Director of Public Prosecutions v Camilleri

[2021] VCC 1239

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 19-00902

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JOHN CAMILLERI

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE DEAN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	23 August 2021
DATE OF SENTENCE:	30 August 2021
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Camilleri
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2021] VCC 1239

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW

Catchwords: Sentence – Late-stage plea of guilty – Indecent assault on a male – S68(3A) - Historical Sex Offences – Rolled up charges – Serious sexual offender

Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1958 (Vic); Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)

Cases Cited: N/A

Sentence: Total effective sentence – Imprisonment of 3 years and 9 months with a non-parole period of 2 years – s.6AAA declaration – Imprisonment of 5 years with a non-parole period of 3 years

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr M. Perry	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr A. Marshall	James Dowsley & Associates

HIS HONOUR: 

1John George Camilleri, you have pleaded guilty to four charges of indecent assault on a male, contrary to s68(3A) of the Crimes Act 1958. The maximum penalty for that offence at the time of your offending and for the purposes of this sentence is five years imprisonment.

2Charge 1 and 2 on the indictment are rolled up charges concerning two indecent assaults and three indecent assaults respectively.  This procedure, which has been adopted with your consent, permits the court to have regard to your overall offending in relation to each of those charges constrained by the maximum penalty for a single offence, in this case, five years imprisonment.

3You pleaded guilty following the conclusion of related criminal proceedings and after pre-trial argument was conducted in this case.  Committal proceedings were conducted and the victims of your offending were cross-examined.  Your plea was therefore entered at a later stage in the proceeding but it has nevertheless spared the victims the further burden of a criminal trial.  It has also spared the community the cost and difficulty of conducting a trial during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

4I accept that your plea is also evidence of some remorse for your offending and I have taken it into account in your favour in mitigation of sentence. 

5You have no prior convictions or subsequent convictions of any relevance for sentencing purposes in this instance.  One further outstanding charge of indecent assault on the sister of the victims in this case is yet to be heard in contested proceedings in the Magistrates Court.  

6A prosecution opening was tendered in evidence and your offending may be summarised as follows - 

7In approximately 1972, your family became friendly with the family of the victims.  Your family comprised yourself, your wife Patricia and your three children.  The victims’ family comprised their parents and five children.

8Between 1977 and 1981, you committed a series of offences against one of the male children, then aged between 7 and 10 years.  You also offended against his older brother when he was aged 9 or 10 years between 1978 and 1980.

9Charge 1 concerns you assaulting the younger boy by introducing your penis into his mouth.  This occurred in a toilet block while the families were together in a public park in Lysterfield and again in a shed at your home in Burwood, when the victim's family was visiting you.

10Charge 2 concerns three assaults at your home in Burwood, when the families were together wherein you introduced your penis into the younger victim's mouth on two occasions and you placed his penis in your mouth on another occasion.

11Charge 3 concerns you introducing your penis into the victim's mouth and you placing his penis in your mouth on a single occasion at the victim's family home in Upwey, again, when the families were together.

12Charge 4 concerns you fondling the victim's genitals in the toilet at his family home in Upwey.

13The prosecution opening sets out in greater detail the circumstances of your offending and you will be sentenced on the basis of the contents of that opening.

14It is plain from this summary and the prosecution opening that you preyed upon and exploited two vulnerable children in the context of their parents trusting you.  You exploited that trust to satisfy your criminal sexual urges.

15Charges 1 to 3 on the indictment constitute a course of conduct and, in my opinion, the acts performed by you constitute serious examples of the offence to which you have pleaded guilty.  However, I accept that Charge 4 falls at the lower end of seriousness for such offending.

16I have received in evidence a victim impact statement from the victim for your offending in relation to Charges 1 to 3. It is clear that your crimes have had a deeply traumatic effect upon him and have seriously harmed his personal development, wellbeing and quality of life.

17In approximately 1981, the victims of your offending complained to their mother and a meeting was held between the families to discuss your crimes. 
The accounts of what occurred at that meeting and when it took place vary amongst the witnesses, but it is clear that your offending was discussed.  Following this, the families ceased contact and the matter was not formally reported to the police despite you receiving treatment from a medical practitioner for your criminal sexual behaviour.

18It was not until 2016 that the matter was formally reported to police and the investigation leading to the charges before this court was commenced.

19On 19 April 2017, you were interviewed by investigating police in relation to the offending the subject of the charges, and admitted you fondled the genitals of the victim on one occasion, the subject of Charge 4, but otherwise denied all of the allegations put to you.

