Director of Public Prosecutions v Parham (a pseudonym)
[2021] VCC 1834
•18 November 2021
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MILDURA CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| WARWICK PARHAM (A PSEUDONYM) |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE D SEXTON | |
WHERE HELD: | MILDURA | |
DATE OF PLEA HEARING: | 23 September 2021 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 18 November 2021 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Parham (a pseudonym) | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2021] VCC 1834 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Sexual Penetration of a 16 or 17 year old child.
Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991; Sex Offenders’ Registration Act 2004
Cases Cited:Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169; R v Verdins & Ors (2007) 16 VR 269
Sentence: 12 months’ imprisonment.
Community Correction Order of 18 months.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr D. O’Doherty | Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions |
For the Offender | Mr G. Davis | Hilton-Wood Solicitors |
HIS HONOUR:
Introduction
1Warwick Parham,[1] you have pleaded guilty to one charge of sexual penetration of a 16 or 17-year-old child who was under your care, supervision or authority, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
[1]A pseudonym. Pseudonyms are used in this sentence, in order to protect the anonymity of the victim, pursuant to the Judicial Proceedings Reports Act 1958 (Vic).
Circumstances of the Offending
2The details of your offending were set out in the Summary of Prosecution Opening Upon Plea dated 1 September 2021, Exhibit 1. This document sets out the factual basis of your offending conduct for which you will be sentenced.
3Your offending can be briefly summarised. At the time of the offending, you were 47 years of age and living in a town south of Mildura with your daughter, Claire,[2] and son, Samuel.[3] Your victim in this matter, Hayley Liversidge,[4] was aged 16 at the time of the offending. She was your daughter's friend from primary school.
[2]A pseudonym.
[3]A pseudonym.
[4]A pseudonym.
4Hayley, who is now 21, is cognitively impaired, being diagnosed with autism, a chromosomal deletion, and has a full-scale IQ within the borderline range of intellectual disability. At the time of the offending, she lived with her mother, Susan Liversidge,[5] and her siblings. Her family and yours would regularly associate with one another, often on Saturdays, at each other's houses where there would frequently be sleepovers and at Easter and Christmas time. You kept in regular contact with Hayley's mother via telephone.
[5]A pseudonym.
5Your offending occurred on 23 October 2016. On that day, Hayley was staying at your house. She woke in the morning before your daughter, Claire, and went into the lounge where you were located. You had a brief discussion with Hayley before going to your room to look for photographs together to help her collate an album for your daughter's upcoming birthday. Hayley sat on the edge of your bed whilst you collected photographs. This was the first time Hayley had been in your room.
6You then kissed Hayley on the lips and told her that you had feelings towards her. You asked if these feelings were mutual, but Hayley said she only liked you as a friend. You proceeded to discuss sexual matters with her, however, Hayley stated she would rather have that discussion with her mother.
7You then pulled up her pyjama top and kissed her breasts, commenting that she should put on a little more weight. She pulled her top back down, telling you she did not like you touching her.
8You then had Hayley lie down on your bed. Despite her pulling away and telling you she was feeling uncomfortable, you were too strong for her and pulled her forward toward you, spreading her legs apart. You played with her vagina and then pulled her underwear down further, inserting your fingers inside her vagina. Your conduct in doing so forms the basis of Charge 1 on the indictment.
9Hayley described this as being “like a hot knife going inside” her. She wanted to scream but did not want to wake up your two children. She said to you, “Don't”, then got off the bed and told you she did not want you touching her anymore as she felt uncomfortable. You told her not to tell anyone about it, that it was between the two of you. In subsequent conversations following this incident, you told your victim you would not touch her unless she wanted you to and that you would be happy to have sex with her in the future if she wanted.
10You continued to contact Hayley by telephone after this incident and the two of you would see each other on weekends, although she would try and avoid you. You would ask her if she had told anyone about the incident, to which she replied she had not.
11Hayley disclosed the incident to your daughter, Claire, a few months later on 28 January 2017 in her room when your two families had a gathering at Hayley’s house for your birthday. She told Claire that she needed to tell her something. She made a gesture with her index and middle fingers, lifting them in an upwards motion, saying, “Your dad touched me”. Hayley told your daughter it had happened at the end of October 2016, shortly before your daughter's birthday, and proceeded to tell her daughter what had happened, leading Claire to start crying. Claire later told her grandmother, Eve Davies,[6] what Hayley had previously told her, who relayed the information to her husband, John.[7]
[6]A pseudonym.
