Director of Public Prosecutions v Andrew Brosonham (a pseudonym)
[2025] VCC 30
•28 January 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT GEELONG
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| ANDREW BROSONHAM (A PSEUDONYM) |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE MULLALY |
WHERE HELD: | Geelong |
DATE OF HEARING: | 27 November 2024 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 28 January 2025 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Andrew Brosonham (a pseudonym) |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 30 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW - SENTENCE
Catchwords: Indecent Act With a Child Under 16 – Persistent Sexual Abuse of a Child Under 16 – Sexual Assault of a Child Under the Age of 16 – Sexual Penetration of a Child Under the age of 12 – Sexual Activity in the Presence of a Child under the age of 16 – Possession of Child Abuse Material.
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1958; Sentencing Act 1991.
Cases Cited:Henderson (a pseudonym) v The King [2024] VSCA 78; John Gordon (a pseudonym) v The Queen [2013] VSCA 343; Armstrong v The King [2024] VSCA 316; Brown v The Queen [2020] VSCA 212; Morris v The Queen [2016] VSCA 331; RH McL v The Queen [2000] HCA 46;203 CLR 452.
Sentence:Total Effective Sentence of 22 years and 10 months Imprisonment with a non-parole period of 16 years and 10 months. Offender is sentenced as a serious sexual offender and upon release is ordered to report to the Sex Offenders Register for life.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr D. Brown | Office of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | Mr A. Pyne | Barwon South West Lawyers |
HIS HONOUR:
1Andrew Brosonham[1], you have pleaded guilty to 16 charges set out on Indictment P10198358.3. Fifteen of those charges relate to nine young children who you sexually abused. A sixteenth charge relates to your possession of child abuse material. The nine children were all young boys whose ages at the time of your sexual abuse of them ranged from six to 12 years old. I will elaborate in more detail shortly on how it was that you had access or created opportunities to sexually abuse the victims, and I will expand upon the circumstances of each offence of sexual abuse of each victim.
[1] A pseudonym.
2At this point, by way of introduction, it needs to be kept in mind, that though in some instances your conduct was not as serious relative to what you did to other victims, each and every instance of sexual touching and abuse is a serious crime warranting condign punishment. The sexual abuse, included touching victims on their genitalia over the clothes they were wearing, fondling directly with the victim's penis and testicles, and then this escalating to taking the victim's penis into your mouth, or oral penetration, you then encouraging victims to touch each other's penis, and watching as this happened, and then anal penetration of some victims with your finger. This brief outline is not all that occurred. Various victims spoke of the types of offences occurring often or on multiple occasions. That is reflected in the nature of the charges, which include five separate charges of persistent sexual abuse of a child.
3While in modern times the courts, and indeed the whole community, are more acutely aware of the prevalence of sexual abuse of children, it is important that this does not cause anyone, in particular the courts, to become in some way immune to the horrors involved. In my view, it is necessary to refer to, to repeat and never forget the compelling first words that commenced the report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse:
'The sexual abuse of a child is a terrible crime. It is the greatest of personal violations. It is perpetrated against the most vulnerable in our community. It is a fundamental breach of the trust that children are entitled to place in adults. It is one of the most traumatic and potentially damaging experiences and can have lifelong adverse consequences'.[2]
[2] Commonwealth, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Final Report – Preface and Executive Summary (2017) p.5.
4Still broadly speaking, the victims here were neighbours, family members or part of a church that you and your family were part of. Your access to the victims in order to sexually abuse them was not so much when you just happened to come across them; rather, you organised and created situations - in fact you built private spaces - to enable your sexual abuse to occur and continue undetected. This aspect elevates the gravity of your offending.
5Firstly, in this regard, it is to be noted that you were married during the time of your sexual abuse of the victims. You were married in 2008. You and your wife could not or did not have children; rather, in 2017, you and she secured a permanent care order for a child then aged two, in effect taking the child into your own home and treating him as your son. In the materials, the arrangements were referred to as adopting your son. In due course, you sexually abused this child, who I will refer to as your own child.
6You also encouraged or organised for your child to have members of your wider family, and friends from the church and neighbours to come over to your house to play or for playdates. What you did specifically was to encourage and facilitate the young male friends, neighbours, family members to not only come over to your house for playdates but to stay overnight for sleepovers. It was during these sleepovers that some of the serious sexual abuse occurred. Also, as organised by you, when other young children came to your house, you took them to a local or local swimming pools and used the private family change room facilities to sexually abuse the children.
7To return to the sleepovers, which at first occurred in the family home, which in the relevant times was in East Geelong. At a point you went to considerable efforts to build a mezzanine-type floor or loft in the top of the garage, which was, as I understand it, separate from the house. You referred to this area in the garage as the loft or the cubby. It was used almost exclusively for sleepovers once it was constructed. You told your wife that you would sleep in the loft with the young boys, indicating to her that she would thereby be able to sleep in peace in the house. Also, she got the impression that you sleeping in the loft was part of enhancing your father-son relationship. It, of course, had much darker purposes.
