Director of Public Prosecutions v Parer (a pseudonym)
[2021] VCC 1137
•13 August 2021
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| TYSON PARER (A PSEUDONYM) |
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| JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE CARMODY |
| WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 4 August 2021 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 13 August 2021 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Parer (a pseudonym) |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2021] VCC 1137 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence
Catchwords: Attempted sexual penetration of a child under the age of 10 years old – sexual penetration of a child under 16 years of age – indecent act with a child under 16 years of age – sexual penetration of a child under the age of 12 years old
– serious offending –relevant prior offending.
Legislation:Crimes (Amendment) Act 2000; Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offence) Act 2006; Sentencing Act 1991
Case cited: Worboyes v The Crown [2021] VSCA 169
Sentence:Total effective sentence of 11 years and 3 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 8 years and 6 months imprisonment.
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| APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Ms C. Duckett | Director of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | Ms H. Anderson | David Barrese & Associates |
HIS HONOUR:
1Tyson Parer,1 on 4 August 2021 you pleaded guilty to the following charges on indictment no.L11152414:
· Charge 1, attempted sexual penetration of a child under 16 years. That was a rolled up charge. This charge has a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment.
· Charge 2, sexual penetration of a child under 16 years of age. That is also a rolled up charge. This charge has a maximum penalty of 25 years' imprisonment.
· Charge 3, indecent act with a child under 16 years. This charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
2The first three charges are against the same complainant who I will refer to as KJ.
· Charge 4, indecent act with a child under 16 years. This charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
· Charge 5, indecent act with a child under 16. This charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment years.
· Charge 6, sexual penetration of a child under 12 years. This is a rolled up charge of two occasions.
3Charges 4, 5 and 6 are against the same victim who I will refer to as KS who is related to the first complainant in this case.
4You admitted your prior criminal history which included dishonesty offending and relevant sexual offending. I will refer to your criminal history in more detail
later in this sentence.
5At the time of this sentence you had spent 457 days as pre-sentence detention on remand for these offences and this sentencing process is not affected by the standard sentence regime under the Sentencing Act which came into force in this state of 1 February 2018.
Circumstances of your offending
6The prosecutor tendered a prosecution opening for plea purposes dated 27 July 2021. This was Exhibit “A” on the plea. I will refer to the relevant parts of that document in this sentence. Your counsel accepts that the chronology and the opening accurately set out the facts for this case.
Background
7You were born in 1946.You changed your birth name by deed poll to Tyson Parer2 in 1988.
8Your two victims in this case are sisters in the sense that they have the same father. KJ was born in 1994 and KS was born in 2007. You were friends with their father who I will refer to as KD. You had met KD at your employment in 1988. You are the godfather of KJ. In September 1996, KD organised for you to be the guardian of KJ and KT who is a younger sister of KJ. In short, you were a close and trusted friend of the father of your two victims.
9At the time of the offending against KJ she was between five and 11 years of age. At that time you were 52 to 56 years of age on my calculations.
10At the time of your offending against KS she was between six and 11 years of age. At that time you were nearing your 70s.
Charges 1 to 3: this is the circumstances of your offending against KJ
11In 1998, you offered to look after KJ and the younger sister of KJ who I will refer
to as KT at your residence in Mayfield which you shared with your mother. You had recently separated from your wife and told KD, the father, that it would be a bit of company for you. KD allowed his children to stay with you at your residence as he worked most weekends and his partner at the time had three children from her previous relationship at their home.
12When KJ and KT stayed at your place you took them to swimming lessons, movies and to the zoo. During the stays KJ mixed your scotch and cola and ice and you allowed both of the girls to dip their dummies into your drink.
13At night you had KJ sleep in your bed with you whilst KT slept in the back room of the premises. You also washed KJ in the shower at your residence spending extra time rubbing soap over her vagina and then placing a towel between her legs, rubbing it back and forth asking if “it felt nice”.
