Director of Public Prosecutions v Light

[2016] VCC 168

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 15-01795

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

DANIEL LIGHT

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	17 February 2016
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Light
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VCC 168

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 K. Doyle	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Mr G. Casement

HIS HONOUR:

1Daniel Light, you were convicted by a jury on the 22 January after a short trial of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 years.  That crime carries a maximum penalty of ten years' imprisonment.  The circumstances of the trial were that you were in a relationship with a 14 year old, you at the time being 18.

2I accept that the relationship from your point of view was not predatory, in that a report from Dr Walton points out that you have a mental age of around about 11 or 12 at that time.  When interviewed by police you conceded that you had had intercourse with the young lady. She of course not having made a statement at all.

3Accordingly the first thing that goes very much in your favour is that you could not have been convicted without your own admissions.  The offending all happened around the early part of 2014 and there is a degree of material about how friends of yours knew she was under 16 and I am not going to buy into all that.

4Suffice to say the jury, I think, found it impossible to believe that two of your friends at least, that is Mr Walters and Ms Nelson, were aware that she was under 16, but that you had not been told.  That is a view that I must admit I accept, I do take the view however that because of your very low mental age, that what you were engaging in was more wishful thinking than deliberate criminality.

5At the end of the day there is no victim impact statement, indeed there is no statement at all from her.  I note that at the time this took place she was already pregnant and I am given no more detail about that.  It was clear during the running of the trial that a number of the Crown witnesses were of, what can only be described as extremely poor quality and I have no real difficulty with the trial having been run.

6I have taken into account the report of Dr Walton, the report of psychologist Ms Smith and of the psychologist, who assessed you in terms of intellectual disability.  You do have an intellectual disability which fits in with the decisions and accordingly Verdins obviously plays a significant role in this sentencing. 

7I do not think in these circumstances I need to go into all the detail of you background.  You have the normal circumstance of having been to many primary schools.  You have left school at an early age, you are virtually illiterate, as I understand it, and you have suffered from a wide range of difficulties

8The report of Ms Smith, who I recollect was formally a police officer at one stage, indicates that you have no insight into your offending.  I think that is probably bit harsh.  I think that you, by now at least, do have an understanding of it.  In your record of interview, when challenged about the age of the girl, you indicated that you, "weren't stupid", and I think you are well aware of what would happen if you ever did something like this again.

9The offending is one where you are of roughly the same mental age.  I do not regard it as a serious example of sexual penetration.  And in your particular situation, taking Verdins into account, I think that general deterrence would play really no part and specific deterrence for you is really a matter for yourself.

10You do have a prior finding of guilt for sexual offending back from when you were about 16.  I accept what Dr Walton says that he thinks you do not need a sex offenders program, but I am concerned that he was not aware of that prior finding of guilt.

11In any even the overall situation is that in September of last year you were put on an 18 month CCO in the Magistrates' Court.  You have one other CCO still current in the Magistrates' Court.  You have clearly been non-compliant with those and breach proceedings, if not already taken, are in the pipeline.

12One of those CCOs imposed by Her Honour Magistrate Hayes last year has a sex offenders program in it, which as I understand, has been put on hold until I have passed sentence here.  The prospects of your rehabilitation and the risk of you reoffending are totally problematic.  I will be surprised if you reoffend in this way again, because you clearly understand that having now reached the age of 20, were you to do so again the only option for any sentencing judge is going to be adult gaol.  If you do not grasp that I do not think anybody can help you.

13I direct that the reports of Dr Walton, of Ms Smith, and (indistinct) be Exhibit 1 on this plea and be retained on the court file in case you breach the disposition, which I am about to impose upon you.  After discussion with counsel, the situation where I think that the only sensible, if it can be called that, disposition is a community corrections order and that will at least mean that you are subject to supervision.

14If the Magistrates' Court orders are breached and the magistrate takes a different view, and either put you in youth justice or adult gaol, well the whole situation may have to be revisited. 

15In any event, what I am going to do is place you, if you agree, on a with conviction community corrections order, two years' duration, and the only condition I will be imposing on is supervision. I make that decision, having been told by the learned and much respected Mr Black, that you are deemed by the corrections to be unsuitable, and I will be very conscious of that if you are brought back. 

16All right, so he wants to sign that, there is no other conditions I am going to put on it.  The only thing I am going to need is the Sex Offenders Document.  I also advise you that because of this offending you will be now placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life which just seems preposterous to me but there you go.

17I will still need to give him that form even though he would have been given one in the Magistrates' Court.

18MR DOYLE:  Yes, Your Honour.

19HIS HONOUR:  The access calls to be given so I guess I have got to do it again. 

20MR CASEMENT:  Can I just speak with him for a moment?

21HIS HONOUR:  Yes, of course. 

22MR DOYLE:  Your Honour, could we just get perhaps ten minutes to ‑ ‑ ‑ 

23HIS HONOUR:  That is what I was going to do, yes, we are just having
Mr Richards brought over so I will just get this done.  I will just stand this and say 20 past and we will start the plea then. 

24COUNSEL:  It should be done by then.

25HIS HONOUR:  Yes, that is what I figured.  I have read the reports.  Did we take the particulars on him the other day, I cannot remember.  Probably not. I tend not to do it if they have just been convicted by a jury because there is always a risk that they might say something.

26MR CASEMENT:  Is Your Honour minded to sentence today, Mr Richards or some other time?

27HIS HONOUR:  Had we gone on earlier I would have sentenced this afternoon, but if the plea is finished by 1 o'clock, I could probably sentence him at say, three, but we will just have to see how we go.  But we will just have to see where we go, there may be relative uniformity as to what it is all worth.  We will just see how we go but I would prefer it if I could, but the problem is going to be victim impact statement. 

28MR DOYLE:  I have got them.

29HIS HONOUR:  You have, all right. 

30MR DOYLE:  The problem we have got is this, at the moment we do not have that criminal record in the proper form.  We have got the priors but I think Your Honour might have been handed the priors at some stage.

31HIS HONOUR:  Yes, I have got those. 

32MR DOYLE:  They are not in the proper form, that is all.

33HIS HONOUR:  Do they have to be?  I have seen heaps of times just on admitted.

34MR DOYLE:  We did it in an another one earlier this circuit.

35HIS HONOUR:  Hang on, wait.  I still have not signed his CCO yet.  Probably not a bad idea. 

36MR CASEMENT:  That was my instruction he leave.  I thought he was done.

37HIS HONOUR:  No, that is all right.  No, he has not signed the CCO.  He has, I have not.  All right.  That is done.

38Just stand up for second Mr Light if you would not mind.  You are 20, when you turn 21, it is big time all right?  Now can I say to you that you have had your difficulties in life and everything else, but you would have a dreadful time in an adult gaol. 

39OFFENDER:  Yep.

40HIS HONOUR:  Shocking.  All right, you do what you like in the Magistrates' Court and eventually one of them is going to lock you up but if you do anything like this again in the next two years that is what will happen.  And you would struggle badly; you do not have to be Einstein to work that out.  It is up to you.

41All right, I will come back at 20 past and we will go from there.

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