[7]A pseudonym.
12John took Claire to school the following day where she reported the matter to school staff, who then reported the matter to police. When later telling police about the offending, Hayley also told police about her interactions with you more generally, including that you would kiss her on the lips in the morning, you would hug her, comment on her appearance, and try to initiate conversations about sex. During the course of their investigations, police analysed your phones, revealing that you had telephoned Hayley on multiple occasions both before and after the offending. Analysis of Hayley’s phone also revealed inappropriate and sexualised messages from you to Hayley up to October 2016, including a message referring to condoms on 25 August 2016, a few months prior to your offending.
13On 1 February 2017, Hayley’s mother asked you, “Why did you?” and you replied that you had seen her daughter naked and during this conversation repeatedly told her to, “Just charge me if that's what you want to do”.
14On 21 March 2017, you were arrested and interviewed by police. You disclosed details of the close relationship of the two families, however, denied the offending to which you have now pleaded guilty. You claimed to police you were dumbfounded about the allegations and that you had never touched Hayley.
Impact on Victim
15A Victim Impact Statement completed by Hayley on 16 September 2021, Exhibit 2, was read aloud in Court by the prosecutor at your plea hearing on 23 September 2021. In her statement, Hayley refers to having to deal with this for some years, making her feel both angry and sad, and that her life still not ever be the same. Since the offending, Hayley feels more vulnerable than she previously did. She has difficulties trusting anyone outside her family. She describes her sadness and feelings of loss as your family was like a second family to her. She was best friends with your daughter, Claire, and you were like a father figure in her life. Hayley feels angry that you took advantage of her family and her. She feels upset that you have denied what you did and have never taken responsibility for your actions.
16Hayley also described her difficulties dealing with you forbidding her to tell anyone what was happening and that she was to keep it a secret, causing her to feel angry and upset. After the offending she would still go over to your place and she would feel angry as a result.
17Hayley’s mother, Susan, also completed a Victim Impact Statement on 16 September 2021, Exhibit 3, which was also read aloud in Court by the prosecutor at your plea hearing. In her statement, Susan describes you taking advantage of her daughter because she was young and had a disability. She refers to the trust she placed in you with regard to her children and your betrayal of that trust, causing her feelings of considerable anger and hurt. Your offending has caused Ms Liversidge to have trust issues, which has impacted upon the family's activities. Like her daughter, Ms Liversidge also referred to the loss associated with the betrayal of trust and the breakdown in relations between the two families. Ms Liversidge referred to feelings of guilt and responsibility for not preventing the offending.
18Clearly, both Hayley and her mother have been considerably adversely impacted by your offending and, given the passage of time between your offending and the completion of the Victim Impact Statements, these impacts have been significant and long-lasting.
19Victim Impact Statements are an important means through which victims of crime can meaningfully participate in the sentencing process by informing the Court of the often significant and long-lasting impacts of offending upon them. In formulating an appropriate sentence in your case, I have taken into conference amongst the other relevant sentencing factors and purposes the two Victim Impact Statements in this matter.
Nature and Seriousness of the Offending
20The seriousness of your offending is reflected in the maximum penalty applicable for this offence, 10 year's imprisonment. Self-evidently, sexual offending against children must be seen as abhorrent behaviour and any sentence must reflect the sentencing purpose of denunciation of such serious criminality.
21There are numerous features of your offending which accentuate its seriousness. Hayley was just 16 years of age at the time. There was a considerable age disparity between you, with you being more than 30 years her senior.
22In addition to her young age, Hayley was vulnerable. She is cognitively impaired with autism, a chromosomal deletion and an IQ within the borderline range of intellectual disability. As you indicated in your police interview, you were aware of this vulnerability[8] and your sexual exploitation of Hayley in these circumstances accentuates the gravity of your offending.
[8]Record of Interview on 21 March 2017, A 338.
23Your offending must be seen, in my view, as reflecting a gross breach of trust. As I have described, the two families were apparently close, with Hayley and your daughter being best friends and frequently staying over at each other's houses. Hayley’s mother, Susan, trusted you to care for her daughter during such times. When 16-year-old Hayley was staying over at your house, as she was on the date of your offending, you were therefore exercising parental responsibility over her. Your sexual offending of her therefore represents a gross breach of that trust.
24Your offending occurred in your room in the early hours of 23 October 2016 where you had taken Hayley under the guise of looking for photographs for an album that Hayley was collating for your daughter's birthday. In my view, your sexual offending against her in your bedroom would have emphasised her vulnerability to your advances.