14On an occasion between 9 February 1998 and 9 February 1999, KJ was staying overnight at your residence. During the night KJ lay on her back and you laid naked on top of her. You told her she would “bleed a little bit and it would hurt for a couple of seconds and then it would be okay”. You then tried to insert your penis into KJ's vagina. This hurt KJ and she told you to stop and you did.
15You then told KJ to put a pillow over her head so if she had to bite it or scream no one would hear. You again attempted to insert your penis into KJ's vagina. KJ tried to pull herself away and was crying. You stopped and got annoyed saying, 'Fine. I'll just go to sleep then'. KJ rolled over and was still crying before falling asleep herself. That is the rolled up charge of Charge 1, attempted sexual penetration of a child under 10 years.
16On an occasion between 9 February 1999 and 9 February 2000, KJ was staying at your home again in Mayfield. During the night you and KJ were in your bedroom. You spread KJ's legs and licked her vagina asking whether it felt good, if it tickled and if it was a good feeling. KJ felt nervous and uncomfortable.
17A vehicle drove past your house with the headlights lighting up the room causing KJ to panic and push you away. You told her they could not see in and continued licking her vagina. That is part of the rolled up Charge 2, sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16.
18You then masturbated yourself and told KJ to give you a hand or head job. You also asked KJ to sit on your face so you could lick her vagina.
19On an occasion between 9 February 1999 and 9 February 2001, KJ was staying at your home at Mayfield again. You and KJ were again in your bedroom when you made KJ put her mouth over your penis and move it in an up and down motion. KJ gagged the first time she performed oral sex on you. While KJ performed oral sex on you, you made moaning and groaning noises. KJ stopped before you ejaculated in her mouth as her mouth would get sore. That is part of Charge 2, sexual penetration of a child under 16, oral sex.
20On an occasion between 9 February 1999 and 9 February 2001, KJ was at your home in Mayfield. You and KJ were in the bedroom where you had KJ dress in two separate sets of female lingerie telling her various ways to pose whilst you photographed her using a Polaroid camera. You also filmed KJ dancing around you on the bed whilst wearing the lingerie. That is the indecent act with a child under the age of 16.
21On multiple occasions between 1998 and 2004, you made KJ masturbate your erect penis in the bedroom. You placed your hand over KJ's hand to show her how you wanted the act performed.
22On occasions between 1998 and 2004, you engaged in various other sexualised behaviour with KJ. During the offending KJ observed a faint tattoo on the underside of your penis.
23You told KJ that you loved her and she was your favourite and that you wanted to run away and marry her.
24I will just interject here. She was a child.
25You gave KJ money and jewellery and told her that if she told anyone that she would get into trouble and it would cause him and her dad to fight and one of them would be in hospital and badly hurt. On hearing this KJ cried.
26In 2004, when KJ was just 11 years old she started menstruating and stopped staying overnight at your place. Since then KJ has only seen you occasionally but receives comments on Facebook from you when she posts something on Facebook.
Charge 4 to 6: this are the circumstances of your offending against KS
27During 2013, you and KD purchased a caravan. KD often found it difficult to get away due to his work and other child commitments. You took KS and her brother and your two sons to the caravan during school holidays and the weekends. On multiple unknown dates between 2013 and 2019, during school holidays you took KS and her older brother to the caravan. Whilst at the caravan you made KS sleep in your bed telling her that because she was the only girl she could not sleep in the same room as your sons or her brother.
28On occasions between those years you engaged in various sexualised behaviour with KS but between 18 November and 9 December 2017, KS and her brother stayed with you at a residential address in St Helens Plains while KD, their father, travelled to Vietnam. During this time KS was enrolled to attend at primary school.
29On 28 November 2017, you kept KS at home from school for the day telling her brother and your sons that she was sick. KS was not sick. When KS's brother and your sons had left the residence to go to school you set up a mattress with pillows and blankets on the floor of the lounge room and laid on it with KS watching a movie.
30While you watched the movie you have then put your hand inside KS's
underwear and put two fingers into her vagina. KS stopped you by pulling away. You walked away pretending to be upset.
