Director of Public Prosecutions v Beilby
[2017] VCC 1243
•2 August 2017
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR-16-02253
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| CRAIG BEILBY |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE MASON |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 27 July 2017 (at Latrobe Valley) |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 2 August 2017 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Beilby |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2017] VCC 1243 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Trial - sentencing
Catchwords: Sexual penetration of child under 16 - indecent act with child under 16
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991, Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004
Cases Cited:
Sentence:8 years’ imprisonment, 6 years non-parole period
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions at hearing | Mr K. Doyle | Office of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | Mr A. Trood | Oakleys Law |
HIS HONOUR:
1Craig Beilby, on 19 July this year you were found guilty by jury verdict of four charges of indecent act with a child under the age of 16 and six charges of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16.
2Each of these offences carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
3The offending occurred between May 2008 and December 2009. You were born on 1 December 1962, and were aged between 45 and 47 at the time of offending. You are presently aged 54.
4You have no prior criminal history, but there is subsequent offending, about which I will go into more detail later.
5The victim was born on 30 September 1994, and was aged between 13 and 15 years during the relevant time.
6The victim had experienced a fractured childhood. There were eight children. Her mother was an alcoholic, and her father lived in Tasmania and had nothing to do with her. A sister died in the same month the victim turned 13. The victim used to regularly run away from home to a post office corner in her local town. On one such occasion she met your daughter, Sharon.
7Sharon befriended the victim and introduced her to your church, the Assembly of God Church in Leongatha. The victim began to regularly attend church services at the Assembly of God Church, and particularly attended the Youth Group meetings run every Friday night from 7 pm to 9 pm.
8You, Mr Beilby, together with your family, were also heavily involved with the Assembly of God Church, and through church associations met the victim. You had a particular role at the church, controlling the music from a place known as the sound desk.
9Due to the disharmony in her own family, the victim spent a considerable amount of time with your family, and she began to regularly go to your house and take part in family events. During this time, the victim began to sleep over at your house on two out of four weekends from Friday, after Youth Group meetings sometimes, to Sunday. On other occasions, she would spent Saturday night at your house. You lived on a farm on Beilby’s Road, Leongatha.
10Your relationship became so tight-knit that the victim would often refer to you and your wife as "Mum" and "Dad".
11The circumstances of the offending are as follows.
12As to Charges 1 and 2, indecent act with a child under 16 years: between May 2008 and September 2008, whilst the victim was staying at your house, you got into her bed and cuddled up next to her. She got up from bed and went and sat on the couch in the lounge room, to where you also went. You asked her to sit on your knee, rubbed her body, cuddling and kissing, and then said to her "Let's go to the room where it's more comfortable".
13You both laid down on the bed in your bedroom, and you began caressing the victim's body, touching, kissing, rubbing over her breasts and between her legs. The victim says she thinks you touched her breasts both over and under her clothing. This conduct is represented by Charge 1.
14Because of the victim's uncertainty concerning whether the touching was over or under her clothing, you fall to be sentenced on this charge on the basis that it was over her clothing.
15You then moved your hand down between her legs, rubbing near her vagina over her clothing. This conduct is represented by Charge 2. You only stopped when you heard your wife's car coming down the driveway.
16The victim was aged between 13 to 14 years old.
17On another occasion, when the victim was 14 years old, you took her to a shed that was on the Beilby property. You rubbed the victim's body with your hands, both over and under her clothing. You also kissed the victim on the lips and put your tongue into her mouth. You also touched her breasts, both over and under her clothing. This conduct is represented by Charge 3.
18During about the same time, you suggested that the victim take over the music desk at the church with you. You told the victim that you would teach her how to control the desk, and when you were doing this, you would sit next to her. When seated like this, you used your hand to touch between her legs near her vagina. This conduct is represented by Charge 4.
19You and the victim had discussed having sexual intercourse, and you told her that you had “had the snip", meaning vasectomy, so that she could not get pregnant to you.
