Director of Public Prosecutions v Blackburn
[2023] VCC 2020
•2 November 2023
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-23-00605
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| CHRISTOPHER BLACKBURN |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE BLAIR | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 23 & 25 August 2023 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 2 November 2023 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Blackburn | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2023] VCC 2020 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Criminal Law – Sentence
Catchwords: Sexual penetration of a child under 16 – encourage a child under 16 to engage or be involved in sexual activity – plea of guilty – rehabilitation – mental health
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991; Sex Offender RegistrationAct 2004
Cases Cited:Brown v R (2019) 59 VR 462; Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169; Clarkson v The Queen [2011] VSCA 157
Sentence: Total effective sentence of 14 months imprisonment combined with a Community Correction Order for a period of 2 years
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr D. Cordy | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms K. Temperley | TEAK Legal |
HER HONOUR:
1Christopher Blackburn on 23 August 2023 you pleaded guilty to encouraging a child under 16 to engage or be involved in sexual activity and sexual penetration of a child under 16.
2On this day I adjourned the further hearing of your plea and ordered an extended pre-sentence report from Community Correctional Services. I have since received this report. You have been assessed as suitable for such an order.
3On 19 October 2023 a further plea hearing took place and I adjourned to today for sentence.
Circumstances of offending
4The summary of prosecution opening contains the agreed factual basis of your offending. This document was tendered on your plea and marked as Exhibit A. What follows is a summary.
5At the time of your offending, you were aged 39 years. Your victim was aged 14. Approximately two years prior to the offending, you met Beth Hyland,[1] the victim's mother, and formed a friendship. This friendship involved drinking at each other's homes and regularly playing pool. The victim would be present at most of these gatherings.
[1] A pseudonym.
6You formed a friendship with the victim, which became flirtatious. The victim was aged 13 at that time, and you were aware of her age. Beth and a friend noticed you and the victim getting very close. You were told multiple times by Beth to create space between yourself and the victim.
7You began having frequent communication with the victim via text messages and phone calls and your relationship became intimate in September 2022 when you and the victim first kissed.
8On 19 August 2022, whilst attending a party at the Hyland house, Beth was cautioned by another attendee regarding your behaviour to the victim. Both you and the victim were present at this party.
9On 16 September 2022, Beth and a friend went to spend time together, leaving the victim at home with you and Walter Gough.[2] Gough was intoxicated and went to bed. Shortly after this, he woke up to the sound of you kissing the victim next to him in the bed. Gough heard the victim say to you, 'Maybe we shouldn't do this with Walter asleep next to us.' To which you responded, 'You are the most beautiful girl that I have slept next to in a long time.'
[2] A pseudonym.
10Gough became upset and left the room. The victim approached Gough and said, 'It was an accident, it wasn't supposed to happen.' You told Gough 'You need to calm down, nothing happened.'
11Beth was informed shortly after. The victim disclosed to Beth that she had kissed you. Beth asked Gough what he had witnessed and told Gough that she would deal with it. When asked by Beth about the situation, you said that you left as soon as it happened.
12In late 2022, you flirted with the victim, purchased jewellery for her birthday, and sent her inappropriate text messages. You were confronted about these messages by Beth. You apologised and told Beth you might give up alcohol as a result.
13Sometime between 1 October 2022 and 15 December 2022, the victim, along with two friends, left her school at lunch time to meet you in a nearby carpark. You were sitting in your car and were not seen by the victim's friends who went a separate way.
14The victim got into your car, and you began hugging and kissing. The victim told you they wanted to perform oral sex. You told her you did not want to make her uncomfortable by making her do something she did not want to do.
15You pulled your shorts down and exposed your penis, which the victim proceeded to suck before an unknown person walked past the car. This prompted the victim to stop. This is the offending in relation to Charge 2 – sexual penetration of a child under 16 years.
16When walking back to school with her friends, the victim told them that she had performed oral sex on you.
17In mid-December, during a trip away, the victim created a new Snapchat account and communicated with you. The victim changed your name to 'Husband' on Snapchat. The phone that the victim used belonged to the brother of one of her friends.
18Between 15 and 18 December 2022, the victim stayed at a friend's house in Bendigo. During this time, the victim and her friend would go for several walks each day to meet you at a nearby park.