8The time frame of your offending is by and large in 2022 and into the early weeks of January 2023. There were some charges from earlier times, which I will detail shortly. Your offending came to light in and around 20 to 23 January 2023. Ultimately you voluntarily attended the Geelong police station on
25 January 2023. You were interviewed and made some admissions. The police searched your premises on 26 January 2023, seizing computer equipment. There was found 1,600 child abuse material images and videos, which became the subject of Charge 16.9Turning to each of the charges, the first sexual abuse of one of the victims was earlier than the other charges. The first victim was a neighbour. That single incident was in the period July 2016 to 31 August 2017. You were living in Newcomb with your wife at the time. The victim was about eight years old and would come to your home regularly. One on occasion after dinner, your wife went to bed early as she felt unwell. You were playing a card game with the victim. As he stood up or was standing rearranging the cards, you pulled his pants down. The victim was shocked. What he did next reveals just how shocked and distressed this eight-year-old victim was. First he immediately said 'What the fuck?' He then ran to the kitchen and grabbed a sharp knife, which he held towards you. The noise caused your wife to come from her bed to where you and the victim were. She saw him with the knife threatening you and saying words to the effect that you had just pulled his pants down. You denied what the victim was alleging. Unfortunately your wife believed your lies, not the child.
10The next offending set out in Charge 2 involved a young child whose parents were part of your wider family and were part of the church as well. The victim was between the ages of nine to 12 when he was abused. The charge is one of the charges of persistent sexual abuse. It involved five instances of you touching the victim's penis and testicles when he was at your home for a sleepover, sometimes sleeping in your son's bedroom and other times in a separate room. You came into the room where he was sleeping or lying. You lay next to the victim, engaging him in chat about video games or a topic he was interested in while you then took the opportunity to sexually touch him.
11The next charge, Charge 3, is also one of persistent sexual abuse. The victim's parents were part of the church. The brother of this victim was also sexually abused. He is the victim of Charge 8, which I will come to. The victim with respect to Charge 3 was just 10 years old at the time your abuse commenced. The charge covers the period July 2022 to December 2022.
12The first instance that is particularised as one of the instances making up the charge of persistent sexual abuse occurred when the victim and his brother were at your house for a sleepover. You, the victim, his brother and your son were in the lounge room watching a movie. You sat next to the victim and covered both of you and he with a blanket. You put your hand under the blanket and under his pants and played with the victim's penis.
13The second instance was almost identical, being another sleepover where you again touched the victim's penis while both of you were seated on a couch with a blanket over you and while you and he and others watched a movie. On this occasion, unlike the first, the sleepover occurred in the loft. You slept then along with the victim, his brother and your own son. You slept next to the victim and commenced rubbing his back and buttocks before moving your hands to fondle his penis. You then manoeuvred yourself so that you could orally penetrate the victim, continuing this until the victim said to stop.
14The next morning, you took the boys to a local swimming pool. You arranged for yourself and the young boys to have a private family change room. There you introduced the victim and his brother to what you called ‘boys' club’. On this occasion, all the young boys were naked, as were you, showing the boys your penis. You touched the victim's penis. He saw you touch the penises of other boys.
15The last occasion particularised as part of the charge of persistent sexual abuse was when the victim was at your house with his brother, your son and a young neighbour playing on the trampoline with water as well. The victim and your son went up to the loft to change out of wet clothes. You then came up the ladder to the loft. While the victim was naked, you touched him on his penis.
16The next charge, Charge 4, is again one of persistent sexual abuse. The victim was known to you through family and church connections. He came over for sleepovers once the loft was completed. Your abuse of him was between July 2022 to January 2023. He was between eight and nine years old at the time.
17The first instance of abuse was when the victim was at your house for a sleepover. You, the victim and your son were watching a movie. You covered the victim and yourself with a blanket, and at one point you put your hand inside the victim's pyjamas and fondled his penis. After the movie, you, your son and the victim all slept in the lounge room on that occasion. You again touched the victim's penis, inserting the child's penis into your mouth.
18In January 2023, you and the victim's family were with other church families camping in Ocean Grove. On one day, your son had a birthday party in Geelong. You drove him there, and the victim came along as well. After dropping your son at the birthday party, you continued driving the victim to your house. You took this opportunity, as you drove along with one hand on the steering wheel, to put your other hand inside his pants and underwear to fondle the victim's penis. Once at your home, the victim was playing video games when you went to where he was and rubbed his penis before putting his penis in your mouth. As you did this, you stroked your own erect penis. At this time, you got your phone out and showed the victim child abuse material in which a child forced another child to give oral sex while an adult watched. Beyond what is obviously of great concern in showing this child abuse material to the victim, you then told the victim that the child was 'enjoying it', adding further abhorrence to this sordid incident. On another occasion when the victim had a sleepover and was in the loft, you touched his backside before inserting your finger into his anus.
19The next charge, Charge 5, involves your abuse of the young boy I have referred to as your own son. The victim was very young when you abused him, and his capacity to recall specific incidents was limited. He was between six and seven at the time. The offending, again charged as persistent sexual abuse, was between July 2022 and January 2023. The victim described in general terms being sexually abused and seeing you sexually abuse the other victims, his friends, neighbours and family members. He spoke of an instance of you putting his penis in your mouth in the loft while he played video games. He also spoke of you putting your own naked penis on his naked bottom and rubbing it. This was in the victim's bedroom when your wife was out. He spoke of a time seeing you orally penetrate another victim and then showing that victim and your son child abuse material on your phone depicting scenes of oral penetration. Your son spoke also of this concept, or the ‘boys' club’, when you took the victim to the swimming pool and into the family change rooms and how this involved you and the other victims also touching and sucking each other. He also spoke of how you emphasised that the ‘boys' club’ was to be kept a secret.
20The remaining charges, 6 to 15, were charges arising from single incidents.
