Director of Public Prosecutions v Ianson (a pseudonym)

[2018] VCC 820

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

BRAD PIERCE IANSON (a pseudonym)

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	4 June 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Ianson (a pseudonym)
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 820

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. McKenry
For the Accused	Mr B. Johnston

HER HONOUR:

1Brad Pierce Ianson,[1] you have pleaded guilty before me to two charges of indecent assault upon a male, one charge of indecent assault and two charges of sexual penetration with a child aged between ten and 16.  The facts underlying your offending are as follows.

[1] Brad Pierce Ianson is a pseudonym.

2In 1977 you were a member of the Salesian Order and had transferred to a college, soon after beginning to supervise a Don Bosco Club after school program for young boys. 

3In the late 1970s and early 80s, you committed five historical sex offences against three male victims, all of whom were aged between 13 and 15 at the time and all of whom came into contact with you through their attendance at the Don Bosco Club.

4The first victim was Conrad Harvey[2], now aged 53.  He was raised by his parents, attending a catholic school run by the Salesian Order.  In around 1997 to 98, when Mr Harvey was 13 or 14, he went to an overnight school camp, which you attended as supervisor and this is where he met you.  During this camp you became friendly with him and Mr Harvey thought you were a "cool guy".  You impressed him with your bushman skills and told Mr Harvey, who was then a boy, that he could refer to you by your first name only, which was unusual at the time and you invited Mr Harvey to attend another similar camp later on.

[2] Conrad Harvey is a pseudonym.

5A week or two later Mr Harvey did attend the next camp with you but on this camp shared a small canvas tent with you.  At night time, when the two of you went to bed, you and the victim started talking, you telling him that he would warm up quicker in his sleeping bag if he had no clothes or pyjamas on and the victim went to sleep in his sleeping bag in his underwear.

6Once everyone was asleep you started talking to the victim about the movie Deliverance and during which you began touching his bare skin as if to demonstrate something that had happened in the movie.  This was the first time you touched Conrad Harvey inappropriately.

7At some point later you asked Conrad Harvey if he had ever masturbated, he replying, "No", and you leant over and started to masturbate his penis with your hand.  This underlies part of Charge 1, which is a composite charge.

8After a while you took Conrad Harvey’s hand and instructed him to do the same thing with your penis and he masturbated your penis for a while.  These actions also underlie part of composite Charge 1.

9You then placed your hand over Conrad Harvey’s hand and masturbated your penis until the point of ejaculation; some of it going on to Conrad Harvey’s hand.  These actions also underlie Charge 1.

10You told Conrad that it felt good and wiped your ejaculate off his hand.

11After this camp you became friendly with Conrad’s parents and attended the family home for dinner.  Soon after this camp you asked Conrad to go camping with you but this was not a school excursion.  On arrival, you setup camp in the same tent that had been used on the previous occasion and although the two of you had separate sleeping bags, you told Conrad to get into your sleeping bag.  You then removed his underwear and fondled his genitals, these actions underlying part of Charge 2, also a composite charge.

12Sometime later, whilst Conrad was lying on his side, you lay behind him, naked, with an erection.  You placed your penis against Conrad’s buttocks, he making his body rigid and clenching his butt cheeks.  These actions underlie part of Charge 2.

13You then got Conrad to masturbate your penis to the point of ejaculation.  After this time the two of you exchanged letters, initiated by you, during the course of which you invited Conrad to go to New South Wales.  He went on a trip with you but nothing sexual occurred, although you did talk about the prior instances of sexual abuse, saying you regretted the relationship had turned sexual.

14Charge 3 relates to the second victim, Christopher Hume[3], a man now aged 47.  When he was eight his parents separated, his father leaving the family home. He met you when he was about 11 when he began attending the Don Bosco Club.  You were known to Christopher as Father Brad and he liked and respected you. He looked up to you as a male role model in his life.  You would visit his family home and Christopher's mother welcomed your presence.

[3] Christopher Hume is a pseudonym.

15Christopher also met the third victim, Barnaby Hathway[4], through his attendance at the Don Bosco Club and the two of them became best friends.  They attended different schools but went to the Don Bosco Club together and Christopher noticed that you treated him and his friend, Barnaby, differently to the other children and gave them special privileges.

[4] Barnaby Hathway is a pseudonym.

