Director of Public Prosecutions v Beeby

[2017] VCC 385

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-16-02196

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JONATHAN BEEBY

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE LACAVA
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	31 March 2017
DATE OF SENTENCE:	6 April 2017
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Beeby
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2017] VCC 385

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:         Procuring a minor for child pornography.
  Sexual Penetration of a child under 16.
Sentence:      2 year Community Corrections Order.
  Sex Offenders Registration.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms K. Churchill
For the Accused	Mr A. Pyne

Pages 1 - 6

 

 

HIS HONOUR:

1Jonathan Beeby, you have pleaded guilty to three charges of procuring a minor for child pornography, Charge 1, 6 and 7, one charge of make child pornography, Charge 2, sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16, one charge of that, Charge 3, two charges of attempt to procure sexual penetration of a child, Charges 4 and 5, and one charge of possessing child pornography, Charge 8. 

2The maximum sentence for each of these offences is ten years' imprisonment, save for the charge of attempt to procure a child for sexual penetration, where the maximum sentence is five years' imprisonment. 

3The circumstances of your offending is set out in the prosecution opening on plea.  It was read in open court by the prosecutor and accepted by your counsel as being accurate and as being a proper basis upon which I can proceed to pass sentence. 

4The offending occurred over a two year period between January 2014 and January 2016.  At the time, you were a young offender aged between nearly 18 and nearly 20 years of age.  You have no prior convictions.

5It is not necessary that I here, set out in detail, all the facts surrounding your offending which was set out in the prosecution opening and these sentencing remarks need, necessarily, be read in conjunction with that.

6I refer to your offending in a very summary way.  You approached the complainants on Facebook and by various means, solicited nude photographs of them, which were sent to you and store by electronic means.  When police interviewed you in relation to one of the complainants, you told them you had nude photographs of another and when she was interviewed, they were told you had sexually penetrated her in various ways during the course of a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. 

7Charge 3 is representative of two occasions of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16.  At the time of this offence, you were aged between 17 and 18 and the complainant was aged 14.  Each of these offences is serious. 

8Your offending in Charge 3 is the most serious.  However, given the nature of the relationship you had with the complainant and your young age, whilst the offence is a serious one, your offending falls towards the lower end for this kind of offending, in my opinion.  In my view, the same might be said of your offending in the other charges. 

9You have pleaded guilty and did so at the first available opportunity.  By pleading guilty, I think you have expressed appropriate remorse and by your pleas, you have saved the time and cost of a trial and you have avoided the necessity of each of the complainants having to relive these events and give evidence against you.  For that, you are entitled to a reduction in sentence. 

10I treat your pleas of guilty at the earliest possible time as indicative of genuine remorse, which I note you have also expressed to the psychiatrist you have consulted, Dr Flowers, from whom I received a report. 

11There are no victim impact statements filed.  Whilst your offending might affect some of the victims emotionally in the future, your offending, in my view, is not of the kind that one often sees, where there is a lasting adverse effect upon the victims. 

12Your counsel, Mr Pyne, filed a detailed outline of submissions, which I marked as Exhibit 1.  In passing sentence, I have had full regard to the content of that outline.  In particular, I accept his analysis of the circumstances of offending in relation to each of the named complainants and it is unnecessary for me here to say more.

13Normally, in this kind of offending, the driving principle behind any sentence is proper application of the principle of general deterrence, together with denunciation. 

14However, you are a young offender in circumstances where you have pleaded guilty, expressed appropriate remorse and have no prior convictions, there is less need for the sentence to reflect general deterrence and the principle driving the sentence is that of rehabilitation.  I have assessed your prospects for rehabilitation as good and, in my view, the court should do nothing to impede your progress towards a full rehabilitation. 

15You left school after Year 10, after which you did little for a while but since early last year, you have been employed as a labourer for a business conducted by your brother, as a roof tiler.  I admitted into evidence a number of references from family members, which all speak well of you. 

16You suffer no psychiatric or psychological illness and there is no suggestion of misuse of either drugs of alcohol. 

17The complainant in Charge 3 would appear to have been your first and only relationship and from the report of Dr Flowers, it would appear that you previously have little insight into the gravity of your offending but you now appreciate that what you did was wrong.

