Director of Public Prosecutions v Bridle

[2025] VCC 1108

August

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

Case No. CR-23-02017

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

STEVEN BRIDLE

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JUDGE:	RIDDELL
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	14 July 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	4 August 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Bridle
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 1108

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Sentence

Catchwords:              Rape --- Plea of Not Guilty --- Intimate partner --- Digital rape --- Prior history of violence --- No prior sexual offending --- Alcohol abuse --- Standard Sentence Offence

Legislation Cited:      Sentencing Act1991

Cases Cited:Jurj v The Queen [2016] VSCA 57 --- Flynn (a pseudonym) v The Queen [2020] VSCA 173 --- Wright v The Queen [2021] VSCA 243 --- DPP v Beck [2021] VSCA 88 --- Nacher v The Queen [2021] VSCA 242 --- Chapman v The King [2024] VSCA 205 --- DPP v Macarthur [2019] VSCA 71 --- DPP v Mokhtari [2020] VSCA 161

Sentence:                  8 years imprisonment --- Non-Parole period 5 years and 4 months imprisonment

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP at First Trial For the DPP at Second Trial For the DPP at Sentence	Ms D. Guesdon   Ms J. Fallar Ms M. O’Halloran	Office of Public Prosecutions Office of Public Prosecutions Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr D. McGlone	Victoria Legal Aid

HER HONOUR:

1Steven Bridle, on 29 March 2022, in a bout of anger and control, you raped your then partner, Ms Nicole Haynes[1].  You and she had known each other only about a month.  At that time you were aged 35 and she was aged 49.

[1] A pseudonym.  

2She arrived at your apartment on that day at about 9.50 pm.  You had been drinking and appeared intoxicated.  You continued to drink.  She eventually went and lay fully clothed on the bed, as she was tired of your increasingly aggressive and argumentative behaviour.  You continued yelling to her from the adjoining lounge, and after lying on the bed for a time she stood up.  As she did so you entered the room and a confrontation ensued.

3That argument in the bedroom resulted in you getting a cut to your head, which no doubt fuelled your annoyance.  Ms Haynes started gathering her belongings.  She saw you had gone out to the balcony.  In fear of you, she made the spur of the moment decision to try and lock you on the balcony so that she could flee.

4You overpowered her and were enraged.  You told her 'Sit down bitch' and led her by the arm to the couch.  You then forcibly restrained her with your arm across her chest, resulting in bruising across her sternum and above her breast area, and corresponding fingertip bruises where your hand held her left shoulder. 

5You told her you wanted to rip her top off.  In the stress of the moment, thinking it was a better option, she said she would take her top and bra off, which she did as you continued to hold her. She was in tears, begging to leave and telling you to stop. You kissed her on the cheek while leaning on her with your bodyweight as she was saying 'No, no, no'.

6While leaning on her in that way and still holding her left arm, you unzipped her pants with your other hand. You put your hand inside her pants and underwear and penetrated her vagina with your finger for two to three minutes.  She was struggling to breathe while saying 'Stop Steve, please stop'.  She said this two to three times. She said she wanted to go home, but you did not stop, nor did you react.

7At one point she believed you were distracted, and she took the opportunity to escape, jumping over the coffee table and leaving the apartment.  It was the middle of the night, and she was topless, shocked and frightened. 

8She spent 24 hours in bed before being encouraged by a work colleague to take the matter to police. The colleague took photographs of the bruising across Ms Haynes’s chest area and arms.  More photographs were taken in the course of a forensic medical examination later that day. The photographs, along with CCTV footage showing Ms Hayne’s leaving the apartment topless and holding shopping bags in front of her breasts, were shown to the jury.

9Police attended your apartment on 1 April 2022 where they retrieved a number of her belongings including her necklace, t-shirt and bra located in a shopping bag. Her t-shirt and bra had blood stains on the front.

10You ran a trial which included giving evidence.  In evidence you agreed there had been an argument in the bedroom.  You agreed you had a cut to the head and that you had bled onto Ms Haynes’s top as a result.  You claimed she took her top off in the bedroom at your invitation to change. I reject that claim.

11You agreed with Ms Haynes’s evidence that immediately after the events in the bedroom you went out to the balcony. You also gave evidence that you were on the balcony when Ms Haynes attempted to lock you out.  You agreed that you were stronger and overpowered her. 

12You then said you led her by the arm to the couch and that you both sat.  You claimed you asked her to sit on the couch to just try to find out what was going on.

13You then said that as you reached forward for a glass of water on the coffee table, Ms Haynes all of a sudden leapt the coffee table and fled topless from the apartment.  You said you did not pursue her because you were not interested in continuing your relationship.