20The sentencing principles applicable to this case are well established and the sentence I impose must be calculated to protect the community and vulnerable children from offending of this nature by making it clear that conviction for sexual offending against children in circumstances such as this will result in the imposition of a significant sentence of imprisonment.

21You must also be punished for your criminal sexual exploitation of your friends' children.  Furthermore, offending such as this causes immeasurable damage to both the victims and our society.

22I now turn to your personal circumstances. 

23You were born in Melbourne on 20 August 1946 and are now aged 75.  Your infancy and early childhood was spent in a Catholic orphanage until you were adopted at age seven by the Camilleri family.

24Following this, you lived in a loving and supportive family.  You were educated to Year 9 level and since then have been in full employment in a range of skilled and unskilled occupations.  You have been married twice.  You have one son, Robert, with whom you have a close relationship, and a stepdaughter, Lorraine Walker, who provided a positive and supportive reference to the court on your behalf.

25I accept that you were a hard-working member of the community and at all times sought to provide for your son and stepdaughter.  You are also close to your grandchildren.  Following your retirement, you lived in Meekatharra in Western Australia and voluntarily returned to Victoria when these matters were being investigated in 2017.

26The delay in these matters being finalised in court has been a serious cause of concern to you.  But as I have said, your plea was entered at a late stage in the proceedings.

27I have received in evidence a number of medical reports detailing your past and present medical history.  You suffered a series of relatively minor strokes in 2017 from which you have recovered and you are now in good general health for a man of your age.  However, I do accept that you suffer from hearing loss.

28Your counsel placed considerable emphasis on the fact that you have not reoffended since 1981 and I accept that specific deterrence is not a relevant sentencing consideration in this case.  Whilst no explanation has been offered to this court why you offended in this manner over a period of years, I also accept that your prospects for rehabilitation may now be properly described as good.

29Your counsel submitted that a wholly suspended sentence of imprisonment would be an appropriate disposition in your case as that sentencing regime, whilst now repealed, remains available for offences committed at this time.

30The prosecution submitted somewhat surprisingly that a partially suspended sentence of imprisonment would be open to me in the circumstances of this case.

31In my opinion, a wholly suspended term of imprisonment would completely fail to record the gravity of this offending and meet the objectives for which this sentence is to be imposed.  I also do not accept that a partially suspended sentence of imprisonment would meet those objectives.  Furthermore, the maximum term of a suspended sentence of imprisonment available to be imposed, either wholly or partially suspended, is three years.  I do not accept that the sentencing discretion of this court should be so constrained in a case concerning serious sexual offending over an extended period of time in relation to two young and vulnerable children.

32By operation of Part 6A of the Sentencing Act 1991, you will be sentenced on Charges 3 and 4 as a serious sexual offender. I have had regard to the protection of the community as the principal purpose for which the sentences are to be imposed on those charges.

33The prosecution did not submit that a disproportionate sentence should be imposed and I have not done so.

34You fall to be sentenced during the COVID-19 pandemic and I accept that this will greatly increase the burden of imprisonment upon you.  You will not have personal visits from your family and you will not be able to engage in productive activities. I also accept that your age will further increase the hardship of imprisonment upon you.

35Finally, these offences occurred over 40 years ago, but in my opinion the passage of that time does not moderate the gravity of what you did.  Whilst you have not since reoffended, and that is very much to your credit, the seriousness of your offending would not have faded in the lives of your victims and you must be punished for it.

36In the result, the sentence of the court is as follows –

37In relation to Charge 1 on the indictment, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for 2 years. 

38In relation to Charge 2 on the indictment, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for 2 years. 

39In relation to Charge 3 on the indictment, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for 12 months. 

40In relation to Charge 4 on the indictment, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for 6 months.

41The sentence imposed on Charge 2 is the base sentence.  I direct that 1 year of the sentence on Charge 1, 6 months of the sentence on Charge 3 and 3 months of the sentence on Charge 4 be served cumulatively on each other and cumulatively on the sentence imposed on Charge 2.  This makes for a total effective term of imprisonment of 3 years and 9 months.  I direct that you serve 2 years imprisonment before becoming eligible for release on parole.

42But for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a total effective term of imprisonment of 5 years and fixed a non-parole period of 3 years.

43You will be placed on the Sex Offender Register for life.

44Are there any further orders required, Mr Perry?

45MR PERRY:  No, sir.

46HIS HONOUR:  Mr Marshall?  Yes, thank you.  My associate will need to provide you with the Sex Offender Registration documents, Mr Camilleri, and you will need to sign a form in relation to receipt of those documents.  Thank you.

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