25Clearly, Hayley indicated to you her discomfort with the sexualised conversation and then initiation by you of inappropriate activity. She told you that she did not like you touching her and yet you proceeded to place her on your bed, and even though she tried to pull away and told you she was feeling uncomfortable, you then digitally penetrated her vagina.
26Once Hayley had managed to get off the bed and tell you that she did not want you to touch her anymore as she felt uncomfortable, you then engaged in what I regard as a degree of psychological manipulation, telling her not to tell anyone about it and that it was between the two of you. This was quite simply, in my view, an attempt by you to prevent disclosure of your misconduct and reveals an awareness on your part at the time of the gravity and wrongdoing of your behaviour.
27I accept, of course, that you fall to be sentenced in relation to one incident on one occasion. However, your communications and behaviour with regard to Hayley both before and subsequent to your offending provide a context to your offending on that day and indicates that your offending was probably not spontaneous. In all the circumstances, I regard your offending as a concerning example of the crime of sexual penetration of a 16 or 17-year-old child under care, supervision or authority.
Your Level of Responsibility for the Offending
28For the purposes of your plea hearing, you were assessed by a psychological, Dr Mirabel McConchie, and her opinions were set out in a report dated 3 September 2021, Exhibit B. Having considered that report there is nothing in it which would warrant a reduction in your moral culpability for your offending on the basis of any mental impairment pursuant to the well-known Verdins’[9] principles.
[9] R v Verdins & Ors (2007) 16 VR 269.
29Concerningly, you were unable to explain to Dr McConchie why you formed a sexualised view of your 16-year-old victim and you could not state a reason why you were so focused on her. According to Dr McConchie, at assessment your thoughts were clear, logical and coherent and that was no evidence of any form of thought disorder, not was there any delusion of thought content or any perceptual disturbances and your attention and concentration were intact. In those circumstances there is no evidence before me of any impairment with regard to your functioning level, ability to act rationally, or exercise appropriate judgment. In the absence of any such material and given the circumstances of your behaviour both before and after your offending and the nature of your offending, it seems to me that your offending represents an acting on your part upon your sexual interest in 16-year-old Hayley, the best friend of your daughter. In those circumstances, your moral culpability and level of responsibility for your offending must be seen as significant.
Personal Circumstances
30You are currently 52 years of age. You are the middle child of three brothers and your brothers, Will and Calum,[10] who reside in the Mildura area, remain supportive of you. Your parents separated when you were young and you and your brothers lived with your father post-separation, whom you were very close with, referring to him as your best mate. He passed away when you were 29 from a sleep apnea related condition. You report that your mother used to physically abuse you and your brothers. She passed away approximately two years ago.
[10]Pseudonyms.
31You were born and grew up in Melbourne. Your family moved to Corinella and then Churchill before you were six. Your father was a prison officer, necessitating constant family movement.
32You have been educated through Year 9 at high school, apparently suffering constant bullying throughout primary school and finding reading and spelling difficult. Post education, you predominantly worked in the agricultural industry, completing an apprenticeship for the Department of Agriculture. From all accounts it appears that you have had a good work ethic and have been well regarded in your work and have never been unemployed.
33You report having two significant relationships in your life, the first being when you were 19 to 24 years of age. Your then partner had a miscarriage, placing strain on your relationship, you wanting to return to Mildura at that time. You met your now ex-wife and mother of your two children, in Mildura. You were together for 16 years and shared a positive marriage, albeit with your then wife turning to problematic alcohol use following the stress of caring for her elderly mother who was ill. This marriage ended when your then wife notified you that she had met another man.
34You report having a positive and strong relationship with your two children, your daughter studying in South Australia and your son living with you prior to your remand in custody. You are deeply concerned about your son's welfare and mental health whilst you are in custody, reporting some instances on his part of suicidal ideations and he has previously been assessed by mental health services. Notwithstanding that your victim was at the time your daughter's best friend your daughter, Claire, appears to remain supportive of you as evidenced by her character reference tendered at your plea hearing dated 16 September 2021, Exhibit E. Claire speaks of you essentially being an excellent father to her over the years and she has, at least until your remand in custody, maintained regular contact with you.
