Director of Public Prosecutions v Thompson
[2015] VCC 2298
•28 August 2014
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| RICHARD THOMPSON (A pseudonym) |
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JUDGE: | Her Honour Judge Hampel | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 14 August 2014 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 28 August 2014 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v. Thompson | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2014] VCC 2298 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr J. Ayres | OPP |
| For the Accused | Mr M. McGrath | Slades and Parsons |
HER HONOUR:
1 Richard Thompson, you have pleaded guilty to seven charges of indecent act with a child under 16. Each offence carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment. The offending the subject of these charges took place over a two-year period, from January 2003 to December 2004, against two of your nieces, your partner being their biological aunt. The victims, to whom I shall refer as Grace and Claire,[1] are sisters. Charges 1 to 4 relate to Grace, who was aged between eight and 10 at the time of the offending. Charges 5 to 7 relate to offending committed against Claire, the younger of the two. She was aged between five and seven at the time.
[1] Pseudonyms.
2 The offences committed against Grace all occurred in your home while she was staying over for the night. The two girls, Grace and Claire, would often stay the night at your house, sleeping in bunk beds in the bedrooms where they were bunking in with your own children. On the first occasion of offending, Grace was sleeping on the top bunk. You climbed up, sat on your knees and pulled your pants down to expose your penis. You then pulled down her pants and underwear and touched her on the outside of her vagina with your hand. When Grace woke up, you told her to go back to sleep and left the room.
3 Charge 2 is a representative charge. It represents two separate occasions on which you rubbed your hand along Grace's inner thigh in between her legs and toward her vagina. On one occasion, this occurred in the lounge room where the two of you were alone watching TV, the second occasion in a bedroom when Grace was alone, getting changed. It is the second instance when Grace was in the bedroom that is the actual act relied on as the basis for Charge 2. On this occasion, that is the second occasion, you also grabbed her bottom over her clothing, grabbed her breasts over her clothing and kissed her on the cheek. The grabbing of the breasts and the kissing her on the cheek forms part of the basis of Charge 3, which is another representative charge.
4 Charge 3 represents two instances of similar offending, first occurring in the shed, where you touched her on the breasts on the outside of her clothing and kissed her cheek. On that occasion you told her you loved her. The second occasion is the touching of the breasts and the kissing on the cheek immediately following the incident relied on for the particular instance in Charge 2 when you touched her on her inner thigh and up towards her vagina.
5 Charge 4, the last charge relating to Grace, occurred in the bathroom at your home. You walked in on Grace as she was having a shower. You told her to hurry up and when she got out of the shower, you touched and squeezed her breasts and rubbed the outside of her vagina, moving your hand up and down between her legs. Shortly after, your partner came into the bathroom and told you to get out.
6 Charge 5, the first offence against Claire, is similar to the first offence against Grace. That is, whilst Claire was in bed on a top bunk in your home, you climbed up, pulled down her underwear and touched the outside of her exposed vagina. You also touched her breasts under her clothing. Claire, who was somewhere between five and seven, pretended to be asleep whilst this was happening.
7 Charge 6 is an indecent act, this one committed not in your home or hers, but in public. You were walking with Claire to some shops near your home. You grabbed her bottom over her clothing with both hands and said to her, "It feels good."
8 The offending the subject of Charge 7 occurred not in your home but in Claire's home. She was sleeping in her own bed when you came in, leant over her, pulled down her underwear and began touching the outside of her exposed vagina. Again she woke during this offending but was too scared to say anything.
9 It was not until May 2013, when Grace and Claire were in their mid to late teens, that the offending was reported to police.
10 When questioned by the police in September of last year, you either denied the offences or declined to comment. However, plea negotiations in the week before the matter was due to proceed as a contested committal led to the entry of pleas of guilty to these charges, and you were committed for plea to this court on a straight hand‑up brief. You are entitled to a reduction in the sentence otherwise appropriate by reason of the guilty pleas and the early stage at which they were entered. They not only have significant utilitarian value but of course they spare the victims the ordeal of having to re-live the events and to give evidence. It vindicates them because it establishes the truthfulness of what they have said.