19During these walks, you were observed to kiss the victim, give her hickeys, bite her ears, talk about things of a sexual nature, and suck the victim's breast in front of their friend. The victim would sit on your lap to give you an erection.
20The victim's friend took photos of you and the victim kissing. You would provide cigarettes to the friend so she would go with the victim to meet you.
21On 18 December 2022, you called the victim via Snapchat. This was observed by the father of the child whose phone the victim had used to create the Snapchat account. The father did not answer the call, but scrolled through the Snapchat messages and noticed they were of a sexual nature.
22The father called you using the victim's Snapchat and asked why you were calling his child's phone. Upon observation of the messages by the mother, she realised the messages were between you and the victim.
23The victim spoke to her mother, telling her mother that she liked you more than she had said previously, and that you had had conversations of a sexual nature. The victim's mother called you and demanded you come to her house with your phone and that you not delete anything.
24You said you were unavailable as you were picking up your children, and you would attend the house the next day. Whilst picking up your children, you told your ex-partner that you had sent inappropriate messages on Snapchat and you were going to be in trouble.
25The mother of the victim's friend contacted the Bendigo police and informed them of the Snapchat messages she had located. She also told the police that the messages were of a sexual nature, including photos of the victim's breast, your penis, and a specific message from you regarding your intention to have sexual intercourse with the victim.
26The police arranged for the victim to attend for an interview, and for the phone used for the Snapchat conversations to be provided to police. During a VARE conducted with the victim, she disclosed the oral sex incident, and other grooming behaviour by you.
27The police also discovered a range of messages of a sexual nature between you and the victim. These messages included photos of your penis and the victim's breasts.
28The basis of Charge 1: Encouraging a child under 16 to engage in or be involved in sexual activity is the messages sent by you between 15 and 18 December 2022, including the photos.
29On 19 December 2022, you met with Beth to discuss the incident. Beth recorded this conversation, where you said that you talk to the victim but denied there being anything sexual. You were arrested shortly after this, and your phone was seized.
30An arrest warrant was conducted at your home, where four electronic devices were located. A Cellebrite Extraction Report was conducted on your phone which discovered a large number of texts between you and the victim.
31Similarly, to the Snapchat messages, the texts were of a sexual nature.
32During your interview, you disclosed to police that you were close to the victim because the victim would open up to you about difficulties she was having. You also told police that the victim was a 'cuddly person' and would be very hands on with you.
33You told police that you spoke to the victim via text, but that any flirting was unintentional. Further, you said that the conversations would just get carried away. This was specifically regarding the sexual things that would be said.
34You admitted to the police that you sent the victim a photo of your penis, and that you received a photo of the victim's breasts. When asked about specific messages you had sent to the victim, you explained that they were just words.
35You initially told the police that the most intimate you had been with the victim was a tongue kiss. However, later in the interview you informed the police that the victim had attempted to perform oral sex on you.
Victim impact statement
36Two victim impact statements were tendered by the prosecution at your initial plea hearing, one from the victim and one from the victim's mother.
37The victim did not want their statement read out in Court. Part of the reason for this was the victim not wanting their mother to hear their statement. The victim provided the statement directly to me, via the prosecution, and while I will not detail the exact nature of the statement, I will note the following: your offending has very clearly had a damaging, significant, continued, and life-altering effect on your victim.
38The statement of the victim's mother was read by the prosecutor, Mr Cordy. The statement detailed the significant impact your offending has had on the victim's mother.
39She has been ostracised in her community, blamed for your actions, and is suffering physically and mentally from the repercussions of your offending. Your offending has crippled a relationship between mother and daughter.
40In sentencing you I take into account the serious impact of your offending on both the victim and her mother, as detailed in their victim impact statements.
Nature and gravity of the offending
41Mr Blackburn clearly your offending is very serious as has been properly conceded by your counsel. Sexual offending against children is abhorrent. Children are one of the most vulnerable groups in society and there is a presumption that children will be harmed and must be protected from sexual exploitation and premature sexual experience of all kinds.[3]
[3] Clarkson v The Queen [2011] VSCA 157.
42Mr Cordy for the prosecution submitted that there were several factors that contributed to the seriousness of your offending. First the extended time period over which the offending in relation to Charge 1 occurred. This offending did not involve a single incident, it involved three days of in-person meetings, text messages, and Snapchat messages, all of a highly sexual nature. Further, you had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with the victim for at least two months prior to this time.