35The character reference completed by Patrick Stawell[11] dated 12 September 2021, Exhibit D, also portrays you as a devoted parent and appropriately concerned with regard to the welfare of your son, Samuel. I note in that regard Mr Stawell's offer to have Samuel reside with him and his de facto upon your remand in custody. I also note the recent undated letter from Mr Stawell, Exhibit H, providing an update as to Samuel's progress. Samuel lives in a caravan next to Mr Stawell's property. Mr Stawell and his partner, Anna,[12] have essentially been looking after Samuel, given his recent difficulties. In that regard it seems that he has been non-compliant with medication, has been depressed and has been losing weight. There are clearly concerns being expressed by Mr Stawell with regards to your son's welfare given your absence.
[11]A pseudonym.
[12]A pseudonym.
36In terms of your health, you report a significant medical history of cholesteatoma, a form of ear cancer, in your right ear which has resulted in the loss of your eardrum and subsequent deafness in that ear. This condition is also developing in your left ear and you require surgery to prevent complete hearing loss. You also report having high blood pressure, high cholesterol and asthma.
37You take no medications other than Ventolin as you have stated you cannot afford the asthma preventer and other medicines. You have denied using any illicit substances since cannabis use when you were a teenager. You reported smoking cigarettes but rarely drinking alcohol.
38It is your credit that at the age of 52 you have no prior convictions save for one prior matter referred to in the Corrections report dating from 2004 with regard to possession of a firearm and ammunition which has no relevance to the sentencing discretion in this case. This is a matter standing to your credit.
39Returning to the report of Dr McConchie, following an assessment she diagnosed you with major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. In that regard you reported being the victim of sexual assault when you were a young child by an older boy in his teenage years in Corinella. This, together with current suicidal ideations, financial worry, and shame and guilt following the incident relating to the current charge, forms the basis of this diagnosis by Dr McConchie.
40You reported seeking psychological help for your depression in 2007 and seeking counselling at the same time. You saw Helen Aitken for two years, however struggled to delve into sufficient detail of your traumatic and abuse past for such support to be effective. You continue to suffer from recurrent memories of the abuse suffered as a child, accompanied by a persistent negative emotional state. According to Dr McConchie:
'These symptoms have occurred throughout Mr Parham’s life and have caused significant impacts on his social and educational functioning in his early years and later in his social and interpersonal functioning’.[13]
[13]Psychological Report of Dr Mirabel McConchie dated 2 September 2021, pg. 5.
41Dr McConchie reports that the sexual abuse you suffered as a child has had profound impacts on you, taking away a sense of safety in your life.[14]
[14]Ibid.
Sentencing Factors
42The Sentencing Act 1991 requires me to have regard to various factors when formulating an appropriate sentence in your case. I have already referred to the maximum penalty for your offending, the impact on your victim, the nature and seriousness of your offending, your level of culpability for it and your previous character. There are a number of mitigatory factors relevant to the sentencing exercise in your case.
43As conceded by the prosecution you are entitled to a mitigatory benefit by virtue of an early plea of guilty. Your matter resolved on 13 July 2021. By this time the complainant had been cross-examined at a special hearing on 31 January 2020 in this court. However, I was informed and accept that you were initially charged with more serious offending, including rape and multiple sexual assaults. The charge to which you have now pleaded guilty was filed over before his Honour Judge Higham on the day of the special hearing and accordingly it was not initially one of the charges faced by you.
44In those circumstances, notwithstanding your denials of touching your victim in your police interview and the denials of misconduct put to the complainant at the special hearing, whilst your plea of guilty has come reasonably late in the criminal proceedings, in the context of the chronology that I have outlined where the nature of the prosecution case against you has altered, I accept that a degree of mitigation is warranted for your plea of guilty in these circumstances.
45Furthermore, your matter resolved in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with its unprecedented impacts and challenges to the administration of criminal justice in this state. As is well-known, this court is facing a considerable backlog of cases and there is an increased utilitarian benefit to your plea of guilty in this environment. As has been recently stated in the Court of Appeal,[15] there is a considerable utilitarian benefit to the encouragement of offenders who are guilty to so plead through an actual and palpable amelioration of sentence.
[15]Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169.
46Furthermore, given the nature of the charge and the difficulties that your victim would have faced in reliving the incident through the giving of evidence, your plea of guilty has significant value. In addition to your plea of guilty, there is evidence in the material before me of remorse on your part for your offending. According to Dr McConchie, you described a sense of significant self-disgust and shame pertaining to your offending and you stated that you had apologised to your victim.[16] Likewise, your daughter, Claire, in her character reference speaks of your remorse for your misconduct. Furthermore, I note in the Corrections extended pre-sentence assessment report dated 4 November 2021, when discussing your offending, according to the assessing officer you offered no excuse for your actions and presented as remorseful and ashamed, first speaking of the damage caused to the victim and her family, your own children, and then yourself.