14On 4 June 2025 a jury, rejecting your denials of the sexual offence, found you guilty of one charge of rape.  In that regard they accepted Ms Haynes as truthful and reliable beyond reasonable doubt. 

15The jury found you not guilty of an assault in the bedroom[2]. It is clear they could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of Ms Haynes’s account of the events in the bedroom.  I reach no conclusion regarding the events in the bedroom, other than to say there is no issue that there had been an argument and physical contact of some sort, resulting in the cut to your head and bleeding. 

[2] Mr Bridle was found not guilty of one charge of causing injury recklessly, relating to the events in the bedroom.

16In relation to the events which followed, I accept beyond reasonable doubt – as the jury must have done – that Ms Haynes made the decision to try to lock you on the balcony as a result of the argument in the bedroom, even though I cannot determine precisely what occurred therein.  I accept that you were affected by alcohol, verbally belligerent, and behaving aggressively prior to events in the bedroom and that she was scared of you afterwards. I accept, as the jury must have done, her account of events following the fight over the balcony door.

17It is now my task to sentence you in line with that jury verdict on the rape charge.

Sentencing Principles

18Rape is an inherently serious offence. It is a crime of violence involving the invasion and breach of the physical integrity of another person.  It is an intensely personal crime and one which is likely to have a significant impact on the victim. 

19The seriousness of such a violation of another person’s bodily integrity and personal dignity by means of such a sexual intrusion is reflected in the maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.

20In addition to the maximum penalty, Parliament has indicated its intention that it is an offence which belongs to the most serious raft of offences described as Category 1 offences.  The legislature mandates that such an offence may only be met by a term of immediate imprisonment[3].  It was not suggested by your Counsel that any alternative disposition was appropriate and nor could it be.

[3] Sentencing Act 1991 s5(2G)

21Further, Parliament has declared that rape is a standard sentence offence warranting a standard sentence of 10 years' imprisonment for an objectively mid-range example of such an offence.  Unless the court considers that it is in the interests of justice not to do so, the court must also fix a non-parole period of at 60 per cent of the relevant term. 

22Those three aspects of the applicable sentencing regime are not starting points nor end points, but rather guideposts which I must and do take into account as part of the ultimate instinctive synthesis of sentencing.

23That synthesis requires me to consider a number of sentencing principles.  By my sentence I must announce the court’s denunciation and the community’s disapproval of sexual offending.  I must impose a sentence which seeks to achieve community protection. It must be a sentence which deters you and deters others from sexual offending, and it must achieve just punishment.

Objective Gravity

24The features outlined in Jurj v The Queen[4] are commonly understood to be pertinent to an assessment of the objective gravity of a rape offence. Those features are non-prescriptive, and include considerations such as the level of premeditation, the duration of the incident and of penetration, whether the rape was accompanied by other violence or the threat of other violence, whether a weapon was used, whether the victim was physically injured or otherwise humiliated or degraded, whether the offender used a condom, whether the victim was particularly vulnerable, and whether the offender ignored warnings or protests by the victim. 

[4] Jurj v The Queen [2016] VSCA 57

25In assessing the objective gravity of your offending, I take into account the following features which serve to aggravate the offence of rape. 

26First, you and Ms Haynes had not known each other very long. You met her by chance at the start of March 2022 and soon commenced an intimate relationship. She trusted you, having previously spent a week with you at your apartment in early March, and coming to stay on the night of the offending.  You abused that trust, taking advantage of her in a situation where she was alone with you.  In that sense, she was vulnerable.

27Second, although not criminal in nature, the events leading up to the rape increase both the objective gravity of the offending and your moral culpability. An altercation had occurred, and you became angry. Ms Haynes was scared and wanting to leave.

28When you overpowered her at the balcony door, you became enraged.  She said 'He looked at me. He looked really angry'.  I accept beyond reasonable doubt that you did say ‘Sit down bitch’, before physically and forcibly taking hold of her by the arm and directing her to the couch.  At that point I am satisfied you were intending to sexually assault her.  I reach that conclusion beyond reasonable doubt because once on the couch you forcibly restrained her and immediately told her you would rip her top off.  Once her top was off, you immediately started to put your hand down her pants. I accept her evidence that at that point she knew she was going to be raped.  Your kiss to her cheek just added insult to what was occurring.

29Your decision to penetrate her sexually without her consent was an act of power and control over her.  You were at that point determined to assert your dominance over her in retaliation for the cut you had received to your head, and for daring to try and lock you outside so she could leave. It was an act motivated by your desire to belittle and humiliate her.  It was degrading and made her feel ashamed and afraid.