43Second, Mr Cordy submitted the significant age disparity between yourself and the victim, some 25 years difference was an aggravating feature. Further, he submitted that the victim was particularly vulnerable, owing to her diagnoses of Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, depression and anxiety.
44Next, Mr Cordy submitted that you had a number of opportunities to consider your actions, reflect on your wrongdoing and stop. However, despite being confronted on multiple occasions, you continued to engage in an inappropriate relationship and conversations of a sexual nature with the victim.
45Further, you did not attempt to hide your actions; you engaged openly in flirtatious and sexual misconduct with the victim in front of other people. Notably, the oral sex incident occurred in a public carpark and was potentially viewed by others. Lastly, as a father yourself, you should have been deterred from this type of offending.
46Ms Temperley, on your behalf conceded the following factors were relevant to the assessment of the gravity of your offending:
(a) The relative ages between you and the victim. You were 25 years older with the complainant being 14 and you being 39.
(b) The victim was vulnerable by virtue of a range of behavioural and mental health difficulties.
(c) The offending occurred over a number of months albeit there was a single incident of penetrative offending.
(d) The offending was opportunistic in that you had met the complainant through a friendship with her mother and had regular contact in that context.
(e) Although you encouraged the relationship and gave the victim gifts this occurred within what you believed was a loving relationship with the victim and was not traditional grooming.
(f) The offending did not involve the risk of pregnancy as it involved oral sex. Whilst conceding that you were the adult in the relationship your counsel submitted the incident of oral penetration was instigated by the victim.
(g) Your offending involved only one victim.
(h) There was not a formal relationship of authority between yourself and the victim. However, you were a family friend and to that extent your offending involves a breach of trust.
(i) Your offending did not involve degradation or humiliation. Rather it involved genuine but entirely illegal affection.
(j) There was no form of threat or coercion employed by yourself.
(k) You have never sought to blame the victim for your offending.
(l) The presumption of harm that so obviously attaches to this offending is conceded. Your counsel also conceded that your offending involved direct and indirect harm to the victim as detailed in her victim impact statement and as can be seen by the breakdown in the relationship between the victim and her mother.
47In my view your offending is undoubtedly serious. However, it occurred in the context of a loving albeit illegal and impermissible relationship. You should have known better. Not only do you have children yourself, but you knew the victim was vulnerable and you had been warned by the victim's mother on numerous occasions not to continue your attention toward her daughter.
48You are to be sentenced for the one act of penetrative sexual contact and 3 days of encouraging the victim to be involved in sexual activity. This of course is to be seen against the background of uncharged behaviour for which you are not to be punished but which sets the scene and puts your offending in it's true context.
Standard Sentencing
49The charge of sexual penetration of a child under 16 has a standard sentence of 6 years' imprisonment. The standard sentence only takes account of the objective factors affecting the relative seriousness of the applicable offence. Standard sentences are to be taken into account as legislative guideposts in the sentencing process.
50In considering the impact of standard sentencing on your case I have considered the decision of Brown v R.[4] In particular, when sentencing for a standard sentence offence I must take the standard sentence into account as one of the factors relevant to sentencing. The standard sentence is not to be viewed as a starting point and it does not affect the established instinctive synthesis approach to sentencing. It does not require or permit two-stage sentencing and does not otherwise affect the matters which I may or must take into account in sentencing. Accordingly, I have taken the standard sentence detailed above into account as one of the factors to consider in my instinctive synthesis of all the relevant factors and I will reflect this in the sentence I impose.
[4] (2019) 59 VR 462.
51Further, so far as consideration of current sentencing practices are concerned, s5B(2)(b) of the Sentencing Act requires a court, when considering current sentencing practices for a standard sentence offence, to only consider sentences previously imposed where the relevant offence was subject to the standard sentencing scheme.[5]
[5] Sentencing Act 1991 s 5B(2)(b).
Personal circumstances
52You were born in May 1983. Your parents separated when you were young and your mother struggled to care for you and your siblings. Tragically you were placed in foster care aged 5.
53You remained in foster care from age 5 to 12, during which time you were exposed to verbal and physical violence. You were placed in a home with a single mother, who had other children. One of your sisters stayed with you, whilst another sister stayed with your mother, and they moved to the UK some years later.
