Director of Public Prosecutions v Hendriks

[2017] VCC 49

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 16-01701

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

REMY HENDRIKS

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	7 February 2017
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Hendriks
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2017] VCC 49

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr A. Moore
For the Accused	Mr R. Davis

Pages 1 - 14

 

 

HIS HONOUR:

1Remy Hendriks, you had pleaded guilty to three charges of indecent assault, two charges of common law assault, and four charges of indecent act with a child under the age of 16 years.  Those crimes carry maximum penalties of five years, five years, and ten years respectively. 

2You are 54 years of age, you have no prior convictions, although obviously these matters extend over a very significant period of time.  I am told, and accept, that you have no matters pending.  I sentence on the basis that you have at least expressed an element of remorse in respect of all this, and of course you must get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.

3Firstly, because of the offending, you will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register, and I tell you that the reporting conditions will be for life.  Could you take that down, please, Madam Associate?  You go with her, if you would please?

4Next, pursuant to s.464ZF of the Crimes Act, I make an order that you provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes.  That order having been made, I must advise you that should you refuse to provide such a sample, police may use reasonable force to take it from you.  That order is made and handed down.

5Because of the sentences which I am to impose, from Charge 3 on you will be sentenced as a serious sex offender.  I am aware that the Crown do not seek a disproportionate sentence.  I am aware that community protection becomes the principal sentencing concern in this situation, and I am aware that the sentences are to be cumulative unless otherwise ordered.  For obvious reasons of totality, I will be ordering some cumulation.

6The offending went on over a long period of time.  The circumstances are that you are now 52 years of age.  In February of 1992, you became introduced to a Kayleen Hendriks, and formed a relationship.  You had originally been employed as a railway worker, and later obtained a truck driver's licence before commencing employment as a delivery driver with Tip Top in 1995. 

7You had a son born in 1999.  You would befriend and commit offences against children that he was acquainted with.  Your partner noticed that you had an inclination to befriend other parents and families who had young children of a similar age to your son.  She noticed that you would regularly comment on their children and ask about their ages.  You were generally perceived by people who met you to be overfriendly and desperate to befriend families, and you would particularly show interest towards young, pre-teenage females.  You would interact with young girls in the family.

8You would randomly approach families in public during social events and offer to supply them with leftover bread.  Many families accepted this offer, and allowed you to regularly stop over and visit their family homes.

9You were seen at the swimming pool, and you were observed by many parents in that situation.  The manner in which you played with and touched young girls caused some parents such concern that they complained to the pool manager and lifeguard. 

10Some parents observed your behaviour as "annoying".  Families recall that you would come around to deliver bread, and overstay your welcome to the point where parents and children became sick of you due to your persistent overfriendly and playful behaviour.

11It was not long after that you began to deliver bread to the families that you would ask the parents if you could take the children bread runs with you.  Parents recall you asking persistently to the point of them having to make the point and assert that they would not allow their children to go with you.  Others reluctantly succumbed to your persistence and allowed their children to travel with you.

12You were observed to travel around with children in your truck.  Many parents noticed this, and some reported this to management of the truck company out of concern.  You received two written warnings in 2009 and 2010 about this, and your partner spoke to you.  You just simply lied to her, saying that you had friends in the truck.  You promised that you would no longer do it, but you continued taking children with you.

13Many families became wary and uneasy of you in their children's presence, due to your overt interest towards their daughters.  Tickling, touching, playful behaviour and constant staring.  Many parents noticed that you had a tendency to stare the breast and crotch areas of young, pre-teenage girls.  On other occasions, you were observed taking photographs on your mobile phone, filming young girls.

14Witnesses have said in their statements they got an uneasy feeling whenever you stared at them.  Some describe it as if you were undressing them when you stared.  There were situations at birthday parties where you filmed young girls.  Your partner found girls' hair ties lying around the house that did not belong to her.  She found you looking at women's costume shopping catalogues with young, pre-teen models, and she found a cut-out picture of a young girl in a fairy costume.  One witness recalls you giving her some girly magazines, which contained pornography. 