31That night you and KS were in your bed. You put your hand inside her underwear again and inserted two fingers into her vagina. That is Charge 6, a rolled up charge of those two events of sexual penetration of a child under 12. When you have done that to her KS has grabbed your hand and pulled it away. You have rolled over and gone to sleep.
32On an occasion between 9 October 2016 and 9 October 2017, KS again was staying at your residence in St Helens Plains. During the night KS was sleeping on the left side of your bed without any underwear on. You spread KS's legs apart and grabbed your penis and rubbed it on her vagina causing her to feel something was stabbing her. That is Charge 4, an indecent act. KS moved away from you and you have then laid on the bed next to her and gone to sleep.
33On an occasion between 9 October 2016 and 2017, KS again was staying at your residence at St Helens Plains. It was a hot night and you told KS to sleep in the dress that she had been wearing that day. You removed KS's underwear and touched her on the vagina. That is Charge 5, an indecent act. When you did that KS pulled away from you and you got up and went to the toilet. You then returned to the bedroom, put KS's underwear back on her and went to sleep.
The evidence of complaint in this case
34On 30 October 2019, KS returned home from school crying and told her stepmother that you had been touching her for the past five years. KS's stepmother then called KD, the father of the girls, who contacted KJ, the elder girl, asking her to attend at his house and to speak with KS.
35When KJ attended at the home and spoke with KS she disclosed the offending against her by telling KJ and that you had told her that he had done the same
things to her, that is, you had told the younger sister about the older sister. KJ then told KD what you had done to both her and her younger sister. KD contacted his employer who took him to the Police Station and reported the matter to police.
36On 5 November 2019, a video recording of the evidence of KS was conducted and then a second VARE was conducted on 31 August 2020.
37On 12 May 2020, KJ attended at the Police Station where she conducted a pretext telephone conversation with you. During that pretext call you made partial admissions to the offending against her but denied any offending against KS. I will not repeat the edited version of that pretext call but relevantly when speaking to KJ about the offending against her you said the following: you stated that ‘you did not want any trouble with KD’ and that 'yeah, I'm sorry it happened but still it did and we've both gotta live with it'.
38You did say to KJ you were sorry.
39On the following day, 13 May 2020, no less than seven police officers attended at your home in St Helens Plains and executed a search warrant. You were arrested and taken to the Police Station to be interviewed. On that day two records of interview were conducted with you at the Police Station. During that interview you exercised your rights to provide a no comment record of interview to the allegations that were put to you.
40During the recorded interview with police you were asked to consent to a forensic examination of your penis that was to be performed by a forensic medical officer. You declined. An application was made to the Magistrates’ Court for an order for compulsory procedure which was granted.
41On that day the order was executed by Dr Joanne Parker who is from Forensic Medicine and advised that you had a tattoo on the underside of your penis. That was confirmation of what KJ had told the police.
42You have been remanded since that time.
Procedure to Prosecution
43The first procedure to get to this hearing was on 13 May 2020. You were arrested and charged. You were remanded in custody on that date. On 12 February 2021 this matter resolved into a plea of guilty.
44Your plea of guilty is an early plea, which is indicated and given during the COVID pandemic. In total you have served 457 days not including this day. You have pleaded guilty to class 1 and class 2 offences under the Sex Offenders Registration Act and you will be placed on the register for sex offenders for life.
Victim Impact Statements
45In this case, there were three separate victim impact statements that were filed. The victim impact statement of KJ was dated 15 July 2021 and that is Exhibit “B” on the plea. The victim impact statement of KS was dated 20 July 2021 and that is Exhibit “C” on the plea. The victim impact statement of KD, the father, dated 20 July 2021 was Exhibit “D”.
46KJ sets out how your offending has impacted on her sleep, her work, her ability to trust people or to be in intimate relationships. She has been diagnosed with PTSD and takes antidepressant medication. She speaks of the effect your offending had on her early childhood and school days. She also sets out the impact your offending has on her relationship with members of her family and in particular her parents. KJ continues to have and pay for psychological therapy sessions to deal with her trauma.