54Upon a visit to your mother in the UK, you disclosed the physical violence you had endured. Your mother moved back to Australia and reclaimed you and two of your siblings. Over time your mother has re-partnered, however, these men were generally abusive to you and your mother.
55You recall, at age 15, that your mother's then partner made her choose between her children, including you, or him. Your mother chose her partner, which resulted in you couch surfing for some time. You briefly found accommodation in a caravan park with the assistance of St Luke's. You stayed in the caravan park for a month, before couch surfing until you turned 18.
56Around age 18 or 19, you tracked down your father in Newcastle. However, he stated he wished to have no further contact with you, and you have not spoken since.
57You are the father of two children aged 12 and 10, the mother of whom is your ex‑partner Ms Barbara Higgins.[6] You separated permanently from Ms Higgins roughly four years ago, owing to Ms Higgins's significant mental health struggles.
[6] A pseudonym.
58In the four years prior to your arrest, your children were in your care. During this time, you lived in Queensland for two years, before returning to Heathcote so that your children could spend more time with their mother.
59This period of time where you had full care of your children has helped to improve your relationship with your mother, with whom you have had regular contact whilst on remand. You have more limited contact with your siblings. You are fearful of reaching out to your sister as you are fearful of rejection or reprimand given the details of your offending.
60Schooling was a struggle for you such that you required a teacher's aide. As a result of family movement, you attended several schools, the last school you attended was in South Australia and you left school in Year 8 around the age of 14 or 15 and have completed no further studies. The struggles you had at school were both academic and social, with you being the victim of bullying.
61Financially over the years you have been reliant on Centrelink benefits as a result of your difficulty remaining focused and your own mental health struggles. Most recently, you worked part time as a painter. In this capacity you were working approximately two days per week, and this had continued for the last two years.
62In addition, as mentioned you have been a stay-at-home father.
Substance use
63At the age of 14 you began smoking cannabis and did so daily until you took over full time care of your children four years ago. You also regularly abused Valium and Tramadol for approximately five or six years prior to your arrest.
64In the 12 months leading up to your offending and arrest, you began consuming alcohol heavily. You were drinking 12 beers a night and a bottle of vodka each week.
65Mr Cummins, psychologist was of the opinion that you were suffering from an Alcohol Use Disorder of moderate severity at the time of your offending. Further, Mr Cummins noted that consumption of alcohol to the degree you disclosed would have cause you a degree of disinhibition, however he noted that you did not seek to blame your offending on your alcohol misuse. Moreover, you have completed an alcohol course on remand and intend to continue abstinence from alcohol upon release from custody as a result of your offending.
Mental Health
66Mr Cummins opined that you have provided a history which was indicative of you having suffered symptoms of major depressive disorder with associated features of anxiety and traumatisation. At interview you told Mr Cummins that it was not until you were in your mid to late 20s that you began to regularly think about your dysfunctional upbringing.
67It was around this time when you were in your late 20s that you first received treatment for depression, although you did not persist with such treatment. Whilst on remand you have been prescribed antidepressant medication with positive effect.
68Approximately five years ago, you set up a noose during a particularly strong period of depression. You were separated from Ms Higgins at the time and lacked family supports. You also made an attempt on your life shortly after being placed on remand. You were placed in isolation for a week and on antidepressant medication.
69The realisation of the impact and seriousness of your offending has enhanced your depressive symptoms on remand, which was reported by Mr Cummins as disturbed sleep, fluctuating appetite, and daily negative ruminative thinking.
70Your counsel rightly submitted that your mental health struggles do not suggest you deserve sympathy for your offending, but rather they highlight both your state of mind at the time, and the extent to which you now understand the consequences of your actions. This submission is supported by comments that you made to police during your interview, such as stating you could not live with yourself for what you had done, and that you should say goodbye to your children.
71In Mr Cummins assessment you are contrite and remorseful, and you stated that you have ruminated daily on your behaviour accepting full responsibility for your wrongdoing. Further Mr Cummins assessed you as a Low-moderate trending towards Low risk for committing a further sexual offence. In his view you are riddled with guilt, regret, remorse and shame.
Rehabilitation
72Your counsel submitted that you have used your time in custody productively, and I accept this submission. Your counsel provided 11 certificates to the Court of courses that you have undertaken and completed whilst in custody.