16When Christopher was 13 or 14 you would take he and Barnaby to camps and participate in activities; Christopher going to a secondary school in Sydney and another in Victoria with you and Barnaby.  When the two of them attended school in Victoria they were not allowed to sleep with the other children but instead slept in your room on the floor.  When Christopher was away with you, you would let him smoke and would treat him and Barnaby like adults, and you also gave Christopher presents on his birthday.

17Christopher and Barnaby did everything together and often slept over at places with you.  On one occasion, in around 1983, Barnaby slept overnight with you without Christopher and he was jealous that he was not invited.  Around this time Christopher started displaying some behaviour issues and his mother contacted you for assistance in managing her son, you coming to her home and taking Christopher away to the Victorian secondary school.

18You talked with Christopher and later that night stayed in his room, although Christopher wanted to sleep in the dormitory with the other children.  Christopher lay down on the floor at bed time and prepared to go to sleep.  You then came and told him that he needed to shower, Christopher refusing but you insisting and Christopher ultimately complying.

19When he returned to his bed on the floor, you got out of your bed and lay down next to him.  Christopher asked you what you were doing and you told him you wanted to lie beside him as it was like camping and then covered the two of you with a blanket, Christopher rolling away from you.  You then grabbed Christopher by his arms and rolled him over and pulled him on top of you.  Christopher was face to face with you and he could feel that you had an erection.  He asked, "What the fuck are you doing", and you told him you simply wanted to hug him.  Christopher said he could feel your erection on his stomach.  These action underlie Charge 3 on the indictment.

20Christopher got up and moved away.  You told him to go back to sleep and you would take him home.  Nothing was said about what happened, you returned Christopher home and he never saw you again.

21Charges 4 and 5 relate to the third victim, Barnaby Hathway, now aged 48.  He began attending the Don Bosco Club when he was nine.  In 1983 he heard about you, you having just been ordained.  Barnaby heard that you were running the club and would take kids abseiling, which he was interested in.  That same year Barnaby's family home burned down while he was attending a movie night at the Don Bosco Club.  He was 14 at the time.

22The next day you were to take a group of boys, including Barnaby, abseiling and those who abseiled were to stay overnight at the club.  The only adult sleeping over at the club was you and you slept in the same room as the boys and within arms’ reach of Barnaby.

23Sometime during the night Barnaby complained of a cramp in his leg, you said you would massage it and pulled him closer to you, then massaged his leg for about 15 minutes and whilst doing this your hand moved closer to his groin and you brushed your hand against Barnaby's genitals until he had an erection.  You then pulled Barnaby close and pushed his face towards your groin area, inserting your erect penis into his mouth.  These action underlie Charge 4 on the indictment.

24Following this you put Barnaby's penis into your mouth and sucked it, at one point wiping your fingers over his lips, Barnaby feeling a wet sensation.  The next day you took the boys abseiling, telling Barnaby that what happened was between you and him, was your secret and nobody needed to know.

25Whilst in custody for matters upon which you had been convicted and gaoled in New South Wales, you were interviewed by police on 21 January 2014; you providing no comment answers to the allegations.

26This matter proceeded to a contested committal hearing, which was heard in August 2017.  Following this an offer was made, apparently, in March 2018 but refused, the matter having been set down for trial in 2018.  On the day of the trial the matters resolved and a plea was entered.  I now turn to your personal circumstances.

27You are now 67 years of age and were born in New South Wales, the eldest of six children.  Your father was a pharmacist and your mother had the occupation of home duties.  You were raised as a Catholic, attending a Catholic College run by the De La Salle Brothers, where you completed Year 12 in 1969.  Your counsel told me that essentially you grew up in a loving middle class family.

28On leaving school at age 18 you began studies at a seminary, where you stayed for several years, taking a year off to work as a wardsman.  You developed an interest in working for troubled youths and in 1974 applied to join the Salesian Order. You were accepted at a College where you studied for three years, then taking your first vows.  You took your final vows as a Salesian Brother at the end of 1976.

29You taught at a Salesian College, where you worked at the Don Bosco Club at weekends and were then appointed to a high school in New South Wales in January 1978.  This school cared for troubled boys who had been referred by priests in various parishes.  They slept in dormitories, often living there for some years, engaging also in a number of outdoor activities, sports and camping.

30It was in this period of time that you committed a series of offences upon seven victims over a period of about ten years, for which you were ultimately dealt with by the District Court in New South Wales, following a trial in which all charges were contested.  Ultimately, a Judge of the District Court sentenced you to a total effective term of 15 years, with a minimum term of nine and a half years for 18 charges relating to your offending, which included very similar offending to that in relation to the matter before this court, that is, mutual masturbation, mutual oral sex, one charge of anal sex and many charges of indecent assault.  Some of the offending continuing for protracted periods of time with the same victims, all of whom were in their early teens.