20On a later occasion, you picked the victim up from her home late at night, after having already dropped her off after a Youth Group meeting. You drove back to the church and went to a downstairs room. You both became naked, and lay down on the floor. You began kissing the victim on the mouth, including using your tongue. You caressed her naked body on the breasts and vagina. You then got on top of the victim and inserted your penis into her vagina. This act is represented by Charge 6.
21On another occasion, when the victim was in Year 7 or 8 at school, you picked her up after school, and you drove into the bush area in Leongatha near a place called Narenna Hall. You moved your pants down, took the victim's pants off, and had penetrative penile sex. This conduct is represented by Charge 8.
22On another occasion, you again picked the victim up in the 4WD, she thought possibly again after school, and you drove to the Koonwarra Cricket Ground. You both got into the back cargo area of the car and lay down. You began to kiss each other. You took your pants off and put your penis towards the victim's lips, indicating that you wanted her to “suck it". You then put your penis in the victim's mouth. This is represented by Charge 9.
23You then inserted your penis into the victim's vagina, and you had sexual intercourse. This is represented by Charge 10.
24The victim said on this and other occasions where you had intercourse with her you had continued until ejaculation.
25Between 30 September and December 2009, when the victim was 15 years old, you picked her up in your 4WD on another occasion, and drove her down a dirt road to somewhere in the scrub near the back of your farm. You and the victim got in the back cargo part of the 4WD and lay down. There, on this occasion, you took off her pants, fondled her vagina and rubbed her clitoris with your finger. This act is represented by Charge 11. On this occasion the victim cried because "it felt weird", and she felt very uncomfortable.
26Throughout this period of your sexual activity with the victim, she said that she felt loved, that you told her she was beautiful, and that she did not say anything because she did not want to hurt you.
27In November 2009, when the victim was 15 years old, she moved to Bairnsdale with her family. She gave evidence that you arranged to get work in that area, and that your sexual relationship continued in motels or hotels.
28On a particular occasion in December 2009, you two met. You picked her up in your car and drove to a motel. You took the victim's clothes off in the motel room and you took your own clothes off. You both laid on the bed on top of the covers. You began kissing the victim, fingering her by digital penetration, and then had sexual intercourse. This is represented by Charge 13.
29Your sexual relationship with the victim continued about once a month throughout 2010 in Bairnsdale. The victim turned 16 years old on 30 September 2010.
30You and the victim continued to meet up and have sexual intercourse at a motel in Bairnsdale after she turned 16 years old. The victim and you continued your sexual relationship until she ended it when she was 17 or 18 years old. You do not fall to be sentenced on any alleged sexual conduct outside the period of this indictment.
31The further evidence was led in combination with other evidence only for the purpose of its capacity, if accepted by the jury, of placing the relationship that existed between you and the victim into context, and demonstrating your sexual interest in her.
32As a result of your offending, the victim has suffered emotionally with issues of depression, insomnia and difficulties in intimate relationships. She has lost her connection with religion, which had been a great support and comfort to her, and feels great distress in now attending a church because of its association with the offending.
33I now turn to your personal circumstances.
34As I noted earlier, you were aged from 45 to 47 when this offending occurred, you are now aged 54, and whilst there is no prior offending, there is subsequent offending. This is a matter that may be taken into account as to your prospects of rehabilitation.
35The circumstances of this further offending have a chilling similarity to one aspect of your offending against the present victim. You fondled that victim sexually whilst she was with you at the music station at the church. It was a representative count. She was aged seven.
36In April 2016, on appeal to the Morwell County Court on one charge of indecent act with a child under 16, you were sentenced to six months' imprisonment, four months of which were suspended for 12 months.
37You were born in Leongatha and spent your teenage years in Geelong. Since then, you have lived in the Latrobe Valley for most of your life. You are the eldest of three children.
38You have three children. Two daughters (aged 32 and 31) are from your first marriage in 1984. You were remarried in 1998. You and your second wife separated in early 2015, have lived apart since then and are engaged in Family Law Act proceedings for division of assets. You have one child from your second marriage, now aged 18. He suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder and resides with his mother.
