Director of Public Prosecutions v Jonas

[2014] VCC 1918

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

CR-14-01515

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

ROY JONAS

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE DEAN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	10 November 2014
DATE OF SENTENCE:	14 November 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Jonas
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2014] VCC 1918

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

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the DPP	Mr S. Ballek	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr A. Pyne	Victoria Legal Aid

HIS HONOUR:

1       Roy Jonas, you have pleaded guilty to:

(i) One charge of committing an indecent act with a child under sixteen, contrary to s47(1) of the Crimes Act 1958. The maximum penalty for that offence is ten years’ imprisonment.

(ii) Two charges of sexual penetration of a child under sixteen, contrary to s45(2)(c) of the Crimes Act 1958. The maximum penalty for that offence is also ten years’ imprisonment.

2       You pleaded guilty at committal mention, and I accept that your early plea is evidence of your remorse for your offending.  It has also spared witnesses and the community the difficulty and cost of conducting a criminal trial of these charges.  Accordingly, I have taken your plea into account in your favour in mitigation of sentence.  You have no prior convictions and are to be sentenced as a first offender.

3 In respect of charge 3 on the Indictment you are to be sentenced as a serious offender by operation of Part 2A of the Sentencing Act 1991. For that reason the protection of the community is the principal purpose for which the sentence is to be imposed in respect of that charge. The prosecution do not submit, however, that I should impose a disproportionate sentence to achieve that purpose, and I have not done so.

4       The prosecution opening was read to the court and tendered in evidence, and your offending may be summarised as follows:

5       In January 2013 you met the complainant through an online computer game site.  You played games with her and exchanged increasingly intimate information.  After first telling you she was at TAFE, she then told you she was fourteen.  You told her that you were forty-one, which was your correct age.

6       On 14 May 2013 you travelled to Melbourne from your home in Adelaide.  Thereafter your offending commenced.  The complainant performed an indecent act with you in a car on the day of your arrival, and this conduct constitutes the offending relied on in relation to charge 1 on the Indictment.

7       The following day you engaged in sexual intercourse with her in a motel room.  On 17 May 2013 in the motel room, whilst having intercourse with her, you inserted a vibrator into her anus.  This conduct constitutes charge 3 on the Indictment.

8       Charge 2 on the Indictment is a representative count in respect of seven acts of sexual penetration that took place between 15 May 2013 and 5 July 2013.

9       Your offending is clearly serious.  You engaged in ongoing sexual relations with a child.  You were significantly older than her, and were aware that she was vulnerable and confused.  You were also aware that she had a disrupted home life and did not have the support of her parents.

10      The sentence I impose must be calculated to deter you and others from offending in this way.  You must be punished for what you have done, and your selfish conduct engaged in for personal gratification must be denounced by this court.

11      I have received in evidence a victim impact statement of the complainant, and victim impact statements of her parents.  I accept that your offending has had a deeply traumatic effect upon them.

12      I now turn to your personal circumstances.  You were born in Adelaide on 14 April 1971 and are now aged forty-three.  You have no prior convictions, and I accept that you are of previously good character.  You come from a stable and law-abiding family.  Your education and work history was good until 2010, when you became unemployed.

13      I have received in evidence two psychological reports detailing your psychological profile and developmental history.  You suffer from depression and anxiety, and I accept that this will cause you a greater degree of hardship in prison than would otherwise be the case.  You will also be separated from your family and friends who reside in Adelaide.

14      You have been assessed as a low risk of reoffending, and I accept that this is the case and that your prospects of rehabilitation may properly be described as very good.  I further accept that your offending was the product of a serious breach of self-control, and that you were overwhelmed by the unlawful situation that you had created yourself.  However, you have demonstrated a degree of insight into what you have done, and this supports my findings in respect of your prospects of rehabilitation.

15      In the result, the sentence of the court is as follows:

16      On charge 1, the charge of performing an indecent act with a child under sixteen, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months.

17      On charge 2, the charge of sexual penetration of a child under the age of sixteen, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for two years and nine months.

18      On charge 3, the charge of sexual penetration of a child under the age of sixteen, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for eighteen months.

19      Charge 2 is the base sentence.  I order that three months of the sentence on charge 1 and six months of the sentence on charge 3 be served cumulatively on each other and cumulatively on the sentence in relation to charge 2.  This makes for a total effective term of imprisonment of three years and six months.  I order that you serve two years before becoming eligible for release on parole.

20      I declare that you have served six days by way of pre-sentence detention not including today.

21      But for your plea of guilty I would have imposed a total effective term of imprisonment of five years and ordered that you serve three years and six months before becoming eligible for release on parole.

22      You will be placed on the sex offenders register for life.  My associate will provide you with information in relation to your obligations in that regard.

23 I have made the order pursuant to s464ZF of the Crimes Act.