21Charges 6 and 7 involved two young neighbours aged 12 and 8. Charge 6 involved you touching over the clothing the thighs and buttocks of the
12-year-old who was at a sleepover in the loft.22Charge 7 involved the younger brother, who recalled you touching him on his penis over his clothing in the loft. You had, at one point, by opening up your fence between the victims' house and yours and by describing the gap as the portal, and by other significant amounts of attention given to the neighbours, you encouraged and facilitated the young boys to come to your property to play and to go into the loft often.
23Charge 8 involved, as I have mentioned, the brother of the victim of Charge 3. He was about 10 when you rubbed his penis over and then under his clothing as he was in the loft for a sleepover.
24Charges 9, 10 and 11 also involve this victim.
25He spoke of being taken with others to the swimming pool and into a private change room where you spoke to him and others of the ‘boys' club’. He said you told the boys to touch each other's private parts, jump around and go silly. He spoke of touching other boys on the penis at your direction. You also directed him to touch your naked penis. This act was Charge 9, a sexual assault.
26Later that afternoon, when the victim was in the loft looking for his underwear, you came up, ostensibly to help him. You then showed him pornography involving oral sex before you then orally penetrated the victim. That is
Charge 10, sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12.27On 4 January 2023, when you and others from the church were camping at Ocean Grove, you took a number of the young boys to the local swimming pool. The victim had forgotten his bathers, and you bought him a pair. You took him to the disabled toilet to try them on. Once inside, you said 'We might do something rude', and then you took his penis into your mouth. Again, this was charged as sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12. That is
Charge 11.28Charges 12, 13, 14 and 15 all involved the one victim, a young eight-year-old member of your wider family and also, through his parents, part of the church.
29He came for a sleepover after the church group camping at Ocean Grove in mid-January 2023. Once he was in the loft with you and your son, you had the children undress. You too were naked. You showed the child abuse material on your phone with mostly children and some adults engaged in sexual activity. This was charged as engaging in sexual activity with a child, charge 12.
30You then took the victim's penis in your mouth and, as he said, 'copying the videos'. This was charged as sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12, Charge 13. You then had your young seven-year-old son suck the
eight-year-old victim's penis, and encouraged the victim to do the same, but he did not want to.31As the victim was falling to sleep in the loft, you then put your mouth on his naked bottom, which was charged as sexual assault of a child under the age of 16.
32He then felt you insert your finger into his anus, which was charged as sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12, Charge 15.
33As I have said, Charge 16 is one of possession of child abuse material. There was 1,600 child abuse material images and a few videos found on a computer seized from your study in your home. In your record of interview with police, you outlined that you had a long-term - that is, indeed, 25 years or
so - long-term problem with child pornography, which you described as 'way better' than regular pornography. You said you accessed the child abuse material using a separate laptop. You are by profession a computer IT specialist. You utilised your IT skills to erase most of your child abuse material collection from your devices. As I have noted, you exposed many of the victims to appalling child abuse material and pornography on your phone, including which you told one was a secret or separate phone so as your wife did not discover on your regular phone your child abuse material.34Your offending came to light when a slightly older child, a sister, overheard her brother, one of the victims, speaking of being shown pictures of naked people by you. This sister, with admirable maturity, told her father, who then spoke to his young son, the victim. This child was the victim of Charges 12, 13, 14 and 15 that I have just outlined. The victim revealed to his father what you had done. After hearing what his son had outlined, which was in broad terms what became Charges 12 to 15, the victim's father did not call the police but rather rang and spoke to the then head or pastor of the church, a Mr Reardon,[3] and he informed him what the victim had said. This was in the evening of 21 January 2023, the night the victim spoke of what had happened to his father.
[3] A pseudonym.
35Mr Reardon also did not contact the police that night or the next day; rather,
Mr Reardon called you, and on the morning of 22 January 2023, he asked you to come and see him. When you spoke to Mr Reardon, he informed you of what the victim's father had reported. He asked you if it were true. You broke down and admitted it was true. You admitted your long-term problem with pornography. You raised the names or name of other victims or victim. Again, with this admission, Mr Reardon did not then contact police.
36After making some admissions to Mr Reardon, you then went home and in tears made some further but still not complete admissions to your wife. You denied sexually abusing the victims of the persistent sexual abuse Charges 2, 3, and also denied sexually abusing the victims of Charge 6 and 7. Your wife then recalled and raised with you the older allegation made by the victim of
Charge 1. In response, you maintained that that victim had lied. You also in your admissions to your wife minimised your conduct. You said to her that if the last victim, the one who was overheard by his sister and then had spoken to his father, if he had 'not said anything, none of this would be happening'. You then kept a business appointment in Melbourne on 22 January 2023.37The next day, you sent texts to the father of the victim of Charge 2. Concerningly, in your text in which you apologised and said you had done something terrible, you expressed your concern that as a consequence, you would be put out of your church community permanently. This father spoke to your wife, who spoke of your conduct being the worst of the worst but oddly that it would be the primary school who would tell the police. The father spoke to you, and you made some limited admissions with respect to his son. His father spoke to the father of the victim of Charge 4, and they decided they should go to the police. This occurred on 25 January 2023.