73The bulk of these courses have been run by Relationships Australia; however, you have also completed two courses regarding your alcohol abuse issues. You indicated to Mr Cummins, your willingness and desire to participate in mental health treatment and a sex offender program.
74Mr Cummins opined that you are motivated to receive offence specific treatment. Importantly, you are also receiving mental health treatment whilst on remand. Whilst this treatment is intermittent, it does present as an important step in your rehabilitation.
75Importantly, you have the ongoing support of your mother and a plan for your future. In the circumstances I consider your prospects for rehabilitation to be positive particularly in view of your high degree of insight into the wrongfulness of your behaviours and your acute and genuine remorse.
Plea of guilty
76I accept your plea, as submitted by your counsel, was entered at the earliest possible stage. As such, your plea has significant utilitarian value. You have spared the victims from the trauma of giving evidence. This is particularly relevant given the vulnerabilities of your victim and her mother. Additionally, it has spared the court the time and expense of what would have been an emotional and lengthy trial.
77Although there have been inroads made by the court and the backlog of cases is now easing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, what the Court of Appeal have said in the case of Worboyes,[7] was still a relevant consideration at the time your matter entered the court process. I therefore give greater weight in mitigation to your plea of guilty recognising that it is a plea that has eased the burden of the backlog of trials. Accordingly, I propose to allow a significant discount for your plea of guilty.
[7] Worboyesv The Queen [2021] VSCA 169.
78Further, I accept the submissions of your counsel that your plea is indicative of your remorse for your actions. Your counsel conceded that in your interview with police you minimalised your offending to a degree.
79However, you have since clearly accepted responsibility for your actions. In your discussion with Mr Cummins, you acknowledged that as the adult in the situation, you should have prevented any sexual offending from occurring. You did not seek to provide excuses to Mr Cummins for your offending. As I have already stated he concluded that you were genuinely ashamed, regretful and remorseful for your offending.
80Your counsel also tendered a letter of apology you wrote to the Court. I consider your letter to contain a heartfelt apology not only to the victim but to the court and those involved in this matter. I consider you to be genuinely remorseful for your offending.
Prior history
81You have a number of prior convictions dating between 2001 and 2014. The matters appear to be related to alcohol misuse; a point raised by Mr Cummins.
82The most serious matter is a conviction for recklessly cause serious injury. This incident involved you assaulting a stranger that you saw kissing your then partner at a nightclub. On appeal, you received 6 months' imprisonment, half of which was suspended. Accordingly, you spent 3 months in custody.
Sentencing principles
83I consider that the relevant sentencing principles that must be applied in your case are general deterrence, just punishment, denunciation and rehabilitation. In circumstances where you have been assessed as a Low/Moderate trending Low risk of sexual re-offending I consider that any need for community protection can adequately met through your rehabilitation and participation in appropriate programs.
84It was submitted by your counsel that your time and progress in custody, your insight into your offending, early plea of guilty and remorse have resulted in specific deterrence largely being achieved. Mr Cordy for the prosecution submitted that specific deterrence remains an important consideration. I agree with the submissions of your counsel in this regard and consider that specific deterrence has little role to play in the sentencing matrix.
85Other sentencing principles that I must apply are parsimony and proportionality.
86I take into account the sentencing guidelines referred to in s5 of the Sentencing Act,[8] where relevant to your case. In particular, I have had regard to the sentencing landscape for sexual offences against children, where the standard sentencing regime applies. Ultimately, the sentencing exercise requires that I balance all relevant factors and make a judgment as to the appropriate sentence in the circumstances of your particular case.
[8] Sentencing Act 1991 s 5.
87Mr Blackburn, after consideration of all of the above matters, including the oral and written submissions of both the defence and the prosecution, the victim impact statement from the victim and the victim's mother, your record of interview, the psychological report of Mr Cummins, and other material tendered I have come to the view that a combination sentence is the most appropriate in your case, so in relation to the offending before the court I sentence you as follows.
88In relation to each of the charges you are convicted. On the charge of encouraging a child under 16 to be engaged in sex activity you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 4 months. In relation to the sexual penetration of a child under 16 you are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 12 months imprisonment. The sentence of Charge 2 will be the base sentence and I order that 2 months of the sentence on Charge 1 be served cumulatively. This makes a total effective sentence of 14 months' imprisonment.
89I declare that you have already served 318 days by way of pre-sentence detention.