47KS is still a young girl. Your offending has affected her ability to concentrate at school. She needs assistance with homework. KS finds it difficult to interact with a wide group of other students. On occasion KS withdraws to her room and refuses to talk to anyone. KS now attends a psychologist to have therapy
for her trauma.
48KD, the father of the two girls, says he was devastated when he was told of your offending. You were supposed to be his friend. He asked you to be the godfather of KJ. KD blames himself for the impact of the offending because he was the one who put so much trust in you. KD says he does not trust people around his children and questions whether you befriended him in order to get close to his daughters. He is hurt by how much his daughters have been hurt by your offending.
49The impact on your two young victims cannot be overstated. Both of the girls have shown remarkable resilience in confronting you and reporting your offending to family and the police. Both of them are now seeking professional help to assist in putting their lives back together and repairing the damaged family relationships caused by your offending.
Personal circumstances
50You are now 75 years of age. At the time of your first period of offending you were 52 to 59 years old on my calculation. At the time of your second period of offending you were into your 70s. You have been in custody on remand since May 2020 for this offending.
51Your parents separated when you were six to seven years old. You remained with your mother. Your mother suffered a nervous breakdown when you were about eight years old and you were placed in an orphanage for a year because she was unable to look after you. You had some limited contact with your father to age 12 and then no contact thereafter. You father died in 1972. Both your mother and only sibling, a brother, passed away in 2007.
52You have been married on three separate occasions. The first marriage was in 1988 and survived for nine to 10 years. This marriage must have occurred whilst you were on parole for a sentence you were serving for your second rape conviction.
53The second marriage was in 2002 and ended in 2015 due to your then wife's gambling problems which resulted in the loss of the family home. You have two young sons from that marriage who are aged 14 and 17 years.
54You married for the third time in 2015 which ended when you were arrested for these offences. Your wife has returned to China.
55You were educated to the age of 12. You then commenced employment. You have worked in various jobs, in industrial laundries, as a mechanic and a parking attendant. Your periods of employment have been interrupted by lengthy terms of imprisonment.
56You have a relevant criminal history. The initial criminal history between 1964 and 1967 involved dishonesty and driving related offending. This prior criminal history is old and not directly relevant to the present offending for which you are to be sentenced. However, your prior convictions from 1968 are relevant and require to be placed in the context for this offending. The detail of that prior offending was set out in the prosecution's submissions on sentencing. That was Exhibit “E” on the plea.
57Your three prior court appearances for sexual offending arose from events which occurred between April 1968 and 20 May 1968. Your criminal history is as follows.
58In February 1968, in Melbourne General Sessions you were charged with rape, robbery with violence and you were convicted and sentenced to 12 years on the charge of rape and on the robbery charge you were given five years concurrent with the 12 year sentence. A non-parole period of eight years was fixed. You were released from imprisonment on that offending on 10 October 1975.
59The details of that offending were on 10 May 1968 at approximately nine in the morning a woman was walking along the street in Seaford when you
approached. You forced her to the ground, placed your hand around her throat and demanded her money. You took $17 and threatened to kill if she screamed. You then forced her into the Ti Trees nearby and raped her.
60In June 1968, at the Frankston Petty Sessions Court it was then called, you were convicted and sentenced of indecent assault and sentenced to six months' imprisonment. The detail behind that offending was on 20 May 1968 at approximately 3 pm you were driving through Seaford and saw a 14 year old girl walking along the road. You stopped and offered her a lift which she accepted. You drove to the Ti Tree area along the foreshore where you forced your hand into her panties and indecently assaulted her. The girl managed to get out of the car but you struck her in the face as she did so.
61The third relevant matter is on 1 November 1976 at the Melbourne County Court you were charged with rape, abduction with intent to rape. You were convicted and sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. You were given two years for the abduction and intention to rape to be served concurrently and a non-parole period of 12 years was fixed. You were released from that sentence on two separate dates on parole. The first time was 21 April 1987 and then you were reclaimed and then you were re-paroled on 27 September 1991.
62The details of that offending are that early in the morning of April 1968 a 13 year old girl was riding a bicycle delivering papers in Tottenham Road when you dragged her into your car and drove to Little River where you raped her and then drove away leaving her there.
