Director of Public Prosecutions v Allen (a pseudonym)

[2025] VCC 199

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

 Revised
Not Restricted
 Suitable for Publication

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

CAMERON ALLEN (A PSEUDONYM)

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE HARPER
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	12 February 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	28 February 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Allen (a pseudonym)
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 199

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords:              Sexual penetration of a child under 12, sexual assault of a child under 16, possess child abuse material

Legislation Cited:      Sentencing Act 1991, Sex Offender Registration Act 2004

Cases Cited:DPP v Dillon (a pseudonym) [2024] VCC 1070; DPP v Sutcliffe (a pseudonym) [2024] VSCA 63; McPherson v The Queen [2021] VSCA 53; Tobin v The Queen [2021] VSCA 180

Sentence:                  TES 8 years 9 months imprisonment NPP 5 years 5 months imprisonment

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr B. Oswald	Ms A. Hogan, Solicitor for Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Ms B. Kelly	Victoria Legal Aid Melbourne

HER HONOUR:

1Cameron Allen,[1] you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of sexual penetration of a child under 12, Charge 1, one rolled-up charge of sexual assault of a child under 16, Charge 2, and one charge of knowingly possess child abuse material ('CAM'), Charge 3.

[1] A pseudonym.

2The maximum penalty for sexual penetration of a child under 12 is 25 years imprisonment.  There is a standard sentence of 10 years for this offence, the meaning of which I will return to later.  The maximum penalty for sexual assault of a child under 16 and for knowingly possess child abuse material is 10 years for each charge.  There is a standard sentence of 4 years in relation to the charge of sexual assault of a child under 16. 

Circumstances of your offending

3The circumstances of your offending were comprehensively outlined in the Amended Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea Hearing dated 12 February 2025.  I will summarise those circumstances here.

4The victim of charges one and two was your niece, Madison Scott.[2]  She is the daughter of your sister, Quinn Ashfield.[3]  You had a very close relationship with Madison and helped to raise her at times when she was not in her mother’s care.

[2] A pseudonym.

[3] A pseudonym.

5The offending occurred between 1 August 2023 and 25 December 2023.  You were aged between 25 and 26 years and Madison was aged between 6 and 7.

6Madison was residing with your mother and stepfather, her grandparents, at their home in the Yarra Valley with her siblings and from mid-2023, her mother. 

7In August 2023 you moved to a nearby unit with your brother Dylan.[4]  His ex-partner Blair Cooper,[5] lived next door with her 3 young children with whom Madison was friendly. 

[4] A pseudonym.

[5] A pseudonym.

8Madison would often visit your unit and that of Blair and her children.  You regularly visited your mother’s house where Madison was living. 

9On an occasion between 1 August 2023 and 25 December 2023, you were at your mother's house in the lounge room with Madison.  You rubbed her vagina with your hand, under her clothing and penetrated her vagina with your fingers.  You inserted your fingers between the lips of Madison’s vagina and moved them 'down the slit, past the clit and then towards the bum.'  This is the basis of Charge 1.

10On another occasion between 1 August 2023 and 25 December 2023, you were again at your mother’s house in the lounge room with Madison.  You rubbed her vagina over her clothing for 5-10 minutes, put your hand under her clothing and rubbed her vagina underneath her clothing.  You had an erection and grabbed Madison’s hand, putting it on your erect penis over your clothing.  This is the basis of Charge 2, a rolled-up charge.

11On Christmas Day 2023 you were present at your mother’s house with your siblings.  You told your brother Dylan and your sister Quinn that you had naked photos and videos of Quinn’s girls on your phone.

12Dylan and Quinn took your phone and saw child pornography involving unknown children from the age of 3 years. They confronted you and you said you had a sexual attraction to children but denied knowing the child pornography was on your phone and said you did not know where it came from.

13Quinn asked you if you had touched her children and you denied doing so.  You were upset and crying and said you had been attracted to children since you were 14 years of age, you were a monster and that you were sorry and wanted to kill yourself.

14On New Year's Eve 2023 you were again at your parents’ house with Quinn, Dylan and his partner and some other friends.  You told Dylan’s partner that you were interested in children and that you were a sexual predator.  Quinn overheard this conversation. 

15An argument ensued between the adults during which you admitted that you had sexually touched Quinn’s daughter Madison.  You said, 'the girls have touched my penis and there’s nothing wrong with it.'  You said you were grooming kids.