18You come from a good family, who are in court to support you.  Your counsel submitted that an appropriate disposition was for me to make a community corrections order and that disposition was not opposed by the prosecution in all the circumstances. 

19In my view, a sentence which would send you to prison would have a deleterious effect upon you and would set back your rehabilitation.  It is in both the communities interest and your interest that I deal with these charges by making a community corrections order with conviction.  I have had you favourable assessed for such a disposition. 

20On each of the charges, I make a community corrections order with conviction for a period of two years.  There will be conditions to the community corrections order which will provide for 150 hours of unpaid community work, supervision and that you undergo treatment and rehabilitation programs to reduce reoffending.  In particular, the sex offenders program and the time you spend undertaking such programs will be credited to the hours of unpaid community work.

21For the purposes of s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I say that had it not been for your pleas of guilty to the charges at the earliest possible opportunity, I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of three years with a non-parole period or two years.

22Because you have been convicted of these crimes, you are a registerable offender under the provision of the Sex Offenders Registration Act with reporting obligations for life. 

23Now, I have been asked to make what is called a s.464 forensic sample order, which for the order stated in the order I will make, that order was not opposed; the making of that order was not opposed.  I will also make an order for disposal of an iPhone, which was not opposed. 

24Now, Mr Beeby, you need to understand that for the period of the next two years, you must not commit another offence punishable by a term of imprisonment; do you understand that?

25OFFENDER:  Yes.

26HIS HONOUR:  If you do, you can be brought back before me for breach of the community corrections order and you can be sent to gaol; do you understand that?

27OFFENDER:  Yes.

28HIS HONOUR:  Now, one thing you need to speak to Mr Pyne about is this, because of these offences, you are what is called a registerable offender under the provisions of the Sex Offenders Registration Act.  Speak to Mr Pyne about that act because the obligations upon registerable offenders are very onerous and unfortunately, you are going to be a registerable offender for life; do you understand?

29OFFENDER:  Yes.

30HIS HONOUR:  You need to understand how that may affect you because if you do not comply with all the provisions of that act, you can commit an offence.

31OFFENDER:  Yes.

32HIS HONOUR:  If you do that in the next two years that, itself, can trigger a breach of the community corrections order; do you understand?

33OFFENDER:  Yes.

34HIS HONOUR:  I urge you, strongly, to speak with Mr Pyne or to take some legal advice about all of your obligations under that act, all right?

35OFFENDER:  Yes.

36HIS HONOUR:  Now, just step out of the dock, if you would, and come forward next to Mr Pyne.  Now, I have signed that community corrections order,
Mr Beeby, and on the writing of the court, you will be free to leave.  I just need to draw one other matter to your attention, I have been asked to sign and I have signed an order for the taking of a forensic sample from you.  Having regard to the seriousness of these offences and the fact that the order was not opposed and I believe it is in the public interest that I make that order, I have signed it.  But what it means is that you will have to report to the officer in charge at the Lilydale police station at 6-10 Albert Hill Road, Lilydale during the period of the next four weeks; do you understand?

37OFFENDER:  Yes.

38HIS HONOUR:  An officer is authorised to take a sample from you, which is just a swab from the inside of your mouth; do you understand that?

39OFFENDER:  Yes.

40HIS HONOUR:  You will have to comply with that order.

41OFFENDER:  Yes.

42HIS HONOUR:  All right?  Very well, any questions arising out of that,
Mr Donaghy?

43MR DONAGHY:  No, thank you, Your Honour.

44HIS HONOUR:  Mr Pyne?

45MR PYNE:  I wonder whether he is supposed to receive a notification of his obligations under the Sex Offenders Register?  He has got that, okay.

46HIS HONOUR:  Yes.

47MR PYNE:  Sorry, Your Honour, I just wanted to ‑ ‑ ‑

48HIS HONOUR:  I would be grateful that - you have heard what I have said, I would be grateful if could just spend a few minutes going over that because I hate to see offenders, particularly young offenders who may not appreciate how onerous that act is and I do not want a triggering a breach of the community corrections order.

49MR PYNE:  Yes.  I was anxious that there was a document to give to him to take home.

50HIS HONOUR:  Yes, well my associate has got that and I would be grateful if you did that.  Thank you, Mr Pyne.  Thank you, Mr Donaghy.

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