63At the time of that offending and the other offending you were 22 years old.
64I note that two of your three victims were young girls aged 13 and 14 respectively. I also note the sentence for your first offence was not imposed on you until you had completed your sentences for the second and third offences. The result is that you were in custody effectively from June 1968 through to September 1991 with short periods of liberty on parole in between. In effect
from the age of 22 to 45 years old you were in custody.
65Within six and a half years of your release from custody you commenced offending against your first victim in this case, KJ.
66You have been assessed by Dr Sandra Cokorilo, a forensic psychologist. Dr Cokorilo's report dated 28 July 2021 was Exhibit 2. Her assessment of you was done by video conferencing due to the COVID restrictions. After testing, Dr Cokorilo found you have severe symptoms of depression and stress and extremely severe anxiety. Dr Cokorilo's diagnosis was persistent depressive disorder, alcohol use disorder and paedophilic disorder.
67At paragraph 615 of Dr Cokorilo's report she states,
'Mr Parer is a 75 year old male with a history of sexual offending and is before the court again on charges of similar nature. He has served 20 years' imprisonment for his past sex crimes. Despite past and current sexual offending against minors Mr Parer categorically denies attraction to children and explains his action as opportunistic in nature and notes the contribution of alcoholism on his offending behaviour. Notwithstanding his denial Mr Parer meets criteria for paedophilic disorder. He has, over a period of more than six months, repeatedly engaged in sexual activity with prepubescent victims.'
68Dr Cokorilo went on to assess you as a high risk of reoffending on the basis of your sexual deviation and your past criminal history. This assessment is relevant to an assessment of your prospects of rehabilitation.
69You gave a history of being sexually assaulted when you were a young boy. Your counsel submitted this event was investigated by police at the time but you could not remember what happened at court for that offending against you. You also have a history of alcoholism.
70The fact that you were intoxicated during your offending does not lessen your moral culpability for what you have admitted to committing. You have a number of medical conditions which are set out in the medical report by Dr Bruce Samuels which is Exhibit 5. The conditions include osteopenia, hiatus hernia, porphysia and osteoarthritis, which you are now wheelchair. You suffer from obesity, hypertension, cirrhosis of the liver and chronic back pain.
71You are using a wheelchair in custody and have a carer in custody who is a fellow prisoner. You have access to appropriate medical support and medications whilst you are in custody. Your medical and health conditions are taken into account in considering your sentence for this offending.
Sentencing considerations
72The basic purpose for which a court may impose a sentence are just punishment, deterrence both specific and general, rehabilitation and denunciation of your actions and the protection of the community. In sentencing you I must have regard to a range of factors such as the seriousness of your offending, your culpability for it and your personal circumstances.
73I am also required to balance the interests of the community in denouncing your criminal conduct with the interests of the community and seeking to ensure, as far as possible, that you, as an offender, are rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.
74I am also required to take into account the current sentencing practices in fixing your sentence. That enquiry is directed particularly but not exclusively to the kinds of sentences imposed in comparable cases and the statistics of the sentences at the time in question. I have considered the statistics and current sentencing practices, mindful that each case must be considered in the light of its own particular circumstances and many of the cases would be distinguishable from your case as indeed they are from one other.
75Of course, current sentencing practices is only one of the sentencing considerations to take into account.
76In the pretext conversation with KJ you expressed your remorse to her in the course of admitting your offending against her. I note in that conversation you denied offending against her sister, KS. Nevertheless, you have pleaded guilty to the offending against each of the complainants or victims.
77Your plea of guilty was indicated at an early stage. Your plea of guilty does have the utilitarian value of allowing for the orderly and effective administration of justice. There is a certainty of outcome and a resolution of the substantive issues raised by your offending. Your plea allows for the preservation of the court and police resources to deal with other matters and your plea vindicates the public confidence in the legal process set up to protect the community.