90In addition to this term of imprisonment you are placed on a Community Correction Order for a period of 2 years.
91The conditions of this community correction order include
(a) 200 hours of unpaid community work over that two year period
(b) Assessment and treatment for alcohol use.
(c) Assessment and treatment for mental health.
(d) Programs to reduce reoffending.
(e) Supervision by the Office of Corrections.
92Now with regard to the 200 hours of unpaid community work, I am prepared to offset 100 hours of community work against the treatment. So what that means is, if you do 100 hours of treatment, that will come off the 200 hours. I do not know that I need to motivate you, but it is a motivator towards the treatment. The treatment is really important. The 200 hours is there to punish you. And I expect every time that you get in your car to drive to Corrections, or make your way down to Corrections, you will think about what you did to your victim. It sounds like you have every day since it happened, but I expect that you will, and you will for the next two years, as you are doing your community work.
93You will also be subject to judicial monitoring, so I want to see you back here, I want to make sure that you are doing this order. So the first date that I propose for that to occur will be 4 September 2024.
94We can probably do that by Webex or remote, if need be, but Corrections will be able to help you with that and sometimes what I have had occur is that people will appear at the Corrections Office, with their Corrections officer, so that is something that you can talk to them about when the time comes.
95In addition to those conditions, there are some standard conditions that I need to tell you about. These were no doubt explained to you when you had your assessment, but I need to repeat them. So they are first and foremost, that you must not commit any offences punishable by imprisonment during the 2 year period of the corrections order. So the corrections order will be hanging over your head from release for a period of two years. Not only will you have to keep up supervision, but it will be there and if you breach it, you will be brought back. You can breach it by committing another offence, or if you fail to comply with the conditions I have imposed. And if that happens, there is a strong likelihood that you could end up back in gaol. So one of the options I have is to re-sentence you on the original offences. So you will need to report to corrections within two working days of your release and as I understand it, the nearest corrections office for you will be Bendigo Corrections.
96You are required to advise your supervising corrections office of any change of address where you are living or working within two clear working days. And it is a term of all community correction orders that you must submit to visits as directed and obey the instructions and directions of the corrections officer. You cannot leave the State of Victoria without their prior permission. If you breach any of these conditions, as I have said to you, that would bring about a contravention of the order. It would mean that you could be brought back before me. So I trust that you are not going to breach it.
97I can only place you on a corrections order if you agree, so firstly Mr Blackburn, do you understand what is involved in a community corrections order?
98OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
99HER HONOUR: And do you consent to undergoing such an order?
100OFFENDER: I do.
101HER HONOUR: Okay. So pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act[9] if not for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of 3 years and 3 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 20 months.
[9]Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) s6AAA.
102Pursuant to s11 of the Sex Offender RegistrationAct 2004 I declare that you are a registrable offender as you have pleaded guilty to one class 1 offence and one class 2 offence.[10] Pursuant to s34 of the Sex Offender Registration Act 2004 you are required to report for life.[11]
[10] Sex Offender Registration Act 2004 s 11.
[11] Ibid s 34.
103There will be some paperwork that is generated Mr Blackburn. It is not that we expect you to sign that you have read and understand all of that, but you do need to sign to show that you have received that, so I think arrangements will be made to get that material to you where you are, and you will need to sign and I think the prison will get the document that we need back to us. Okay?
104OFFENDER: Yes, yeah.
105HER HONOUR: Mr Cordy and Ms Temperley, is there anything further?
106MR CORDY: There was a forfeiture order, Your Honour.
107MS TEMPERLEY: No objection to that forfeiture.
108HER HONOUR: Okay. I will make the forfeiture order sought by the prosecution in the terms. I suspect I have a draft order - - -
109MR CORDY: Yes.
110HER HONOUR: - - - so I will make it in the terms of the draft order that I have. So thank you for that.
111MR CORDY: Thank you, Your Honour.
112HER HONOUR: Can I just mention to counsel, thank you very much for your very - on both sides of the Bar table - I must say very thorough and persuasive submissions, they were of great assistance to the court.
113Okay, so I hope that the victims in this matter can get some finality now that this part of the proceedings is over and hopefully in time things will settle. I don't imagine that it's going to be a cure at all but yes, hopefully that this can sort of - that you can move on and put it behind you. So I will adjourn the court, thank you.
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