[16]Psychological Report of Dr Mirabel McConchie, pg. 4.
47As referred to by Dr McConchie, there is a paradox with regard to your history of being a victim of sexual abuse and the offending for which you now fall to be sentenced. Dr McConchie refers to this paradox,[17] and I accept that this has probably accentuated your inner turmoil with regard to your offending, particularly in circumstances where you have been unable to explain it.
[17]Ibid, pg. 7.
48The character references tendered on your behalf referred to your offending being out of character. Given your age and absence of any relevant prior to subsequent criminality, I accept that your previous good character represents a significant mitigatory factor in your case.
49At your plea hearing on 23 September 2021, I was informed that you were accepting of an immediate remand in custody pending sentence. This was so notwithstanding your considerable and understandable anxiety with regard to the mental health and overall welfare of your psychologically fragile son, Samuel. I have little doubt that your anxieties in that regard have made your time in custody to date more burdensome.
50In addition to the major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder referred to by Dr McConchie, I accept that you have a number of physical ailments, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, abdominal hernia and a non-cancerous tumour that is growing in your ear for which you are awaiting surgery to prevent complete hearing loss. In that regard, I note that recently in custody you have obtained a degree of medical attention and assistance with regards to your ear and the hernia. In addition, you are now in a custodial setting in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic
51As is now well-known, COVID-19 has significantly impacted the custodial setting with initial quarantine periods, frequent lockdowns and restrictions on movement, restrictions with regards to access to programs, activities and employment, and restrictions with regard to in-person visits from family and friends. In addition, all prisoners no doubt live with the anxieties associated with the impacts of COVID-19, entering the custodial environment, given the compromised demographic.
52I accept that in all the circumstances your time in custody has been and no doubt will continue to be burdensome due to all of these matters, warranting a mitigatory allowance.
53I turn now to a consideration of your prospects of rehabilitation. Given your inability to explain your offending behaviour, in some respects an analysis in this regard is challenging. As raised with your counsel at your plea hearing, if there is an inability to explain your misconduct it seems to me that an assessment as to your prospects for reoffending must remain opaque. Nevertheless, you fall to be sentenced with previous good character for offending limited to one occasion in October 2016. In many respects you present with prosocial indicia with regard to your personal and employment history. You maintain the support of your family, including your two brothers, one of whom has written a character reference, and your daughter, Claire. You have, it seems to me, considerable motivation to behave appropriately when back in the community given your concerns with regard to your son.
54In terms of interventions, Dr McConchie recommends that you undergo a psychiatric review to consider antidepressant medication and that consideration be given to appropriate and ongoing treatment for your post-traumatic stress disorder. A Corrections report places you at a low risk of reoffending but recommends interventions with regard to your mental health issues and recommends that you undertake a specialist sex offender treatment program given the nature of your offending.
55In all the circumstances, I regard your prospects of rehabilitation as being quite good, but dependent upon the specialist interventions recommended. In particular, the undertaking of a sex offender treatment program given the nature of the offences.
56Any sentence I impose must reflect denunciation of your serious criminality; protection of the community, particularly children, is also important. Given the nature of your offending, any sentence I impose must deter other likeminded individuals from offending in such a manner. Notwithstanding your prior good character, your plea of guilty and remorse, your inability to explain your offending, leads me to the conclusion that specific deterrence remains a relevant sentencing purpose in your case.
57In submissions before me your counsel conceded that your offending warranted a term of imprisonment but submitted that a combination sentence involving a term of imprisonment followed by an appropriately tailored community correction order would adequately reflect the various sentencing factors and purposes in your case. The prosecution submitted that a combination sentence involving a term of imprisonment, together with a suitable structured Community Correction Order, would be within the range of appropriate sentences.
58At your plea hearing on 23 September 2021, I ordered an extended pre-sentence assessment report from Corrections with regards to your suitability for a Community Correction Order. You have been found suitable for such an order, with various conditions being recommended, including supervision, mental health assessment and treatment, and programs to reduce offending, in particular a sex offender program.
59Having given this matter careful consideration, I have determined that a combination sentence involving a term of imprisonment followed by a Community Correction Order is appropriate. In my view, however, there must be a significant custodial component to the sentence in order to reflect the gravity of your offending and its impact upon your victim.