78Your plea is also a clear acknowledgement by you that you accept responsibility for your criminal behaviour on these occasions. Your plea also recognises you are willing to facilitate the course of justice in the community and I accept that your plea of guilty to these charges indicates and demonstrates remorse on your behalf.
79Importantly, your pleas of guilty have avoided the necessity for your two young victims to come to court and give evidence against you and in effect be made to relive the offending experience once again.
80Your pleas of guilty is an acknowledgement to each of them that you admit your actions against them.
81More recently in the Court of Appeal in the case of Worboyes v The Crown [2021] VSCA 169 the following was pronounced in respect of pleas of guilty in the COVID-19 pandemic period. The court said as follows.
'A plea of guilty entered during the currency of the COVID-19 pandemic is worthy of greater weight in mitigation than a similar plea entered at a time when the community and the courts are not afflicted by the pandemic's effects. A plea of guilty during the pandemic ordinarily should attract a more pronounced amelioration of sentence than at another time. Although a sentencing judge need not quantify the extent of any 'discount', he or she must ensure that the plea of guilty results in a perceptible amelioration of sentence.'
82This sentence includes consideration of the sentencing factors which may be known as the Worboyes discount.
83In this case there has been considerable delay between your arrest and being remanded on 13 May 2020 and the final resolution of these charges on
12 February 2021. The delay in finalising these charges and a plea of guilty to them was not caused by you in any way.
84You have had the outcome of your offending hanging over your head for a total of 457 days to this day. In that time you have been on remand with limited access to programs and been incarcerated under the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in prisons. Your time in custody to date would be more burdensome for you than in the normal circumstances. I take the effect of delay upon you into the sentencing considerations.
85I also take into account in fixing your sentence that you will continue to be incarcerated under the COVID-19 regime whilst serving your sentence. Obviously it is an unknown factor as to how long these restrictions on prisoners will be in place. Nevertheless, with your comprised physical health and limits to visits by your sons and attendance at rehabilitation programs will be affected and I accept this will make your term of imprisonment more difficult.
86I have previously referred to physical and mental health issues in your personal circumstances. I take those matters into account noting that limb five of Verdins case is enlivened to the extent that your health conditions will make your time in custody more burdensome that if you had enjoyed normal good health.
87I accept you are remorseful for your offending. You effectively apologised to KJ in the pretext call. You have expressed remorse for your offending to Dr Cokorilo when interviewed for psychological assessment for this plea.
88I assess your prospects of rehabilitation as poor.
89When you were 22 years old you offending sexually against 13 and 14 year old girls. You served more than 20 years' imprisonment for that offending.
90At 52 through to 70 years old, you have offended against these two girls, sisters, who were between the ages, roughly, of six to 11 years old.
91Dr Cokorilo assesses you as a high risk of reoffending in a sexual manner. Dr Cokorilo diagnoses you as satisfying the paedophilic disorder non-exclusive type attracted to females. You are a paedophile who categorically denies you have an attraction to children.
92In short you have no insight to your offending and without insight and successful treatment of your condition you are a high risk of reoffending.
93Under the serious offender provisions of the Sentencing Act on your conviction and sentence to a term of imprisonment in respect to Charge 1, I am required on the sexual offences charges thereafter to regard the protection of the community from you as a principle purpose for which the sentence is to be imposed. If necessary, in order to achieve that purpose of protecting the community I am empowered under s6B of the Sentencing Act to impose a sentence greater than is proportionate to the gravity of the offending.
94This means that the sentencing task in respect of Charges 1 to 6 on the indictment is to be undertaken on the basis that the protection of the community from you is a principle purpose for which the sentence is imposed. To achieve that purpose a sentence may be imposed longer than that which is proportionate to the gravity of the offences considered in the light of the objective circumstances.
95Section 6E of the Sentencing Act also requires that unless I otherwise direct in respect to Charges 1 to 6 on the indictment the sentences I impose on you are to be served cumulatively. I note here the prosecution did not call for a disproportionate sentence for all accumulation contemplated in either s6B or 6E of the Sentencing Act allowing for the matters for which I have already outlined.