15In any event, the offending can be described in relatively simple terms, dreadful though it is.  The first victim, and I will be eliminating these names when I revise the sentencing remarks, so the victims - no, you are not going to be named.  I do it here out of respect, but it will not appear in the end result. 

16The first complainant, Victim One, was born 18 January 1979. She remembered that her mother had a friend with a boyfriend named "Remy".  That was you.  She remembers when she was ten years old, visiting, and whenever you were present, you would tickle her.  She recalls you tickling her on the breasts and the groin area over her clothing whilst she was seated on the couch.  She recalls that you were rough and forceful, to the point where you dug your fingers into her, hurting her.  She asked you to stop, and you laughed at her, making a joke of it.

17She was dropped off by her mother at one stage to attend a birthday part.  She was aged 11 at the time.  There were another ten girls in attendance, including her.  The girls at the party played the game of hide and seek, involving the girls going to hide at various locations throughout the house.  The complainant went and hid inside a bedroom of the house.

18She recalls that you confronted her alone in the bedroom, and pushed her up against the wall in a manner she described as "very rough and forceful".  While you held her there, you placed your hands down her pants, touching her vagina.  She recalls you inserting your fingers into her vagina.  I interpolate that my calculation, this beats digital rape by just a few months, in terms of when the definition changed.

19In any event, she recalls you being forceful, and that it was hurting her.  She recalls you taking hold her of hand and trying to force her hand down the front of your parents.  She recalls hysterically crying whilst this was happening.  She then recalls going and locking herself in the bathroom.  She complained that "Remy had touched her".

20On 4 February 1991, you were arrested and interviewed.  You made no admissions in regard to this offending.  Clearly, from 4 February 1991 on, you were fully aware of the ramifications of such behaviour, and yet you continued to do it.

21Around the Easter holidays in April 1992, you and your partner attended a woman’s house in Springvale South.  Also present were the woman’s daughters, Victim Two and Victim Three, who was aged 13 years at the time.  Victim Two recalls being in the lounge room alone after everybody else had gone out to look at the garden.  You walked into the lounge room, and without cause or reason you picked her up like a young child under the armpits.  You then took her over to a two-seater couch and said "I'll fix you up".  You then proceeded to jump on top of her.

22The next she knew, that you, who were around 30 years of age at the time, were applying your whole bodyweight on her.  She started screaming, and this alerted her mother, who rushed into the lounge room, observed you pinning her daughter to the couch, applying her hands on top of her shoulders, pinning her down.  She ordered you to get off.  That gives rise to Charge 4, which is the common law assault.  The first three charges arise out of the incident I have already described.

23You said you were not doing anything, you were just playing with her.  You turned up a week later and apologised, stating it was all a big misunderstanding.

24In Christmas of 1996, Victim Two and Victim Three, were at a 40th birthday party.  Just before lunchtime, Victim Three, who was 17 at the time, and Victim Two, who was 15 by then, went into the bedroom to gather some Christmas presents.  As they went to walk out, you walked into the bedroom and closed the door behind you, standing in front of the door, barricading it and stopping them from getting out.

25They asked you to move out of the way.  You refused to move, and started laughing at them.  Victim Three went to push past and open the door.  You then placed your hand on Victim Three's back and moved your hand towards her breast.  She pushed your hand away and told you to stop, and asked you to let them out.  Victim Two recalls this, and you said something about Victim Three not wearing a bra. 

26Both girls started screaming, "Mum, Mum", raising the attention of
the mother and Victim Two’s partner.  They both came and pushed the door open.  As the mother walked in, she observed you standing behind Victim Three, proceeding to place your hand down the back of her dress.  She heard Victim Three say to you "Get your filthy hands off me".  That gives rise to Charge 5.

27Another woman met you in around 2004.  You offered to bring bread around to the house.  She accepted the offer, and you began to bring crates of bread around to her house in Lang Lang.  She knows that her daughters, aged seven and 17 at the time, began to feel "creeped out" by you, who they noticed would constantly stare at their vagina and breast area, and you would go up to them and try and tickle their bodies everywhere.