38You then sent a text to the father of the two victims of Charges 3 and 8, 9, 10 and 11. Again you referred to the likelihood of you being kicked out of the church permanently. The victims' father rang you, and you made some admissions. His father rang the police immediately after speaking first to
Mr Reardon.39On 25 January, you also contacted the mother of the victims to Charges 6 and 7. You spoke of your problem with pornography and how you had sexually touched another victim in the loft. You denied sexually touching her children but said one of them - the eight-year-old, I think - in fact had a sexual problem himself evidenced by that victim grabbing you on the crotch. You did say you had touched this victim on his penis when he sat on your lap. Of real concern, you told the mother of these two victims, a single mother, that if she got the police involved, that may mean she would lose her children and not be able to keep them. She recorded part of the conversation. She said if you did not go to the police, she would.
40At 9 pm on 25 January 2023, you did go to the police. You were arrested and interviewed. The interview proceeded without the police having spoken to any of the victims. In your interview, you made admissions to offending against the last victim, who had made the first revelations, as it were, to his father. You spoke of taking advantage of the mother of the victims of Charges 6 and 7 to get to her sons. You repeated that the eight-year-old, I think, would grab you on your crotch. You also spoke of your long-term problem of watching and collecting child pornography. You spoke of being attracted to boys between the ages of eight to 12, especially 12-year-olds.
41As I have mentioned, in the days after your offending commenced, to come out to the first father, then to Mr Reardon, the leader of your church, and to the parents of other victims, you used the days before going yourself to the police to erase what was a massive collection of child abuse material. You said in your interview that you commenced erasing what was on your computer and other devices from 22 January 2023 because if you were to be arrested it would be nicer if the charges did not say '10 terabytes or whatever it is of child porn'.
42After the police secured the accounts of all the victims in video recordings and statements from their parents, you were given an opportunity to hear and respond to what they said. However, as is your right, you made no comment in this second interview.
43You have been in custody since 25 January 2023.
44The negotiations over charges between your lawyers and the Director of Public Prosecutions saw you plead guilty in August 2024. I accept that your plea of guilty is an early one. I will say more of the value of your plea of guilty shortly. Firstly, I want to outline what a number of the parents of the victims wrote in their victim impact statements.
45The mother of the victims of Charges 3 and 8 onwards write that there were no words that can describe how I feel about what you, the offender, did to her children. She knew you as a family friend through her husband and, as I said, considered you to be a friend. She came to be involved with your son, and involved your son in the lives of her children. She trusted you, unaware of how you manipulated things so as to have children, including her boys, at your home and in the loft. She herself suffered as a child and was determined to protect her own children, questioning at all points whether it was safe to allow sleepovers, but her trust of you did allow it. She was pregnant during the time of this offending, and when it came out, the truth of her boys bravely coming out diminished the joy of the family having a newborn. She wrote that she does not believe her or her husband will ever be the same. The grief is something she feels may never leave. She and her husband want to be there for their boys as they grow into their teenage years. She writes of how deeply difficult it is to trust anyone anymore.
46The mother of the two victims, the brothers who were neighbours, wrote in heart-wrenching but insightful ways of how she believes you targeted the family, exploiting vulnerabilities as she endeavoured to repair and manage a family breakup. You exploited her situation to get access to her boys.
47She wrote of the impact on each of her boys.
48Of the older child, she wrote he was a gentle, sensitive boy. He loved to draw, ride his bike and surf. Now he is mostly sad, and he finds human interaction stressful, and he often does not sleep. She said he has stopped speaking for over a year because he was so ashamed and too frightened to talk about what happened to him. Because he could not speak, he could not interact at school. He would get angry and run away from anyone who tried to help him. His friends did not understand, and eventually his friends drifted away. When he began high school, he could barely speak, could not concentrate and did not interact. Still, two years later, he is not able to make friends in high school. As a result, he is isolated, sad and lonely during school. He regularly attends counselling, and this has helped a little, but the road ahead is a long one, and I cannot see him returning to his previous self. He has spoken of what you did to him, and he feels shame and sadness that overwhelms him. He cries a lot and seems to long for the life he had before you sexually abused him. He talks often about how 'he used to be happy'.
49Her younger boy she describes as being very popular before the sexual abuse. He was always smiling and laughing. Everyone wanted to be with him. Everyone loved his warmth and humour. He was open to all sorts of experiences, considerate, curious and trusting. But since your sexual abuse of him, he has become more closed down, less open, less kind to others. The interactions with you confused and disoriented him. When asked about what had happened, he tried hard to be courageous and help the police. Since then, he has been a different boy. He is less talkative, less curious, and angrier. His anger sometimes turns to tears of frustration. He thinks - and I interpose wrongly - that he did something wrong. Of course, the wrongfulness of what occurred was entirely your wrongfulness. He somehow thinks things were his fault, and if he interprets someone else as telling him he has done something wrong, he instantly cries and often shouts, which he never did before. The mother deeply fears how this experience will affect him long term. He was too young to understand and manage the feelings. He has had counselling, but her concern is that the crime will affect both her boys for their rest of their lives.
50She speaks of other effects. She had to move house because there was too much pain and callousness and breach of trust surrounding that house. At the new house, the whole family became too fearful of others to leave. She was working but eventually, having taken a lot of time off, had to give up work. This had a significant impact on a one-person-income family. She says that this statement, albeit it is compelling, she feels that it does not articulate the damage that has been done. Unexpected pain seems to hit them both at times, and we struggle to trust others. She describes you having changed their lives forever and that she or her whole family will never fully recover and much of what we will have to face is still ahead of us.
51The Sentencing Act requires me to assess the gravity of your crimes and also your moral culpability.
52The factors that elevate your crimes to the level of being very grave examples of the always serious crimes of sexual abuse of children are the following.