96In my view it is appropriate to impose only that degree of cumulation to which I subsequently refer reflecting, as it does, several episodes of offending. To do otherwise may produce a sentence that is not appropriate and would be unjust and offend the principle of totality.
97The offending in this case is of the most serious nature. Your two victims were between the ages of six and 11 years of age. There were two separate victims who were daughters of a work friend of yours. You had been friends with the father, as I understood it, for approximately 30 years. You were the godfather to one of the victims.
98Some factors indicative of the level of seriousness of your offending are:
(a) your breach of trust to the father of your victims. The friendship with their father was your access to the victims;
(b) Your breach of trust to each of the victims. You were effectively in a position of loco parentis in respect of each girl when you offended against them. You were meant to care for and protect these two children and not abuse them for your own sexual gratification;
(c) You engaged in unprotected penile to mouth penetration of one of your victims, the same victim you attempt penile vaginal penetration in an unprotected manner;
(d) In respect of Charge 1, your total disregard for your victim's well-being was exhibited by you placing the pillow over her head so that she could either scream or bite into it as you attempted vaginal penetration of her;
(e) Your offending against each victim was over an extended period of time and in a persistent manner; and
(f) in Charges 1, 2 and 6 you are charged as rolled up charges encompassing two occasions for each of the offences. This means that the charge that you have pleaded to involves more than one isolated event of offending and as such is more serious than a single event on its own.
99As a sign of your disregard for your victims I note from Dr Samuels' report dated 27 May 2020, Exhibit 5, that you were diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2010. This
is more in relation to your second victim. The report states your condition were treated and eradication was confirmed in August 2017. There is no evidence before this court about any effect of that on either of your victims. It is just a sign of you not caring about anyone else.
100Your offending occurred between 9 February 1998 and 28 November 2017. As I say, there is no evidence before the court about any risk to your victims relating to hepatitis C.
101It is clear that whilst you knew your condition in 2010 you did not care or take any precaution whilst you were offending against KS in particular.
102The sentencing considerations of general deterrence and in your case specific deterrence are significant in this sentencing process. Just punishment and protection of the community are right at the centre of this important sentencing. Because of your prior offending and these offences your criminal conduct requires the imposition of a lengthy term of imprisonment.
103Your counsel submitted that your advanced age of 75 years and poor health mitigate the sentencing process. I have taken these matters into account when fixing your sentence.
104Would you stand please, Mr Parer.
105In respect to Charge 1, of attempted sexual penetration of a child under 10 you are convicted and sentenced to four years' imprisonment.
106In respect to Charge 2, of sexual penetration of a child under 16 you are convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. That is the base sentence.
107In respect to Charge 3, of indecent act with a child under 16 you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.
108In Charge 4, indecent act with a child under 16 you are convicted and sentenced
to three years' imprisonment.
109In respect of Charge 5, indecent act with a child under 16 you are convicted and sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment.
110In respect of Charge 6, sexual penetration of a child under 12 you are convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
111The cumulation is as follows. The base sentence is Charge 2 which is five years. Eighteen months of the sentence in Charge 1 is to be cumulated. Three months of the sentence in Charge 3 is to be cumulated. Eighteen months in Charge 4 is to be cumulated. Six months in Charge 5 is to be cumulated and three years of Charge 6 is to be cumulated on the base sentence and on one another.
112On my calculation that is a total effective sentence of 11 years and three months imprisonment. I fix a non-parole period of eight years and six months.
113But for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to 14 years and six months with 11 and a half years non-parole period.
114I declare you have served 457 days, not including this day, in respect of these sentences.
115I note on the sentencing that you are sentenced as a serious sexual offender pursuant to s6F of the Sentencing Act. In respect of the sex offenders register you are placed on the register for life and I will have that document prepared.
HIS HONOUR: Can I ask counsel just to check my arithmetic? I can read it back to you if you wish.
MS DUCKETT: Your Honour, according to my mathematics and thank you for printing that off, Madam Associate, it's correct.
HIS HONOUR: It's correct.