39You attended Geelong Technical School and completed Year 12, failing two subjects. Later in life, you were diagnosed with dyslexia.
40You undertook an apprenticeship in Leongatha as a linesman with the State Electricity Commission at age 17 years. You then worked for the SEC for the next 18 years until the major privatisation changes occurred within Victoria's power industry. You were retrenched in about 1998 as a result of the privatisation changes.
41At the time of retrenchment, you were running district operations for the SEC, being responsible for Leongatha and surrounding areas. You were directly in charge of two employees and a further 50-plus operations staff.
42You then gained employment as a technical officer with a company which supplied electrical support work for the electricity industry. You worked for them until 2003. You then changed jobs to Eastern Energy in Leongatha as a technical officer doing similar work. You were retrenched in May 2016, and have not worked since.
43I am told that these convictions will mean the loss of your career, and that the skills you have are not readily transferrable to other occupations.
44You require daily medication to treat both diabetes and high blood pressure.
45You have the ongoing support of your father, your two daughters and your first wife, however your eldest daughter resides in the United States, and your younger daughter in New South Wales. No doubt this isolation will be an ongoing cause of stress and make your time in custody more difficult.
46The crimes of sexual penetration and indecent act with a child under 16 are serious, and in the case of penetration, usually result in immediate imprisonment and for a significant term.
47Sexual assaults against children are unfortunately not uncommon, and are to be deplored. The courts are expected to protect the rights of children. The victim in this case was a vulnerable young teenage girl who, despite apparent willingness to engage with you in sexual activity, should be understood as needing to be protected at a time of emerging emotions and understanding of sexual activity and its consequences.
48Your conduct was disgraceful. It involved a great breach of trust, and was sustained regularly over a protracted period. From a position of power and trust, you ruthlessly preyed on a young and tragically vulnerable girl who had come into the protection and support of your family by the grace of your compassionate daughter. The victim effectively had no other home where she felt loved. You satisfied your lust by exploiting her in the most sinister way. Your seduction began with cuddles and subtle touching of intimate parts. You told her you loved her.
49You pleaded not guilty to the charges and ran a contested committal. Whilst this was your right, there can be no credit given for any remorse. Whilst the age of the victim over the period of offending was approaching the age of 15 and 16, your culpability remains a serious example of this offending for your significant breach of trust.
50I am guarded about your prospects of rehabilitation. These matters and your subsequent conviction for similar conduct suggests a serious vulnerability on your part to paedophilia.
51In mitigation, I take into account the matters urged on your behalf by your counsel, including:
· your age (54) and your medical condition,
· that you had no previous conviction for any offence prior to this offending,
· that you have worked hard, responsibly and consistently for all your working life, raising and caring for effectively two families,
· that you had experienced a period of extended anxiety during the delayed period of 12 months between when you were interviewed and when charges were laid, and
· the loss of your second marriage and reputation, which will impact on your future employment.
52The basic purposes for which a court may impose a sentence are punishment, deterrence (being both specific and general), rehabilitation, denunciation and protection of the community. In sentencing, I must have regard to a range of matters, such as the seriousness of the offending, your culpability for it, its context, your personal circumstances and those of the victim. I am required to balance the interests of the community in denouncing criminal conduct with the interests of the community in seeking to ensure that as far as possible, offenders are rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
53I have taken into account current sentencing practices by the courts in cases of this kind. I have been assisted by the Sentencing Snapshots and Sentencing Overviews publications for the examples they have summarised, limited in detail though they may be. I have also been assisted by recent decisions of the Court of Appeal for the guidance they provide.
54Within the context of other cases, ultimately each case must be decided on its own particular circumstances.