53First, the very young age of the victims. The range was between six years old and 12. As such young children, they were particularly vulnerable. A measure of the decency and morality of a society is what is done to protect the most vulnerable. Also a measure is how the community and institutions such as the courts respond when the most vulnerable are dreadfully exploited and hurt.
54A second feature connected to the very young age of the victims is your admitted sexual or paedophilic attraction to young boys. This, it seems, is a deep-seated and abhorrent disorder in your thinking and your personality. You were willing to seek out and then act on your sexual perversities. This also elevates the gravity of what you did. It requires the court to punish for the harm you caused and to protect the community from you into the future.
55Thirdly, each of your crimes involves a profound breach of trust. Most of the parents of the victims knew you as part of the wider family and as part of the church that they adhered to, as did you. The church and its community was important to them. It seems it was a small community, and, as such, the community did much together, trusting each member to do the right thing generally. But, of course, specifically, everyone trusted others to nurture, rather than sexually abuse, the children. You comprehensively abused that trust.
56Specifically, and most egregiously, you breached the trust of your son, who you had been granted the care of due to what can be inferred were his difficult circumstances in his biological family. He was, of course, entitled to trust that your time with him, your relationship was to nurture and protect him, not to be for the purpose of sexually assaulting him for your own perverse sexual gratification.
57You breached the trust your wife had in you, and was entitled to have in you, to look after her and your child and all the friends and family members that you craftily arranged to be at your house or at the swimming pools in circumstances where she was not able to monitor your conduct.
58You breached the trust the community has in all parents to protect and raise and treat all children for the children's best interests. Friendship, sleepovers, trips to the swimming pool are important life events that should bring joy and go on to establish, usually, wonderful memories of childhood. You were the one trusted to ensure this. You gave the impression you were someone focused on bringing fun to the children. All you did was to give you access and opportunity to abuse and bring enduring pain and sadness to the children.
59In this regard, as I have noted, your considerable efforts to build or create the loft or cubby for sleepovers for your son and the other victims to ostensibly be in a place specifically for them, which in truth was to allow you unrestrained and undetected opportunities to sexually abuse them.
60Connected to that and elevating the offending is how you continued to use public facilities, the family change rooms at various swimming pools to create what was again a cruel and exploitative ruse, the ‘boys' club’. There you endeavoured to normalise sexual activity between all the children and yourself. It also gave you the cover to keep secret your crimes. You insisted that the ‘boys' club’ was a secret between those you abused and they were not to tell others what was really going on.
61A further deeply concerning aspect of your offending in the ‘boys' club’ environment, and also, in the last instances in the loft during a sleepover was your encouragement of the young boys, especially your son, to also sexually touch or suck another boy while you watched. It only has to be said for decent members of our community to be utterly bewildered that you could do such a thing.
62Another deeply concerning aspect of your offending evident in a number of instances, was the use of pornography, especially child pornography, to expose the young victims to what you were doing, or proposing. You again tried to normalise this perversity by in the one instance saying a child in the pornography scenes that you were showing was enjoying it.
63The number of the children or victims is a large number, relative to most offending of this kind. There are examples of more victims. But it is a factor adding to the gravity in that, the damage you caused is widespread and it seems you sexually abused each of the young children you came across. You were unrestrained. Further the offending only ceased when, as I said, one victim was overheard by a sister who reported to her parents.
64For a number of victims and in a number of instances, your sexual abuse involved touching or stroking the victims penis over or under clothes. However, as the Court of Appeal made clear in Morris v The Queen [2016] VSCA 331 paragraph 60;
'That while acts of penetration are properly to be considered as a signifier of seriousness (as it will be here) it is still a grave thing to fondle and masturbate a child's penis.'
65The Court of Appeal stated;
'While not penetrative each such act is a serious invasion of the victim's bodily integrity and autonomy.'
66Finally, the damage and harm to the victims and their families as expressed in the victim impact statements, and I infer to all victims and their families, is very significant independently and also as part of the assessment of gravity. As I said quoting the Royal Commission;
'Sexual abuse of this kind is one of the most traumatic and potentially damaging experiences and it can have life-long adverse consequences.'
67As to your moral culpability, self-evidently it is very high indeed. In short, you knew with crystal clarity what you were doing was profoundly wrong but you went ahead anyway. Expanding the number of victims and for some, the range and gravity of the offending.
68As I have endeavoured to make clear, your conduct was an attack on the social values that we all hold dear. Your punishment and my condemnation of your conduct must be, by its force and its sternness, a reassertion of the importance of those social values – the protection of children from sexual exploitation, the importance of trust, that is, parents in the community can trust others not to sexually abuse and harm children. And, self-control by adults not to allow perverse sexual conduct to harm anyone, especially children. These are all important values that must be firmly reasserted.
69As to your personal circumstances. There is for a case such as this, little that leads to an explanation much less, mitigation. You were born and raised and educated in Geelong. Your parents were supportive, your whole family were close and loving. Your parents were part of a community church. The pastor I have mentioned Mr Reardon, was it seems a dominant leader as perhaps evidenced by the fact that the victim's parents reported the crimes to him before the police. Your deep involvement is as I have set out, evidenced by one of your first reactions to your crimes being exposed was that you would be removed from the church permanently.
70As mentioned, you are by profession an IT specialist having gained a tertiary degree from Deakin University in this area. You have set up two businesses that designed and sold computer software, your working life was demanding. You met your wife through the church community, you dated briefly before marrying at age 21. You are now divorced and have no contact with her or your son who she continues to care for. You have little contact now with your parents.