16Quinn and Dylan took Madison into another room and asked her if you had been touching her.  She said yes and indicated her vagina area when asked where you had touched her.

17Madison participated in a VARE on 3 January 2024 during which she stated that you had touched her vagina, the part she uses to wee, under her clothing when she was at Nana’s house and at Uncle Dylan’s house.

18You were arrested on 3 January 2024.  Policed seized your black Samsung mobile phone.  Analysis showed some 748 images and 201 videos falling within Interpol Baseline Category 1 child abuse material.  I will not go into descriptions of the material which was fully outlined in the opening, save to say it included infants, toddlers and pre-pubescent children engaging in penetrative sexual acts. 

19Additionally, there were 403 images and 58 videos falling within Interpol Baseline Category 2 child abuse material. 

20You participated in a record of interview during which you told police:

(a)   You would rub Madison’s vagina until she would grab your hand or say no; 

(b)   You would get an erection when you rubbed Madison’s vagina;

(c)   On one occasion you rubbed Madison’s vagina at the unit you shared with Dylan (I note is an uncharged act);

(d)   You denied penetrating Madison’s vagina with your fingers but later admitted to doing so once or twice, putting your fingers between the lips of her vagina 'down the slit, past the clit and then towards the bum;'

(e)   It was Madison who instigated the touching by putting your hand on her vagina;

(f)    You dobbed yourself in and told your sister and brother that you had touched Madison;

(g)   You 'never really sexually assaulted her, just groomed;'

(h)   You should have been someone that she could trust, and you should have been someone that was there to protect her, but you were everything but;

(i)    You knew it was wrong and that you should not have done it;

(j)    You are attracted to little girls…the younger generation…below the legal age; and

(k)   You dealt with your urges by looking at child pornography online.

Gravity of the offending

21Sexual offending against children is abhorrent.

22The offending in Charges 1 and 2 involves a gross breach of trust in relation to your young niece.  She trusted you as an uncle and your responsibility was to care for her, not to offend against her. 

23I further note that Madison was only 6-7 years of age at the time of your offending against her and that your offending took place in her own home, where she was entitled to feel safe.

24When sentencing for CAM offences, there is a well-established list of considerations to be taken into account.  These include:

(i)The nature and content of the material;

(ii)The number of items or images possessed;

(iii)Whether the material is for the purpose of sale or further distribution;

(iv)Whether an offender will profit from the offence;

(v)The number of children depicted and thereby victimised; and

(vi)The length of time for which the pornographic material was possessed.

25In your case there was a vast amount of CAM, some 1410 Category 1 and 2 images in total.  There is no evidence of sale, exchange or profit, however, the nature of the material is abhorrent.

26The number of images represents a vast number of child victims, who were harmed in the production of these items.  They included infants being violated in the most unimaginable ways. Each and every image involves a child victim.  These are crimes which cause real and lasting harm to children who are subjected to abuse for the vile gratification of offenders like you.  The public interest in the protection of children is high.

27I consider your offending to be serious and your moral culpability to be high. 

Plea of guilty and remorse

28As conceded by the prosecutor, your plea was an early one and saved your victim and your family members the ordeal of giving evidence.  Your plea also has significant utilitarian benefit.  You have saved the court and the community the time and expense of running a trial and in those circumstances you have facilitated the administration of justice and you are entitled to a benefit for that.

29While there is clearly a degree of remorse evident in your plea, remorse is a complex consideration in this case.  On the one hand you disclosed the offending and have demonstrated an acceptance of responsibility for it.  You told your sister that you are a monster, that you are sorry and that you wanted to kill yourself.  You said you should have protected Madison and you knew that what you were doing was wrong.  On the other hand, you said that there was nothing wrong with your offending, you never really sexually assaulted her, just groomed her and that Madison instigated the offending.

30Your counsel submitted that these conflicting expressions, while complicating the issue of remorse, are indicative of someone trying to come to terms with what they have done and struggling to accept it. 

31While I do accept that there have been, and continue to be, indications of remorse, the views you have expressed about the offending mean I cannot give remorse full weight in the sentencing exercise.