30Third, you ignored her pleas to let her go and ignored the pain you were inflicting on her by pressing on her chest to the point she was finding it hard to breathe.  She told you she wanted to go home. She told you ‘No’. You persisted in pushing your body weight onto her as you restrained her with your arm.

31Fourth, the penetration was forceful.  She said ‘At the point where I knew he'd already overpowered me and he had his finger penetrating me.’  She said you were ‘Just inserting and - just penetrating me as far as he could go.’  Although not a protracted episode of penetration, nor was it fleeting, lasting for some two to three minutes and while you physically controlled her.  

32Fifth, in addition to the forcefulness of the penetration, you held her with such force that she also sustained bruising to her chest and arm areas.  You are a physically bigger and stronger man that Ms Haynes. You used your body weight to overpower her.

33Sixth, the incident only stopped because she was able to flee.  She did so in the middle of the night, in a state of undress and in shock.  She said over the next 24 hours she felt ‘Ashamed, I felt like I was victimised and I felt – I felt yeah I felt ashamed’.

34Unpalatable as it is for victims, I must assess where this case sits on a spectrum of objective seriousness.  The range and circumstances of rape offences is broad. On that spectrum, for a very serious offence, this is towards the middle of that range in my assessment.  In all the circumstances, your moral culpability for this offence is high. 

Victim Impact

35I received a victim impact statement prepared by Ms Haynes. She described herself as a previously confident person, sharing custody with the father of her one child, employed fulltime as a finance officer and enjoying ladies’ tennis.  It is apparent that each aspect of her life has been impacted by this serious offence. 

36She has become isolated from work colleagues, and her ladies' tennis team and close friends who cut her off.  She stated in court that she believes people who have not experienced this type of event cannot understand the impact and, I interpolate, the person they are now dealing with. 

37She felt unsafe in her apartment on her own and her son was required to stay with her for a few months. She has learnt to be more wary of people and has been unable to be close to or intimate with anyone since this incident.  She previously suffered flashbacks and bad dreams and is now on antidepressants, engaged in physiotherapy and hydrotherapy and seeing a psychologist.  There has also been a financial impact after being unable to perform her work role and being terminated.  This impacted her living arrangements and required attendance at VCAT.

38Fortunately, she has a family who embraced her and helped and supported her.  In particular, an older brother, but all four of her siblings.

39Courts and the community far better understand the immediate and long-lasting impact of sexual offences on victims, and I thank Ms Haynes for outlining her experience.  I take it into account.

Personal Circumstances

40I now turn to your personal circumstances. I have been provided with submissions from your counsel, Mr McGlone. You are now 38 years old.

41You are the only child born from your mother and father’s relationship. Your parents did not live together, and both re-partnered when you were very young. 

42You lived with your mother until you turned two, after which you were placed in your fathers’ care.  He was originally from Czechoslovakia.  He worked as a general repair and handyman. Your father had re-partnered with a woman who had children from a previous relationship.

43While living with your father you would visit your mother on weekends. Your mother had also re-partnered, and she and your stepfather had three children.  Your mother was occupied with the care of her second family. Your relationship with your mother was also complicated by her alcohol use over time.

44In both houses, I expect you must have felt displaced and perhaps unwanted.

45In addition, your father was a strict disciplinarian which took the form of physical violence. Your father placed a great deal of pressure on you to succeed in life, but provided you with little material or emotional assistance to achieve these ends.

46At age 14 your relationship with your father deteriorated to the point you moved in fulltime with your mother. Tension between you and your half-siblings however led to your relationship with your mother breaking down irrevocably and you have not spoken to her since you were a 16 year old.

47You attended Vermont Secondary College but encountered difficulties which saw you leave school prior to completing VCE.  After returning to your father’s home, that relationship deteriorated further, leading to your first period of couch surfing and homelessness at age 18.

48Around that time you entered into a relationship with Ms Kurdy who you had met through a group of friends.  Ms Kurdy was a positive influence on you and persuaded you to join her at Swinburne College in Hawthorn to complete Year 11 and 12. This required you to complete a number of units at Box Hill TAFE as a precondition of enrolment. You did this and enrolled at Swinburne and completed your VCE.  That was no small feat given your living circumstances and lack of family support.

49Through this time you held a number of unskilled jobs. These have included working at supermarkets, bakeries, and factories. Prior to your most recent position as a catering assistant in a food van, your longest term of employment was working at Coles for two and a half years.

50You have had a previous relationship with a woman which lasted seven years which you commenced at Swinburne College. You remain in contact with her, despite the fact she now resides overseas.