71You were seen by the eminent forensic psychiatrist Dr Danny Sullivan. His report was very helpful. With respect to your psychiatric history Dr Sullivan noted that you had no previous contact or treatment with any mental health services. You did at one point obtain a referral to a psychologist in 2019 to discuss your sexual inclinations but you could not bring yourself to speak of it and nothing came of that appointment. Likewise, you said you contacted a Swedish group which advertised on the dark web to help those who are sexually attracted to children. However, you did not persist for fear of being exposed.
72You spoke to Dr Sullivan about your interest in pornography commencing in your late teens. And how you moved to child pornography and from both females and males to just males aged from five to 12. You utilised the dark web to obtain child abuse material, including chat sites seeking out images. It would seem you were using or securing child abuse material for many years. As mentioned, you referred to clearing or erasing your digital devices so as not to be found with what you described as terabytes of child porn.
73As to your mental state, you did not display any problems. You were candid about sexual issues. You acknowledged your long standing sexual interest in children. You appeared amenable to treatment. There was nothing about your mental state that lowers your moral culpability. Unsurprisingly following your arrest, you had a reactive adjustment disorder with mild anxiety and depressed mood. However, many of the symptoms appear to have resolved. There was no history or sign or symptoms of any cognitive impairment, psychosis or mental illness. It is not said that any aspect of your mental health will impact upon your time in prison, or be made worse because of it.
74Importantly Dr Sullivan concluded that you met the criteria for a paedophilic disorder which developed in your teens and has gradually increased, or it has become a more preoccupying interest. He was of the view that assessment by experts in the Forensic Intervention Services would be important to ascertain what treatment may be appropriate. Dr Sullivan thought you would as I have said, be amenable to treatment and would benefit from offence specific treatment.
75Your long standing paedophilia and the fact that you acted on these paedophilic interests and urges means that the protection of the community is of real importance. In this regard, I note you are still, relative to many offenders, a young man now at 38.
76There are a number of matters raised by your counsel in mitigation and appropriately so. First and most weighty was said to be your plea of guilty. Your sentence will be less because of your plea of guilty. While your plea of guilty came in mid-2024, you never intended at any point to contest these allegations. Your plea is important as it has relieved the very young victims of giving evidence, relieved the families of the victims of the stress of a trial. A trial would have been of some length absorbing significant resources. Your plea is also evidence of your remorse and acknowledgement of your wrong doing. In all respects it is a plea that is of significant weight.
77Your counsel emphasised your cooperation but acknowledged at first your admissions were incomplete and included false denials. But in broad terms you conceded serious sexual criminality. That too is of importance. In your first interview with police you made some admissions. You stated that;
'Confessions were the best thing for the victims affected and they and their families come first and I come second.'
78I take this into account in your favour. This approach while as your counsel said was not perfect, it is a matter that I consider assisted the prosecution of you and displays insight and remorse. These matters and the fact you have no criminal history can be legitimately called upon by you as indicating that you have good prospects to reform. Of course, any reform depends on your engagement with sophisticated treatment and the capacity of the treatment modalities to moderate the diabolically difficult issue of managing an ingrained sexual deviance or disorder such as paedophilia.
79Another matter raised by your counsel was the need for me to ensure that the principles of totality were given proper effect. That said, as acknowledged by your counsel given that after the second charge, that is from the 3rd to 16th, you will be a serious offender. That status means you must be sentenced differently to others who are not serious offenders.
80It seems to me that the proper application of the principle of totality gives rise to a number of important considerations. Firstly, the principle of totality requires that I fix appropriate sentences for each offence. It requires that when making orders for concurrency, or importantly, cumulation, I must ensure that the total sentence is proportionate to the overall offending. No more and no less. This must be so with respect to both a head sentence and the non-parole period. This is best achieved by considering the sentences individually. And then after cumulation, the total. And then, by finally stepping back and again reconsidering, so as to ensure that the sentences meet the totality of the offending, and adjusting if they do not. However, I must in the process give effect, or at least not ignore, the intent of parliament that serious sexual offenders like you are to be treated or sentenced differently to other offenders.
81As was said by Justices McHugh, Gummow and Hayne in their joint judgment in RH McL v The Queen [2000] HCA 46;203 CLR 452 with respect to the then provision of the Sentencing Act of Victoria. Those judges said;
'The need for judges not to compress sentences is especially important where the accused person is a "serious sexual offender" within the meaning of s16(3A) of the Sentencing Act, and similar provisions. Section 16(3A) gives effect to a legislative policy that serious offenders are to be treated differently from other offenders. It was plainly intended to have more than a formal effect, which is the effect it would frequently have if its operation was subject to the full effect of the totality principle. The evident object of the section is to make sentences to which it applies operate cumulatively rather than concurrently. The section gives the judge a discretion to direct otherwise. But the object of the section would be compromised and probably defeated in most cases if the ordinary application of the totality principle was a sufficient ground to liven the discretion. Sentencing judges need to be astute not to undermine the legislative policy inherent in s16(3A) by applying the totality principle to the sentences as if that section was not on the statute book.'
82Later in John Gordon (a pseudonym) v The Queen [2013] VSCA 343 Justice Redlich revisited the tension between the principle of totality and the provisions within the Sentencing Act. He importantly observed that one factor that would weigh in favour of cumulation would be when the objective gravity of the total offending increases.