55I note that under the serious offender provisions of the Sentencing Act 1991, on your conviction and sentence to a term of imprisonment, whether suspended or not, on two sexual offence charges, I am required on the sexual offence charges thereafter to regard the protection of the community from you as the principal purpose for which the sentence is imposed. If necessary, in order to achieve the purpose of protecting the community, I am empowered by s.6D of the Sentencing Act to impose a sentence greater than is proportionate to the gravity of the offence.
56This means that (taking into account your conviction in 2016) the sentencing task in respect of Charges 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 on the indictment is to be undertaken on the basis that the protection of the community from you is the principal purpose for which the sentences are imposed, and to achieve that purpose, sentences may be imposed longer than that which is proportionate to the gravity of the offences considered in the light of the objective circumstances. However, because of the circumstances and mitigating circumstances of your case, I do not propose to do so.
57I note here that the Crown did not call for a disproportionate sentence as contemplated by s.6D of the Sentencing Act.
58Section 6E of the Sentencing Act also requires that unless I otherwise direct with respect to Charges 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13, the sentences I impose are to be served cumulatively. Allowing for the matters I have already outlined, in my view it is not appropriate to impose cumulation other than that which I have ordered.
59Mr Beilby, could you please now stand.
60On Charge 1 of indecent act with a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment;
61On Charge 2 of indecent act with a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment;
62On Charge 3 of indecent act with a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment;
63On Charge 4 of indecent act with a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to nine months' imprisonment;
64On Charge 6 of sexual penetration of a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment;
65On Charge 8 of sexual penetration of a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment;
66On Charge 9 of sexual penetration of a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment;
67On Charge 10 of sexual penetration of a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment;
68On Charge 11 of sexual penetration of a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment;
69On Charge 13 of sexual penetration of a child under 16, you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
70Charge 6 is the base sentence.
71I direct that 1 year of each of the sentences imposed on Charges 8, 9 and 13, 6 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 11 and 2 months of each of the sentences imposed on Charges 2, 3 and 4 be served cumulatively on the sentence imposed on Charge 6 and upon each other.
72The total effective sentence is 8 years' imprisonment.
73I direct that you serve a minimum term of 6 years' imprisonment before being eligible for parole.
74The sentence starts today.
75You may sit down for the moment.
76Pursuant to s.18(4) of the Sentencing Act, I declare that the period of 14 days, not including today, be reckoned as time already served under this sentence, and I direct that the fact of this declaration and its details be noted in the records of the court.
77There is a further matter to which I need to attend. The offences to which you have pleaded guilty are registrable offences pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004, and by reason of your being sentenced for these offences, you are a registrable offender obliged to comply with the reporting obligations imposed by that Act. Pursuant to s.50 of that Act, I am required to give you written notice of your reporting obligations and the consequences that may arise if you fail to comply with those obligations. I am also required to inform you of the length of your reporting period, which in your case is for life.
78My associate will shortly hand to you the Notification Of Reporting Obligations form, which I have already signed. Your representative in court today,
Mr Trood, will ensure that you understand the requirements set out in this form, and I will ask you once it is given to you to sign the Acknowledgement that you have received the Notification form, and to return the Acknowledgement to my associate.79Could the Sex Offenders Registration materials please be passed to Mr Beilby? Mr Trood's instructing solicitor may assist with that process.
80MR TROOD: Thank you Your Honour.
81HIS HONOUR: At the plea hearing, the Crown sought an order for the taking of a forensic sample. I have made that order today for the reasons noted on the order, namely, the seriousness of the circumstances of the offending warrants the making of the order, the order is not opposed and the granting of the order is in the public interest.
82I must inform you that if at the time of the request you do not consent to the taking of a mouth scraping under the supervision of an authorised member of the police force, then the sample to be taken will be a blood sample, and police may use reasonable force to enable that procedure to be conducted. Do you understand that, Mr Beilby?
83Are there any other matters from either counsel?
84MR TROOD: No Your Honour.
85MS MOLETA: No Your Honour.
86HIS HONOUR: All right, could you remove the prisoner please? Just before you go, I will mention custody management issues on the order, in terms of your medication.
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