51It was also during your time at Swinburne that you met Ms Anthena Mobici and Ms Mel Corbet who have been friends throughout your life and have been present in support of you throughout your trial and again today.  At different times in your life, Ms Mobici has given you support, most recently providing you with employment.  I have received letters from her attesting to your positive workplace behaviour and rapport with fellow workers.  She says you are making changes to better your life.  She confirms that long-term work as a cook at event catering is available to you.

52Your lack of family support and poor financial circumstances have meant your living arrangements have regularly been precarious. You have been homeless for significant periods of time and alternatively living in low level rental, boarding houses, a tent, and in abandoned housing.

53Your irregular housing situation was only remedied by the existence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the instigation of a government program to take homeless people off the streets.  That initiative allowed you to transition into secure accommodation. A report from the 'Homelessness to a Home' program team leader says

‘Returning to [your] home is crucial for Mr Bridle’s overall wellbeing and rehabilitation as stability in housing plays a foundational role in addressing other aspects of his life, including employment, health and community engagement.’ 

I accept those comments without hesitation.  Homelessness very clearly impacts a person’s ability to engage in the world and to achieve stability.

54In the context of that background and housing difficulty, you have prior criminal history, mainly for dishonesty and property matters.

55You have no prior history of sexual offending, however there are some troubling and serious matters.  In 2017 you were sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment wholly suspended for trafficking cannabis, along with a two-year suspended sentence for intentionally causing serious injury.  A Crown appeal was rejected.

56The sentencing remarks for that matter reveal that the trafficking involved cannabis and that you were in possession of over $17,000 cash.  The violence related to an incident at the Burvale Hotel when, affected by alcohol, you had an argument with a person who you supplied cannabis to.  You struck him to the face with a glass, causing significant lacerations to his face.  You were aged 20 when sentenced.

57In 2018 you received a conviction bond for unlawful assault. 

58Those prior matters do not fully bear out is what was happening around the period of this offence. You are returning to the Magistrates’ Court in August 2025 after a deferral of sentence concerning a consolidation of matters.  The offending covers the period 2019 to June 2023.  In July 2019 you assaulted a worker and caused damage at a Beer Wine Spirits store when drunk.  In early 2021 you caused criminal damage in train station toilets and recklessly caused injury to one PSO officer.  You later assaulted a security officer at the Mitcham Hotel where you had been banned, fracturing his wrist and attempting to eye gouge him.  In October 2022 you committed an offence while on bail. 

59In June 2023 police attended a neighbourhood dispute. You were described as erratic, aggressive and belligerent.  You grabbed a lighter, holding it in front of a police officer, who you then punched to the shoulder several times. You then claimed to have been assaulted.  Members left the premises, however an hour and a half later you attended the neighbour’s door and were abusive before throwing a brick at the door.  Police attended and you resisted them before being placed in handcuffs.

60A number of those matters pre-date this March 2022 rape charge, while the neighbourhood incident is subsequent.  What those matters demonstrate is someone who was somewhat out of control, with alcohol and subsequent aggression – as in this rape matter – a common theme.

61In September 2024, you were dealt with in this court for aggravated burglary and recklessly causing injury. The circumstances relate to a neighbour who had repeatedly asked you to leave him alone.  At 11 am on Tuesday 6 June 2023, he returned home and found you in the driveway.  You were agitated and proceeded to enter his house where you assaulted him.  You grabbed him and as he went to ground, you lay on top of him and punched him to the back of the head.  He suffered a fracture to his shin and ligament damage to his knee.  You were not interviewed due to your erratic and aggressive behaviour.

62According to a 2023 report, prior to your remand you were drinking approximately 11 standard drinks of whiskey each day on the weekends and regularly smoking cannabis.

63You were remanded on 11 June 2023 to June 2024 and received a period of 363 days' imprisonment, which reflected your pre-sentence detention.  That was your first sentence of actual imprisonment.   In addition, you were sentenced to a CCO for two years with 200 hours' unpaid work, along with treatment for alcohol and drug dependency, mental health and judicial monitoring.

64Your prior convictions do not aggravate sentence. They are relevant in my assessment of the need for specific deterrence generally and in my assessment of your prospects for rehabilitation.  I note again that you have no prior criminal history, nor subsequent matter, for any sexual offending.

65I have had the benefit of the sentencing remarks in relation to the 2024 matter and a judicial monitoring report dated 10 June 2025.  That report indicates that although you were presenting to appointments, you were resistant to complying with the CCO given this matter was outstanding.

66To your credit, in that state of uncertainty, you did complete the KickStart group program regarding alcohol and drugs, attending 15 sessions and with no unacceptable absences. However, reports indicate your level of actual participation was minimal and your level of insight into offending patterns and perspectives around communication was challenging.  You are described as demonstrating little insight into your accountability.