83In my view here the only description that can be given to your offending is that the objective gravity is very significant. Accordingly, the principle of totality must have more limited application in the face of these serious offender provisions passed by parliament. The principles of totality are not wholly eliminated. But the statutory provisions must be appropriately applied.
84Separate from the serious offender provisions, reducing to a degree the operation of the principle of totality, there are other relatively recent statutory provisions which express parliament's view on the seriousness of sexual offences of this kind. The first of those is that, persistent sexual abuse,
Charges 2 to 5 and sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12,
Charges 10, 11, 13 and 15 are standard sentences, where the maximum term is 25 years. And the standard sentence is 10.85Sexual assault of a child under 16, Charges 6, 7, 8, 9 and 14 and sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16, Charge 12 are also standard sentencing charges with maximum terms of 10 years with the standard sentence fixed of 4 years. The other charges of indecent assault, Charge 1 and possession of child abuse material have maximum terms of 10 years.
86Also, persistent sexual abuse of a child under the age of 16 and sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12 are Category 1 offences. Meaning, the only available sentence is one of imprisonment. The gravity of your offending is such that a gaol term would always be the appropriate sentence with or without it being a Category 1 offence.
87But returning to the standard sentencing scheme. I am guided and apply, or have applied the principles articulated by our Court of Appeal in Brown v The Queen [2020] VSCA 212. Thus, the maximum term and the standard sentencing term are statutory guide posts. Also, the well-known sentencing methodology of instinctive synthesis remains the methodology for sentencing for offences that are standard sentencing offences. The large number of standard sentencing offences and the need for a proportionate sentence means, there must be, in this instance sentences imposed that are below the standard sentence.
88But in my view the objective gravity of the standard sentence, Charge 2, given the offending was sexual touching is significantly below the mid-level. With respect to Charge 3, the objective gravity is less than the mid-level but it is serious given the oral penetration. Charge 4 is the most serious crime with two oral penetrations and one anal penetration. The showing of child pornography and sexual assaulting while driving and you touching your own penis when touching the victim. In that instance the victim was between eight to nine years old. The offending was over some time. The offending warrants a sentence near, but just below the standard sentence. The offending again involving your son, which involved oral penetrations, rubbing his bottom with your naked penis, showing him child pornography and offending in the presence of others, is at a serious level, but below the standard sentence as expressed by parliament.
89Charges of sexual assaults, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 14 were examples of offending, due to other matters such as totality, means that the sentence must be well below the standard sentence. Likewise with Charge 12, the sexual activity with a child is a crime involving showing child abuse material and is properly assessed in my view as well below the mid-level and below the standard sentence. The sexual penetrations, 10, 11, 13 and 15 were all grave crimes where the appropriate sentence are at a level below, or just below the standard sentence.
90Turning from those technicalities to more general and important matters. I need to make clear that our society, our parliament and the courts all hold the same firm attitude that sexual offending against children is abhorrent and a serious crime requiring that significant weight be given to the punitive sentencing purpose of denunciation. My condemnation of what you did and the harm you caused must be more than the words expressed here in these sentencing remarks. There must also be the practical articulation of denunciation by the imposition of years of imprisonment.
91So too must there be significant weight given to deterrence to others. It must be made clear by the imposition of years of imprisonment that if you are thinking of, or in the least tempted to enter the dark world of actual child abuse or the collecting of child abuse material, then sentences of many years of imprisonment await. I must give primacy to protection of the community principally by removing you from our community for many years. Also to protect and to give you hope to rehabilitate. I also will establish conditions to facilitate your rehabilitation via the only tool available to me, which is the setting of a
non-parole period. Whether and when you are released on parole is for others, not the court.92As the Court of Appeal has recently stated or restated, in Armstrong v The King [2024] VSCA 316 delivered on 17 December 2024, there are no fixed formulas in the fixing of a non-parole period. It is, that is the non-parole period, is to be the minimum term that justice requires to be served in prison. Further, common ratios of between 60 and 75 per cent ceased to be of much guidance when the head sentence is itself a long one. Indeed, it was said when the head sentence is in the order of 10 years or more, then the common ratios cease to be of much guidance.
93In this case, the standard sentencing regime requires that a non-parole period be 60 per cent unless there is good reason for it to be fixed lower. It will not be. There are no good reasons. In your case the head sentence has been fixed and a length of that is in my view, appropriate. And justice requires a minimum term that is significantly more than percentages such as 60 but less, in my view, than 75 per cent. But that said, if it were more, it may prompt appellate review in the absence of an explanation. I do hope that I have explained clearly why it is that the non-parole period will be fixed where it is. The fundamental is that in my view, the period that I will announce as your non-parole period is the minimum that justice requires you to be incarcerated.
94Your overall prospects for reform, do depend on treatment for your paedophilic disorder which, as I have observed, is diabolically difficult to treat, minimise and more so, to reverse. But that said your past character, your insight and intelligence and your amenability to psychiatric treatments as observed by
Dr Sullivan means your prospects of reform are better than many other paedophiles dealt with by these courts.95Although not strictly comparable standard sentencing regime sentences, I have had regard to the recent case dealt with in the Court of Appeal of Henderson (a pseudonym) v The King [2024] VSCA 78. That case involved some charges of persistent sexual abuse and other charges of separate sexual offending, which also involved friends of a family member coming to the accused man's house where they were abused separately and together. There were aspects of the offending which were aggravating, such as offending while on bail for other sexual offending. Other features such as, and importantly, an augmented benefit for that accused for pleading guilty during the COVID crisis. Those matters distinguish that case together with the explained reduction in the sentence after a successful appeal.