Sentence to be Imposed
60On the charge of sexual penetration of a 16 or 17-year-old child under your care, supervision or authority you are convicted and sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment.
61In addition, upon completion of that sentence of imprisonment, I order that you undergo and complete a Community Correction Order. The duration of the order will be 18 months. In addition to the mandatory core conditions, you will be subject to supervision, a condition with regards to mental health assessment and treatment, and a condition with regard to programs to reduce reoffending, namely the sex offender program. I will come back to the conditions of the Order momentarily.
62Pursuant to s18 of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare a period of 56 days pre-sentence detention and order that this period be deducted administratively from your sentence of imprisonment.
63Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that had you pleaded not guilty but been found guilty at trial by a jury I would have imposed a sentence of three years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of two years.
64Finally, pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004, as you have been found guilty of one class 1 offence, registration is mandatory, and the reporting period is 15 years. Following this hearing, you will be provided with documentation setting out your reporting period, your reporting obligations, and the consequences should you fail to comply with those obligations.
65Mr Parham, can you see and hear me all right?
66OFFENDER: Yes, sir.
67HIS HONOUR: In order to impose the Community Correction Order as I have described, you need to indicate your consent to that Order and in order to do so you need to completely understand what is involved in the Order. The order will commence upon your completion of the term of imprisonment which I have just imposed, which is 12 months less 56 days. It will run for a period of 18 months. You will be required to report within two clear working days after the commencement of the order at this stage to Mildura Community Correctional Services after you are released.
68There are a number of mandatory terms attaching to the Order. They include things like not committing another offence for which you could be imprisoned; complying with all obligations and requirements, reporting to and receiving visits from Corrections; reporting to Corrections within two clear working days of the order starting; letting community corrections know within two working days of any change of address or employment; not leaving Victoria without first getting permission; obeying all lawful instructions and directions.
69In addition to that, the conditions that I have attached to your particular Order are that you must be under the supervision of Corrections for a period of 18 months. You must undergo any mental health assessment and treatment that may include psychological, neuropsychological, psychiatric or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed, and you must participate in programs or courses that address factors relating to the offending as directed. That is highly likely to at least involve an assessment as to our suitability for participation in a sex offender program.
70Those are the conditions that will attach to the Order. I need to advise you that if you fail without reasonable excuse to comply with the Order, that is if you breach any of these conditions, such as committing another offence punishable by gaol, you can be brought back to this court for breach proceedings. The breach charge itself can carry a sentence of imprisonment and one of the options available to me on a breach hearing is that I can resentence you for the original offending, which of course has a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment.
71Do you understand what is involved in the Community Correction Order,
Mr Parham?72OFFENDER: Yes, sir. Yes, I do.
73HIS HONOUR: You understand the consequences upon any breach?
74OFFENDER: Yes, sir.
75HIS HONOUR: And knowing that, do you consent to the Order being made against you?
76OFFENDER: Yes, sir, I do.
77HIS HONOUR: All right. The documentation with regards to the Community Correction Order will be forwarded to the prison for signing in due course and then I will sign it and you will receive a copy of the fully signed Order, and likewise as I have indicated, you will receive a document setting out your reporting obligations upon your release pursuant to the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004.
78Mr Davis, any issues, ambiguities, with regards to the sentence imposed?
79MR DAVIS: No, Your Honour. I would like to raise the issue that Mr Parham’s literacy is very poor and it's noted that the registration and the orders should be read to him, if that could be endorsed on one of the documents, Your Honour. That's all I have to raise.
80HIS HONOUR: Yes. When you say that, you mean that the documentation should be read to him by the prison authorities before he acknowledges the reporting document and signs the Community Correction Order?
81MR DAVIS: That's what I would ask be endorsed on the documents, Your Honour, that's correct.
82HIS HONOUR: Yes. Mr Parham, it has been indicated to me that you have some issues with regards to reading and writing and the request has been made by your barrister that the documents be read to you. It is very important,
Mr Parham, that you do not sign a document until you understand what is in it. Do you understand that?83OFFENDER: Yes, sir.
84HIS HONOUR: Yes. Hopefully those documents will be read to you so that you can clearly understand them before you acknowledge what the documents are.
85Mr O'Doherty, any issues from your perspective with regards to the sentence imposed?
86MR O'DOHERTY: No, Your Honour.
87HIS HONOUR: Thank you, Mr Swindon, adjourn the Court.
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