28She recalled another occasion when Victim Four was showering.  The mother spoke to you at the front door and told you she did not need any bread.  You then asked to use the toilet, and she said "Okay".  You walked inside the house.  At that stage, Victim Four, who was seven years of age, was showering. 

29She recalls you opening the door, walking into the bathroom and speaking to her.  The mother walked in and heard Victim Four yelling "Get out, what are you doing?"  At this stage, she observed you standing, watching her daughter shower in the bathroom.  She said "What the hell are you doing?", you said you had gone in to wash your hands after going to the toilet, and said you did not realise that the child was in the shower, and left shortly after.

30In 2007, you befriended a family in Koo Wee Rup.  The mother recalls that you asked if her daughter, Victim Five, wanted to come on a bread delivery run.  On the proviso that your son was going along also, she agreed.  Victim Five herself recalls when she was seven or eight you picking her up and taking her to Phillip Island on a bread run, visiting several businesses overnight to deliver bread and collect stale bread from previous deliveries.  Your son was not in the truck.  She recalls she was wearing pyjamas, and at some point along the journey she fell asleep.  She recalled awaking to find you had stopped the truck at an unknown location, and had your hands down her pants, feeling around touching, and rubbing her on the outside of her vagina over her underwear.  She asked you to stop and take her home.

31On 6 December 2013, you were interviewed in regard to sexual assaults, and again, as you had 20 years earlier, denied it all.  Between the 70s and 80s, a
man grew up next to you in Ashwood in Melbourne.  He met his partner in 1997.  Towards the end of 1998, the man's father made contact with you, and everyone was reacquainted.  He introduced you to his wife. Victim Six, who was born on 28 September 1999, in the early stages of her life, she had been diagnosed with mild autism. 

32Both the parents noticed that whenever you visited, particularly around that time when she was aged four or five years, you had very little tolerance and would not have a bar of her. 

33That all changed when Victim Six turned seven.  Both the parents noticed your behaviour towards her became friendly than before.  You were observed to often grab at her and pull her onto your lap.  You would rub her shoulders or her back, and then start a numbers game with her, involving drawing a number on her back and she guessing what number it was.

34The father recalls when living Korumburra, you asked him on several occasions if you could take Victim Six out in the truck with you to do a bread run.  He said no.  That response caused you some offence, to the point that he had to explain his reasons, that because of her autism and behaviour that may pose risk, may cause an accident. 

35In November of 2008, the family moved.  Contact continued.  The complainant, that is, Victim Six, recalls around this time while living at that address, she was aged between nine and 11.  She would sit on your lap on a couch in the lounge room. 

36You proceeded to massage her vagina area with your fingers over the top of a pair of tracksuit pants she was wearing.  After this behaviour, the parents noticed that she had become withdrawn.  They decided to ask her if you had touched her, or anything along those lines, and she said that you had.  The effect of the offending on her has been that she is "no longer affectionate towards her parents, and does not give cuddles anymore".  She has trust issues with other males, and lacks self-confidence.  You were fully aware the difficulties that she had, and yet you offended in this way against her.

37In June of 2015, you were arrested and interviewed again, and this time refused to make any comment. 

38Victim 7 was born in 1999.  You had asked Victim 7 and her mother on several occasions if she would go to the swimming pool with you and your son.  On occasions where this occurred, you picked her up from her home and took her swimming at the local leisure centre.  You became acquainted with her mother after turning up at her house and offering her free bread.  It was after that you started coming to the house unannounced, inviting yourself to stay for a cup of tea.  She was ten years of age at that time.

39You took her on overnight bread runs with you.  She went on several of those.  On two of those occasions, she fell asleep during the bread run, and awoke to find you had your hand on her leg, rubbing and patting her upper thigh.  This made her feel uncomfortable, and after the second occasion happened, she chose not to go with you anymore.  She later disclosed this to police.  I sentence on Charge 9 on the basis of the second of those two incidents.  It is not a representative charge.

40Anyway, as I have indicated, she disclosed these matters to her mother.  You were arrested again and interviewed in July of 2015, and you again made no comment, which of course is your right.