MS DUCKETT: Yes, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: Thank you. Would you mind showing it to your learned friend so he can – Mr Barrese, I have – there's the sexual offenders registration paperwork that's to be - - -
MR BARRASE: Signed by Mr Parer.
HIS HONOUR: If you could approach - - - MR BARRASE: Thank you, Your Honour. HIS HONOUR: - - - with your - - -
MR BARRASE: Yes.
HIS HONOUR: And just get your client to sign it. Thanks.
MR BARRASE: Thank you, Your Honour. Thank you, Your Honour. HIS HONOUR: Thanks.
MR BARRASE: Yes Your Honour, those calculations are correct.
HIS HONOUR: Yes, thank you. Thanks. Is there anything further, Madam Prosecutor, Mr Barrese?
MS DUCKETT: They're all the matters that are needed for the sentence. Thank you, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: Yes. Thank you.
MR BARRASE: Nothing further, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: Thanks. You can remove the prisoner. Thanks. I'm assuming KJ and KD are in the court.
MS DUCKETT: Your Honour, KJ is here - - -
HIS HONOUR: Yes.
MS DUCKETT: - - - as is KD. HIS HONOUR: Yes.
MS DUCKETT: And KS is on the link.
HIS HONOUR: These sentencing processes are never fully satisfactory to those who have been offended against and no one can undo what's been done but this is the best that our system of justice provides for everyone and I hope, particularly for the two girls, that they can recover as best they can with a lot of professional help. It takes a lot of courage to make these complaints and to follow them through and you've shown that. So that's the first step to getting better. I wish you the best. Thanks. I'll just adjourn. Thanks counsel for your assistance in the case.
MS DUCKETT: If the court pleases.
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TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
MELBOURNE
TUESDAY 31 AUGUST 2021
BEFORE HIS HONOUR JUDGE CARMODY
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS v. TYSON PARER (a pseudonym)
M E N T I O N
MS C. DUCKETT appeared on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
MR D. BARRESE appeared on behalf of the Accused.
©The Crown in right of the State of Victoria.
This work is copyright. No part of it may in any form or by any
means (electronic, mechanical, microcopying, photocopying,
recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted without prior written permission of the
Authorised Officer. 7
HIS HONOUR: Mr Parer, can you see and hear me?
OFFENDER: I can Your Honour, yes.
HIS HONOUR: Thank you. On the day of your sentence, I
announced that the total effective sentence was 11 years
and 3 months. There is no dispute about the other times.
I had then asked counsel for the prosecution and Mr
Barrese, your solicitor, that my arithmetic was correct,
or mathematics was correct, and each of them agreed with
me about the cumulation. But of course we were all
wrong. So I have had this matter listed for a Mention to
clarify exactly what the situation is.
The sentences and the cumulations I ordered on that
day are the sentences I am imposing. So the total
effective sentence is 11 years and 9 months. The non-
parole period is the same, which was 8 years and 6
months, and I declared your time served against the
sentence as 457 days.
You were sentenced as a serious sexual offender
under s6F of the Sentencing Act and you are on the sex
offenders registration for life. So all of the rest of
it stays the same. That was in fact the order I signed
and I got the order to sign later on.
The order had been shown to both the prosecutor and
your solicitor on the day and again, none of us picked it
up. I apologise for that error on my part. But it's now
been clarified. Is there anything you want to say, Ms
Duckett or Mr Barrese?
MS DUCKETT: No, I'm just clarifying that the reality is that
that order was simply due to the cumulation between the
counts which brought the sentence to 11.9 months.
HIS HONOUR: Yes, 11 years, 9 months, yes.
MS DUCKETT: It's the six months that was overlooked.
HIS HONOUR: Yes. Mr Barrese, do you have anything to say?
MR BARRESE: No I don't, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: Yes, thank you. There you have it, Mr Parer. All
clarified and that's the end of this matter as far as I'm
concerned. Others may be involved later.
MR BARRESE: As Your Honour pleases.
OFFENDER: Thank you, Your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: Thank you.
MS DUCKETT: If the court pleases.
HIS HONOUR: Thanks a lot.
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