96But I have considered the sentencing principles involved in that case. And generally, in those important appellate decisions involving serious sexual offending against multiple young children. But I have done so mindful of the restrictions imposed by the standard sentencing regime. But of course, each case is to be dealt with on its own particular and unique circumstances.
97I have given this sentencing task much anxious consideration. I found it as difficult as any, if not more difficult than many sentences I have imposed over what is now many years on the Bench. Doing the best I can I impose the following sentences and I will then announce the orders for cumulation. I will explain that the orders for cumulation will be expressed in month.
98This going to take some time you can take a seat.
99Charge 1; you are sentenced to two months imprisonment.
100Charge 2; three years and six months imprisonment.
101Charge 3; five years and three months imprisonment.
102Charge 4; will be the base sentence. You are sentenced to eight years imprisonment.
103Charge 5; six years and six months imprisonment.
104Charge 6; eight months imprisonment.
105Charge 7; 12 months imprisonment.
106Charge 8; 12 months imprisonment.
107Charge 9; two years imprisonment.
108Charge 10; six years imprisonment.
109Charge 11; seven years imprisonment.
110Charge 12; 12 months imprisonment.
111Charge 13; six years imprisonment.
112Charge 14; 18 months imprisonment.
113Charge 15; seven years imprisonment. And,
114Charge 16; two years imprisonment.
115The orders for cumulation are as follows;
116Charge 1; will be entirely concurrent.
117Charge 2; I will order that, 10 months be cumulative.
118Charge 3; 24 months be cumulative.
119Charge 5; 30 months be cumulative.
120Charge 6; two months be cumulative.
121Charge 7; four months cumulative.
122Charge 8; four months cumulative.
123Charge 9; four months cumulative.
124Charge 10; 18 months cumulative.
125Charge 11; 24 four months cumulative.
126Charge 12; two months cumulative.
127Charge 13; 18 months cumulative.
128Charge 14; three months cumulative.
129Charge 15; 30 months cumulative. And,
130Charge 16; five months cumulative.
131Those are all cumulative upon the 96 months imposed on Charge 4. The total effective sentence expressed in months is, 274 months, or 22 years and
10 months. And I fix a minimum non-parole period of 16 years and six months.132I declare that you have served a period of time in prison which has escaped me.
133MR PYNE: 734 days.
134HIS HONOUR: You have already 734 days in custody. This figure having been reckoned, I now declare that is part of the sentence that I have just imposed. I will ensure that declaration is entered into the records of the court so that the prison authorities are left in no doubt that you have already served that 734 days as part of the sentence.
135From Charge 3 onwards, I declare that you are a serious offender or sometimes termed a serious sexual offender. I will ensure this declaration is entered into the records of the court. As a consequence of the offences that you have committed, I order that you be placed on, or registered as part of the Sex Offenders Register. The period of time is mandatory and it is for life. Had you pleaded not guilty to these offences and been found guilty of them, I would have imposed a sentence of 27 years with a non-parole period of 22.
136Are there any other orders?
137MS THRELFALL: Your Honour just an order for disposal of that (indistinct).
138HIS HONOUR: Yes, the disposal order will be made. Any other?
139MS THRELFALL: No, Your Honour
140HIS HONOUR: Any other matters Mr Pyne?
141MR PYNE: No, Your Honour, as the court pleases.
142HIS HONOUR: Thank you. I will be available if the mathematics doesn't add up. But we have checked and rechecked it and I am confident.
143Mr Brosonham is to return back down stairs with the prison authorities. Your lawyers will explain to you the next steps. I should say and I think I'm required, just bear with me, that as you are now to be on the register you will be provided with some documents that explain to you what is required of you. This will all be when you are released. To register; the consequences of not registering and complying with all the onerous conditions are very significant. You have responsibilities, your lawyers will explain that to you. I have to ensure that you are given documents. I think that is right Ms Threlfall?
144MS THRELFALL: Yes, Your Honour.
145HIS HONOUR: Yes. And I have to sign a document that says, I gave you the documents and you have to sign a document that says you got them. I don't know why but that seems to be how the legislation is drafted. That might take some time, have we got that? Yes. That's fine. The first document I sign to say that he's required - once we get this back it will be sent to the Chief Commissioner of Police, that is how it works. There is a bundle of documents he keeps as to what is required of him. He has got to sign that he gets them. It is to be signed in front of someone but I am just going to deal with it this way. I am going to sign that it has been explained to him. And he can sign it, I will sign it later in the day.
146MR PYNE: Yes, Your Honour.
147HIS HONOUR: I think he understands that. It says something about signing it in front of an associate, that is not going to happen, that is young associates signing things for sex offenders is not going to happen.
148MR PYNE: Yes, Your Honour.
149HIS HONOUR: So you take these documents and get him to sign it and return it back to the court. If he wants to do it straight away that's fine. If he needs some time we'll get it later in the day.
150MR PYNE: Yes, Your Honour.
151HIS HONOUR: All right, are you going to see him now?
152MR PYNE: I'll go and see him, yes Your Honour.
153HIS HONOUR: Yes.
154MR PYNE: It's been signed Your Honour.
155HIS HONOUR: All right, well I will sign it as well. All right that now completes that. Mr Brosonham you're to go with the prison authorities. I thank counsel for your assistance.
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