31In 1983 you took your vows as a Salesian priest, having left the high school in New South Wales in the late 1970s / early 80s, in order to take up those studies.

32From 1988 until 2004 you worked as a parish priest in a number of parishes, which involved fairly onerous duties and no further offending was reported from that time and indeed at your trial in New South Wales in 2008, a number of testimonials as to your performance as a parish priest were presented to the court.  You left the priesthood in 2004, residing with your uncle, having been arrested for these particular charges in 2006 and have since been defrocked by the church.

33The statements by victims one and three, in the matters before this court, were made in 2008 and 2009.  There has been some delay in this matter.  The second victim did not make a statement until 2014 and indeed you were not questioned in relation to these matters in 2014.  There was some cross-examination of the informant on this point and it was seen that because you had been convicted and sentenced to a lengthy term of imprisonment, the Victorian matters were put somewhat on the backburner.

34Whilst in gaol it appears you have been a fairly model prisoner, taking a number of certificates and developing a keen interest in art, in particular at Junee Corrections Centre, where you initiated an art teaching program there and also initiated a documentary about the art program conducted in that prison.

35You were ultimately transferred to mainstream prison in New South Wales, in order to more readily achieve parole.  This was a very difficult time for you; you were abused by other prisoners, there was graffiti painted in your cell and at one stage your bed was urinated upon.

36You have continued to enjoy the support of your family.  Your parents separated when you were in your early 20s and your father moved to Queensland.  Your mother, who is now in her early 90s, lives in Gosford and I was informed by your counsel that you speak to her daily by telephone.  You are concerned that she is showing some early signs of dementia and it is your plan to live with her on your release and to pursue your interest in painting.

37Defence counsel conceded that your offending against the three victims was serious and a serious example of this offending.  It had a significant impact upon Conrad Harvey, who was the only one of the three victims to complete a victim impact statement.  It is clear that your offending against him has caused a lifelong struggle, where he has battled with depression and anxiety, stating that:

"The abuse made me feel like I was different from other people, like I was marked or carried a curse.  I always knew it was there but I couldn't speak to anyone about it.  I - I felt I needed to hide it and if anyone found out I would be considered weak or a freak.  It sapped my confidence and self-esteem".

38He said that he suffered from increasing anxiety and depression as he got older, escalating to a peak in 1999 to 2000 when he sought psychological treatment:

"And over time learned to manage it.  It never goes away completely and although I have learned to manage the anxiety attacks, they still sap the joy out of life when they occur".

39The reactions described by Mr Harvey are typical of adults who have been subjected to sexual abuse as children.  Whilst no victim impact statements were received from the other two victims, I have no trouble in concluding that they would have suffered similar emotional difficulties of a long standing nature and that overall your offending would have been enormously damaging to them.

40It is clear that you offended against vulnerable youths, one of whom was in difficult family circumstances and lacking a father.  Your behaviour in singling each of these boys out for preferred treatment, in befriending them, in befriending their families, was almost a classic example of grooming that is seen so often in these courts by persons determined upon sexual exploitation of children.

41I accept that that offending was not aggravated by threats of force of violence, but it involved a large degree of manipulation upon young people who were, as I have said, vulnerable to your advances and very much in an unequal position of power in relation to you.

42In sentencing you I do take into account that you have entered a plea of guilty as opposed to the way in which you conducted your trial in New South Wales.  That plea was however, in my view, entered at a late stage and followed a contested committal where the victims were forced to endure cross-examination, the strain of which was referred to by Mr Harvey in his victim impact statement.

43You are entitled to the utilitarian benefit of a plea, which has saved the community the time and expense of a trial, which I acknowledge may well have been quite considerable in this case, it being the Crown's decision to lead tendency evidence in the form of those victims who were the subject of the
New South Wales proceedings.

44I also must have regard to the maximum penalties available at the time of this offending.  Charges 1, 2 and 3 all had a maximum penalty of five years; charges 4 and 5 have maximum penalties of 15 years.  However the authorities make it clear that in having regard to the sentences that prevailed at that time, the court must also have regard to community attitudes of the present time in relation to this offending and there is no doubt, particularly when having regard to the increase in the statutory maximum penalties available for this offending, that community attitudes are considerably more severe than they were at the time of this offending.

