of the sentence on Charge 1, making a total effective sentence of imprisonment for 20 months.
29I order that you be released on recognisance after serving 10 months.
30I am satisfied that a partially concurrent sentence is justified having regard to the relatively confined nature of the offending the subject of Charge 1 and the much more serious nature of the offending in Charge 2, as well as other factors which mitigate sentence, including the absence of any relevant criminal history.
31But for your pleas of guilty I would have sentenced you to imprisonment for a term of three years with a non-parole period of two years.
32The terms of the recognisance order are that you released on recognisance in the sum of $2,000 after having served 10 months of the term of imprisonment that I have imposed.
33The terms of the recognisance are that you be of good behaviour for a period of two years and that:
· you be the subject of supervision by a Community Corrections officer for a period of two years;
· you obey all reasonable directions of the regional manager of Community Corrections Services;
· you do not travel interstate or overseas without written permission of the regional manager of Community Corrections or his or her nominee; and
· you undertake such treatment or rehabilitation programs as directed by the regional manager - you are to attend for assessment and if assessed as suitable attend programs to reduce reoffending as directed by the regional manager of Community Corrections, and if assessed as suitable you must undertake and complete the sex offenders program within the period of two years the orders are in force.
34Mr Holmes, I don't know whether you have been able to follow that sufficiently clearly, but my associate has drafted a document which reflects what I have just indicated. Would you please check that, with Mr Halphen, to ensure that I have complied with the legal requirements. I have signed the order and dated it. Mr Halphen, could you please discuss it to the extent you wish with your client and signify his willingness to comply with the terms of the order.
35MR HALPHEN: Yes, Your Honour.
36MR HOLMES: Yes, Your Honour.
37HIS HONOUR: If you are in breach of the terms of the order then you are liable to be brought back before the court and you may be required to serve the balance of the sentence that I imposed upon you. You may also forfeit the $2,000 which is the security upon which the recognisance release order is based.
38There are some further terms of the order:
· you must report to Moorabbin Community Corrections centre at 1140 Nepean Highway, Highett within two clear working days after you are released from custody;
· you must report to and receive visits from a Community Corrections officer or officers; and
· you must notify an officer at the Community Corrections centre of any change of address or employment within two clear working days after the change.
39If you wouldn't mind, Mr Halphen, making sure that your client understands the full terms of the order.
40The other order that I need make is that you will be the subject of the reporting obligations under the Sex Offenders Registration Act for a period of 15 years.
41Would you like a few minutes to talk to your client, Mr Halphen?
42MR HALPHEN:Yes, Your Honour.
43HIS HONOUR: I'll leave the court very briefly.
(Short adjournment.)
44HIS HONOUR: Are there any other orders arising from the discussion that you had?
45COUNSEL: No, Your Honour.
46HIS HONOUR: The custody management issues will be noted on the order.
47MR HALPHEN: Thank you.
48MR HOLMES: Yes.
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