67You were waitlisted for another program to reduce reoffending.

68Positively, you have shown resilience and determination in your past, for example in completing your schooling, and you have demonstrated some capacity for engagement when in custody leading to the 2024 sentence and on your CCO.  You also maintained some connection with the Nexus Program on your release from custody in 2024 to seek housing and assistance. You engaged in some goal setting through case management, however the report writer observed that you could use your time more productively by engaging in community activities or looking for employment as you were lacking motivation.

69You had been on bail for this matter until the verdict on 4 June 2025 when I remanded you.

Prospects of Rehabilitation

70Your prospects of rehabilitation require a delicate assessment.  You have no past or subsequent matters involving sexual offending, however I have outlined your prior criminal history for violence.  Alcohol has been intimately involved in your past offending, however – and curiously – you deny having any problem with it.  It is clear that there are some mental distortions around that fact. 

71You have no diagnosis of mental illness, nor a record of any significant mental health issues.  It may be that your upbringing and long-term substance abuse have left you with some psychological issues around addiction.  Mr McGlone submitted, and I accept, that alcohol, together with cannabis use, is one of your only coping mechanisms used to deal with the significant periods of homelessness you have experienced.

72I can see from your criminal history and various reports that there have been some past attempts to treat your alcohol addiction and look into your mental health.  Like the judge who sentenced you in this court in September 2024, in my view your mental distortions around substance abuse, and your mental health more broadly, need to be addressed.  I note a report from 2023 which references head injuries as a result of being assaulted on more than one occasion in the context of homelessness.  There was a query about impairment of your cognitive abilities, in particular your memory.

73Until your issues with alcohol and potentially any mental health issues are addressed, your prospects of rehabilitation are guarded.

Plea of Not Guilty

74You ran a trial which is your right. That fact does not aggravate the offending or your personal circumstances. It does not work to increase sentence. It simply means you do not receive the benefits which flow from a plea of guilty in recognition of its utilitarian benefit and the fact that you do not receive any discount on account of a plea which saves the victim from the witness box, or which demonstrates remorse or insight.  

75Your election to go to trial of course necessitated Ms Haynes giving evidence at a committal and again at trial.  A range of other civilian witnesses were also required to give evidence.  It also involved you giving evidence on oath, denying the sexual offence which the jury rejected.

76You have shown no remorse for your serious offence against Ms Haynes.

77I do take into account some delay in finalising this matter.  You were not charged for over a year after the rape was reported and you were interviewed.  At your first trial in February 2025, the jury was discharged after being unable to reach a verdict.  At the subsequent trial all recorded evidence was replayed.

Current sentencing practices

78I have had regard to current sentencing practices for this offending, having been assisted by counsel in their submissions.  Given rape is a standard sentence charge, I must only have regard to sentences previously imposed for that offence as a standard sentence offence. That does not limit the matters I am otherwise required to or permitted to consider in determining the appropriate sentence for standard sentence offences[5], nor is it intended to affect the approach to sentencing, known as the instinctive synthesis.

[5] s5B(3)(a) Sentencing Act 1991

79I was assisted by Mr McGlone through reference to the Sentencing Advisory Council Statistics, and several comparable cases[6].  I agree with his submission that finding a comparable case to this is difficult.  Most incidents of digital rape are accompanied by other forms of rape. 

[6] Flynn (a pseudonym) v The Queen [2020] VSCA 173; Wright v The Queen [2021] VSCA 243; DPP v Beck [2021] VSCA 88; Nacher v The Queen [2021] VSCA 242; Chapman v The King [2024] VSCA 205; DPP v Macarthur [2019] VSCA 71

80However, the higher courts have made clear that whether a rape is digital or penile, or some other form, is not a particularly important distinction. All acts of non-consensual penetration are objectively serious, irrespective of the form and extent of the penetration[7]. The insult and intrusion to the body and person who is raped remains. 

[7] DPP v Mokhtari [2020] VSCA 161

81As always, in looking at any other sentence, there are similarities and differences between the offender and the offending.  Ultimately, I am required to impose a just sentence in all the circumstances and that is what I have endeavoured to do.

Sentence

82Mr Bridle, on the charge of rape, you are convicted and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.  I direct that you are to serve a period of five years and four months' imprisonment before becoming eligible for parole. 

83I declare that you have already served a period of 61 days' imprisonment which should be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.

84Any matters to raise, counsel?

85COUNSEL:  No, Your Honour.

86HER HONOUR:   All right, we will adjourn.  Thanks very much for your assistance.  Thank you.

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