Victim impact statement

32I received a victim impact statement from Quinn Ashfield, Madison’s mother, which eloquently detailed the impacts of your offending on her.  She says that “how I’m struggling as a mother is completely different to how I’m coping as a sister.  As a mother I’m extremely angry and completely devastated, I now have an unhealthy rage that’s explosive and dangerous …  As a sister I’m deeply heartbroken and mourning the loss of my youngest brother, someone who I trusted more than anyone.”

33Ms Ashfield suffers from “intense and debilitating guilt” and is in the process of rebuilding her life following the revelation of your offending.  She says that “Unfortunately for my daughter and our whole family, the disclosure of the sexual abuse has led to increased distrust and difficulties in our relationship.  Learning about my child’s sexual abuse initiates a pervasive sense of loss and has permanently altered our lives forever.”

34The impact of your offending is clearly profound and will resonate with Madison, her mother and your wider family for a long time to come.

Personal circumstances

35I turn now to your personal circumstances. 

36You are an Aboriginal man, now 28 years of age, having been born in February 1997. 

37You are one of 5 children and spent your early years in Queensland.  Your parents separated when you were young and you spent a lot of time moving between Queensland and Victoria. 

38You completed primary school in Victoria and commenced high school here but completed Year 8 and commenced Year 9 interstate.  Your formal schooling then ceased and you found employment in butcher shops and then as a plasterer before moving back to Victoria aged about 17.  From the age of 14 you report experiencing depressive symptoms and looking at child pornography.

39You lived with your mother and stepfather and worked spray painting cars before becoming an arborist.  You began using cannabis daily and drinking to excess. You moved around for a number of years from the time you were 19 before your mother suggested moving back to be near family for support.   By the time of your arrest you were smoking cannabis daily and consuming about half a slab of beer a day but maintained full time employment. 

40You were remanded on 3 January 2024, your first time in custody, which has been spent in protection within a mainstream prison. 

41I received a clinical neuropsychological report from Ms Jane Lofthouse and a psychological report from Dr Mathew Barth.  Your counsel explains your reluctance to fully engage with the psychologist as being due to a lack of privacy during the interviews.  This resulted in you declining to answer questions about matters pertaining to sex and sexual offending. 

42Ms Lofthouse opines that your full-scale IQ score of 96 is an unreliable measure, and while you fall in the low average to average range of intellectual function, you are much better able to process nonverbal than verbal material.   You also present as having memory impairment and report being overwhelmed in social situations. 

43You report symptoms of depression and anxiety in the severe range for depression, the moderate range for anxiety and the mild range for stress.  Dr Barth found that your symptoms fall within normal limits for an individual in your situation. 

44While Ms Lofthouse opined that your intellectual impairment would have been one contributing factor in the criminal behaviour that led to your current charges, she also cites your social ineptitude and chronic drug and alcohol use as likely impacting your capacity for clear thinking.  With this, I note that Dr Barth diagnoses you with likely paedophilic disorder which seems to sit independent of any intellectual impairment.

45You were, as I have indicated, reluctant to discuss your interpersonal and sexual adjustment with Dr Barth, however, he states that while you were “very guarded about [your] sexuality, the gravity of [your] offending indicates significant dysfunction.  Specifically, [you have] accessed pornographic material depicting children and then acted out sexual behaviour with a female child from [your] family in the 'real world.'  This clearly indicates deviant cognitions and sexual arousal patterns involving underage individuals.  The escalation that was evident in [your] offending behaviour is very concerning.”

46Dr Barth also opines that you suffer cannabis use disorder and alcohol use disorder, both 'in remission – in a controlled environment.'

47While you believe there is no possibility you will reoffend, you expressed to Ms Lofthouse that you have experienced sexual urges towards younger children dating back to age 15.  I consider your need for treatment to be very high. 

Sentencing factors and considerations

48This was disgraceful offending against your young niece and the child abuse material you possessed was vile and depraved in nature. 

49General deterrence is of paramount importance when it comes to offending of this nature.  The sentence I impose must make it clear to others in the community minded to act as you have done that such behaviour will necessarily result in lengthy terms of imprisonment. 

50The sentence must also make it clear to you that the courts and the community will not tolerate offending of this type.  While you have only one irrelevant prior conviction, you need to understand that you must not offend in this way in the future. 

51Children in the community must be protected from you, both in relation to contact and non-contact offending.  You were assessed by Dr Barth as a 'low-medium' risk of sexual recidivism in relation to female children.  I consider your prospects of rehabilitation to be guarded, largely contingent on your meaningful engagement with sex offender treatment programs. 