41The offending occurred over a very long period of time.  If taken in isolation, some of these matters would probably not have attracted a gaol sentence.  However, in my view, it has to be sentenced as a continuing course of conduct.  You had been interviewed by police in relation to it back in 1991, and you persisted in offending against young girls in this way.

42I think in this situation, because the victim impact statements were not read out aloud in court, they were simply tendered and given to me, I am going to quote from them, but not identify the author.  That is probably the only way I can do it in that situation.  I might simply say that these victim impact statements - and obviously I have read them all and take them all into account, very clearly point out the dreadful consequences for young girls and boys of this sort of offending against them.  It extends not only to the child herself, but also impacts dramatically on the families.

43There are victim impact statements from mother and father in this situation.  Each of those indicates the dreadful guilt unnecessarily felt by parents that exists from all this.  Parents who find this has happened to their children often find it very, very difficult, if ever, to forgive themselves.  That applies to most parents in a situation such as this.

44What I am going to simply do is list what this sort of thing does to children.  And I will be quoting, and I will take a few minutes, but I think it is important that the consequence of this offending be documented properly so that people understand why people who do this have got to go to gaol, there is simply no way that you can outlive this or get away with it.

45The victim who was most seriously offended against:

"Before I was assaulted, I was a happy and contented child.  All of that change after I was abused by this man.  I became very introverted and fearful all the time.  I became anxious and afraid of being around people.  I had trouble trusting people.  I suffered nightmares all through my childhood and into my adult life.  I withdrew from my family and friends, and lost interest at school.

"I didn't want to feel helpless ever again, and wanted to feel like I was in control, which led me to begin purging.  I knew it was wrong, and I hated myself for it.  I struggled with bulimia for two years, and lost two of my teeth, a result of the corrosion from vomiting.  I was full of shame, self-hate and loathing, which led to self-harm and eventually self-medicating. 

"I struggled with these issues throughout my teen years, which were the worst years of my life.  I didn't know how to deal with all of the emotions that I was experiencing, and I couldn't see what I was doing was self-destructive.  I felt worthless and alone as a result.  It affected every aspect of my life. 

"I withdrew and isolated myself from my family, and lost interest at school.  I became a dropout, and felt that I was a worthless piece of crap who would never achieve anything in life.  I'm still disappointed at myself for doing these things to myself.  I have to live with the consequences.  I feel dirty and guilty.  I feel like I don't deserve to be happy or loved.  Also along with all the mental scars I have, I also carry the physical scars from my self-harming, which are a reminder of what this man did to me."

46That is textbook as to what happens to girls who have this done to them.  Another of the victims said:

"It was fine and easy for me to go back to school after the crime, only because I had myself believe it was all a bad dream.  As soon as I remembered everything at 13 years old, I hated it.  I hated being around anyone.  I felt like all of my friends were out to hurt me, one way or another.  I became very promiscuous.  I had a lot of boyfriends in Year 7, and the majority were just using me because of the rumours they heard.  But I didn't stop. 

"Any boyfriend I had - well, almost any, I gave myself to them.  In my head, there was nothing wrong with that, it was just how I thought I would keep them, and that was what my head was telling me.  That I went out and did all this stuff, and some guy would save me."

47I think that is - well, I probably should also - just further, one of the victims.  Just a very simple approach:

"Feeling dirty, not clean, even though it happened 20 years ago.  Physical contact, don't feel as if I can show physical contact to partners, family, friends and pets.  Major depression, anxiety and exhaustion.  I find it hard to become close with males as I feel I can't trust them.  Especially their physical intentions.  Always suspicious of men in public, especially when I see them in public with children. Hatred towards self, being over responsible for my sister's wellbeing.  Fear for loss of empowerment, loss of self-worth.  Excusing the behaviour and inappropriate comments made by you [that is you, Mr Hendriks], toward myself and my family.  Feeling angry, hatred, disgust toward self.

"Felt like a sexual being, not a person, because he'd ogle my breast and crotch area every time I saw him.  Angry with society because the police didn't initially take my statement seriously.  Not feeling as if I deserved a well-paid job.  Having to rely on welfare, feeling judged by others.  Don't want to commit to a relationship for fear of settling down and having a family.  Not being able to trust a partner/husband if I had children."