45I also take into account that there has been a delay in these proceedings, in the terms that I mentioned earlier.  That is that two of the three victims made statements in 2008 and in 2009.  Indeed, Mr Harvey gave tendency evidence at the 2008 trial.  There is has been a delay between 2008 and 2014, when you were eventually interviewed by police.

46Also I take into account that these matters were not heard with the New South Wales matters because of the jurisdictional prohibition and therefore accept that the issue of totality looms large in these proceedings, the opportunity for those charges to have been included in the sentences that were imposed upon you in 2008 having been lost.

47I note that because you have completed your non-parole period as of
24 January of this year, it is not my task now to impose a new global non-parole period, simply to impose a non-parole period which begins from today and to impose some cumulation to the head sentence.

48It is conceded that there must be some cumulation as a result of this offending.  It was a serious breach of trust; it was a breach of your duty of care to your victims, over whom you had considerable in loco parentis power.  It was a breach of the trust if those parents and those mothers entrusted their sons to you.  As I have said, they were vulnerable young boys, one of them coming from a family where there was no protection or a father figure, and one where there had been a significant loss, in terms of a fire at the family home and where each boy held you in a fair amount of esteem, before your offending against them.

49No psychological material was tendered on your behalf at the plea, nor was it in the New South Wales matters.  Like the New South Wales Judge, who sentenced you in 2008, I am unable to say what prompted you to offend in the way that you did or to continue that offending.

50I do note that you desisted from offending in your years as a parish priest, which leads me to form a guardedly optimistic view - combined with your age - of your rehabilitative prospects and as to a diminution in the threat that you pose to the community at large, that essentially being young adolescent males in the future.

51However, as I have said, this offending, like all offending of young person who are in the charge of adults who then go on to sexually exploit them is extremely serious and it is my view there must be cumulation.

52I therefore sentence you as follows.  Could you stand up please, sir.

53On Charge 1, you are sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment; on Charge 2, you are sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment; on Charge 3, you are sentenced to nine months' imprisonment; on Charge 4 you are sentenced to two years' imprisonment; and on Charge 5 you are sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

54The base sentence will be the sentenced imposed on Charge 5, that is two years.  I order that nine months of the sentence imposed on Charge 1; nine months of the sentence imposed on Charge 2; four months of the sentence imposed on Charge 3; and 12 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4 be served cumulatively to the sentence imposed on Charge 5 and with each other.

55That gives a maximum penalty of five years and a quarter and I order that you serve - there be a minimum term - sorry.  Two years of that sentence will be served cumulatively to the head sentence and I order that you serve a minimum term of two years before becoming eligible for parole.

56Pursuant to s.6AAA, I declare that had you not pleaded guilty I would have sentenced you to a term of six and a half years with a minimum term of four and a half years.

57Now, I did not bring the orders - are the orders - have a seat, sir, thank you.  We've got you some orders to sign, thank you.  So there is a total effective sentence now of 17 years and a minimum term of two years.  I am also ordering that you undergo a forensic procedure, which will involve the scraping from your mouth by police.  I need to advise you that should you resist police undertaking the exercise, police may use reasonable force in order to obtain that sample.  It is the 4th, isn't it?

58UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER:  Yes, Your Honour.

59HER HONOUR:  Yes, thank you.  Yes, thank you, is that everything?

60MR McKENRY:  Your Honour, if I may?  Just in terms of clarifying the accumulation orders.

61HER HONOUR:  Yes.

62MR McKENRY:  I get four years and ten months, so the numbers that I had were ‑ ‑ ‑

63HER HONOUR:  No, just wait.  I'm sure that's right, I'm sure mine's right. 
All right, so nine and nine is 18.

64MR McKENRY:  Yes.

65HER HONOUR:  And four is 22.

66MR McKENRY:  Yes.

67HER HONOUR:  I am right - you are right.  Sorry, and 12 is 34.  All right, we'll make it four years and ten months.  Ten months and I'm going to make two years of that cumulative on the head sentence and there's a minimum term of two years.  I did 6AAA.

68MR McKENRY:  Serious offender, Your Honour.

69HER HONOUR:  Yes.  You are a serious sexual offender for the purposes of all charges.  I declare you as a serious sexual offender.  You are to be placed upon the sex offenders register for the life.  Thank you.

70MR McKENRY:  Honour pleases.

71MR JOHNSTON:  As Your Honour pleases.

72HER HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  Thank you.  I thank counsel for their assistance.

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