52When arrested, you made full and frank admissions, voluntarily disclosing that you penetrated Madison’s vagina in Charge 1.  Without this admission, the charge could not have been made out as the act of penetration was not disclosed by Madison in her VARE. 

53Where an offender provides proof of an otherwise unknown offence, a significant benefit must be applied in moderation of the sentence I impose on that charge.  This is known as a Doran discount[6] and must be a significant one, as without your admission there would not have been a charge. 

[6] The Queen v. Doran [2005] VSCA 271

54Both counsel sensibly submitted that the only available sentence is a term of imprisonment involving a head sentence and a non-parole period, moderated by your disclosure in relation to Charge 1.    

55I note that Charges 1 and 2 are standard sentence offences with standard sentences of 10 and 4 years respectively.  The standard sentence for an offence is a sentence that, taking into account only the objective factors affecting the relative seriousness of that offence, is in the middle range of seriousness.  I must take the standard sentence into account as one of the factors relevant to sentencing.  This requirement is to be treated as a legislative guidepost having the same function as the maximum penalty, it does not affect the established instinctive synthesis to sentencing or require or permit two-stage sentencing.

56The court must only have regard to sentences imposed in cases where the standard sentence regime applies, and I was provided with the following comparable cases by Ms Kelly: DPP v Dillon (a pseudonym) [2024] VCC 1070; DPP v Sutcliffe (a pseudonym) [2024] VSCA 63; McPherson v The Queen [2021] VSCA 53; and Tobin v The Queen [2021] VSCA 180.  I have had regard to these cases, although each case ultimately turns on its own particular facts and circumstances. 

57I have taken the standard sentences for sexual penetration of a child under 12 and sexual assault of a child under 16 into account as one of the factors to consider in my instinctive synthesis of all the relevant factors in your case.  The sentence I have imposed on each of these charges is lower than the standard sentence.

58Should I impose a term of imprisonment on Charges 1 and 2, as I am going to do, you will fall to be a Serious Sexual Offender on Charge 3.  While it is then open to me to impose a disproportionate sentence on Charge 3, the prosecution does not call on me to do so and I do not intend to do so.  Protection of the community will nevertheless be an elevated consideration on Charge 3.   

59There is also a legislative presumption of cumulation in relation to Charge 3 given you are a serious sexual offender in relation to that charge. 

60I further take the principle of totality into account, noting in particular that the offending in Charges 1 and 2 involves the same victim.  The victim of Charges 1 and 2 is not alleged to have been depicted in the CAM in Charge 3. 

61I note you are in a mainstream prison but serving your remand in protection based on the nature of the charges against you.  I accept this involves further restrictions being placed upon you. 

Disposition

62On Charge 1, sexual penetration of a child under 12, you are sentenced to 5 years imprisonment. 

63On Charge 2, a rolled-up charge of sexual assault of a child under 16, you are sentenced to 2 years and 9 months imprisonment.

64On Charge 3, knowingly possess child abuse material, you are sentenced to 3 years imprisonment. 

65I direct that Charge 1 be the base sentence.

66I direct that 1 year and 9 months of Charge 2 and 2 years of Charge 3 be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on Charge 1 and on each other.

67That makes a total effective sentence of 8 years and 9 months imprisonment. 

68I direct that you serve a minimum non-parole period of 5 years and 5 months imprisonment before being eligible for release on parole. 

69I note that you have served 422 days of pre-sentence detention pursuant to s.18 of the Sentencing Act 1991, excluding today.

70Having sentenced you to a term of imprisonment on each of Charges 1 and 2, I declare that you are to be sentenced as a serious sexual offender on Charge 3.  This will be noted on the record. 

71Pursuant to s.34(1)(c)(ii) of the Sex Offender Registration Act 2004, having been found guilty of one Class 1 and two Class 2 offences, you are to be subject to mandatory registration on the Sex Offenders Register for the rest of your life.    

72While there is an inherent artificiality in the following declaration given you notified police of your offending in Charge 1, doing the best I can, pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that had you not pleaded guilty the sentence I would have imposed would have been 12 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 7 years and 9 months.

73Would you please sign the acknowledgement of registration paperwork.  Ms Kelly, you can assist if you wish.