48As I have said, I have taken into account all of the victim impact statements, and they all express very similar sentiments, and that is why people have just got to understand the consequences of this sort of thing.  It wrecks lives, it is as simple as that.

49The offending is clearly serious, and calls for the application of general and specific deterrence, denunciation, and appropriate punishment.  It went on for a long time.  Each of the offences involved a massive breach of trust, and had dramatic consequences on all concerned.

50In my view, despite the submissions that were made on your behalf, a significant gaol term is inevitable.  I might point out that the offending, having occurred at a time when the penalties for this were, as I have indicated - that I feel constrained by current sentencing practice.  However.

51Tendered on your behalf was a report from Mr David Bruce, a psychologist, as well as some written submissions.

52Your history is essentially as I have outlined it.  You clearly had a relatively difficult childhood, and I have taken into account what occurred when you were 12, and I have taken into account the fact that as a consequence of all this offending, your partner and son no longer have any contact with you.  That is a punishment in itself, and I do take that into account.

53The report from Mr Bruce, I must say, concerns me.  How a man can offend in this way over such an extended period of time, never having sought any treatment, having been spoken to police, denying it, and then continuing to do it, doing it in situations where it is quite clear that a number of the victims were hysterical and crying whilst the offending was carrying out - how someone who has been doing that for so long and has done nothing about it could be regarded as a low risk of reoffending is beyond my comprehension.  I do not, as I have indicated to your counsel, he could call the psychologist if he wants to, but I am not acting upon that.

54You have claimed to express remorse, but I take into account that you kept doing it after you had been spoken to by police.  Though obviously, because of the plea of guilty, I must give you some benefit for it.

55Your conditions is one of paedophilic disorder and paraphilic disorder.  I accept the medical opinion that your condition is compulsive, whilst it, according to this, involves little risk of violence, all sexual offending is violent.  It cannot be said likely to resolve by itself, Mr Bruce says.

56In the end I find it difficult to describe the emotional range of effect that this has on people, to hear of this sort of offending.  It is every parent's nightmare that this sort of thing can intrude into their lives, and persist for so long, and with so many girls in such a difficult situation.  The prospects of your rehabilitation are up to you.  I do not accept the risk of reoffending is low.  I cannot really make a finding in that respect.

57But I am well aware also that the principal sentencing purpose in this, certainly in relation to the last seven of the charges, is community protection. 

58Taking into account the matters tendered on your behalf, taking into account the submissions made by your counsel, you are sentenced to be imprisoned as follows.  Stand up please.  Stand up.

59Charge 1, 30 months;

60Charge 2, six months;

61Charge 3, 12 months;

62Charge 4, six months;

63Charge 5, 12 months;

64Charge 6, three months;

65Charge 7, six months;

66Charge 8, 12 months;

67Charge 9, 12 months.

68I direct that - and I do it in terms of cumulation rather than concurrency, because it is easier to understand.  I direct that:

69One month of the sentence imposed on Charge 2;

70Three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 3;

71Three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4;

72Four month of the sentence imposed on Charge 5;

73One month of the sentence imposed on Charge 6;

74Two months of the sentence imposed on Charge 7;

75Four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 8, and;

76Four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 9, be served cumulatively upon each other and upon the sentence imposed on Charge 1.

77On my calculation, that gives an effective head sentence of four years and four months, and I direct that you serve a minimum term of three years and two months before becoming eligible for parole.

78I direct that four days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.

79By s.6AAA, I say that but for your plea of guilty, you would have been sentenced to six, with four and a half.  Is that mathematics correct, gentlemen?

80MR MOORE:  Could you just give me a moment, Your Honour?

81HIS HONOUR:  Yes. 

82MR MOORE:  Thank you.  Yes, correct, Your Honour.

83HIS HONOUR:  You all right with that, Mr Davis, it adds up?

84MR DAVIS:  Yes, Your Honour.

85HIS HONOUR:  All right, you can remove the prisoner, please.  Yes, thanks gentlemen.

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