11 Each of Grace and Claire has made victim impact statements; so has their mother. I understand that you have read them. They are touching and very sad accounts of the long-term effects that this has had since the events occurred up until now. I hope, as they have been able to talk through what this has meant to them, the way it has affected them, and as they have been engaged in the counselling that they referred to, that this will indeed help them to understand that they have had the courage to come out, that they have been sensible in looking for and accepting the help that has been offered to them with counselling, that they understand that they are not at fault, and that they are well on their paths to recovery and that they will indeed turn out to the happy, fulfilled young women that they want to be.
12 It takes great courage to do what they have done and despite the feelings of despair the victims often feel along that path, from offence through to reporting through to court proceedings, it should be of great comfort to know that you have had the courage to do what you have done, that you may well stand as examples to other girls who are in the same position that you have been in and that you may not only help your own recovery but help other girls along the path to recovery and not to suffer as much as you have suffered so far. So you should feel very proud of yourselves, not only for your own courage and what it might do for yourselves, but for the leadership and support that you have shown to other girls.
13 Grace, in her victim impact statement says, amongst other things, this:
"I have beaten myself up over this, always thought it was my fault. Like, why me? What did I do to deserve this? I was too young to know right from wrong. I thought that's how families were."
14 She now knows it is not, but what a terrible legacy to have given this child as she grew up. She speaks about how it affected her, how she cries a lot, she has trouble sleeping, she is nervous, she feels unsafe even in her home, has recurrent memories of what has happened, has often thought of taking her own life and says if it were not for her family, she would not be here. So she understands how lucky she is to have the love and support of her own family.
15 But she also said this: that you took her family away from her. You took the memories of her grandparents, took everything, and she cannot say she had a good childhood because she does not remember the good things because you were in them. It is a very sad legacy for a child. Although Grace says that this will haunt her for the rest of her life, she also says this:
"I don't want my life to be like this any more and be scared to leave the home.
16 She has made great progress in that regard already.
17 Claire says when it first happened, she was scared and frightened because she was five and did not really understand what was going on. But as she got older, she realised that things were wrong and understood that they were keeping the knowledge within the family and keeping the family circle very tight and close in order to protect her. She said she was embarrassed to say anything because you were her uncle, her family, and it was easier to be quiet. She said as she got older, it affected her more and she does not really trust anyone. She is very self-conscious. Schooling has been difficult. She failed a year at school as matters were coming to a head and ended up having to repeat, and that meant losing the friendship circle that she had had in her original year at school. She is having panic attacks and finding it very difficult to meet and make new friends and to be engaged with them.
18 She cries a lot, stays in her room a lot, sleeps much more than she knows she should or could and is conscious of the fact that because she keeps to herself so much and stays in her room so much, she is not engaging with other people, she is not doing activities, she is conscious about the weight she has put on and the physical responses she has, often feeling like vomiting when she thinks about what has happened to her. Like her older sister, she too has found great comfort in finding a counsellor who can assist her, and I hope that she continues to make progress. She says:
"What I want to happen after court is to pass year 10, to join the gym, get my licence, get a job and start going out with the family more."
19 They are really good aspirations and I hope they come through. She finishes by saying this:
"What makes me sad is because the family got broken up because of what Richard did. It makes me angry. I keep on asking why he did it to us or to anyone."
20 These are understandable thoughts for a child.
21 The children's mother has also made a victim impact statement and sets out in that, sadly and poignantly, the pain that a parent has when she realises that she has not been able to protect her children and the guilt that a mother feels, guilt that she should not feel because it was not her fault either, but the guilt a mother feels when she has been unable to protect her children from what has happened to them.
22 What each of them has said is obviously recounting their own experience but what I want to say to you is whilst this is their own particular experience that they have had and recounted, their responses are so typical of the responses that we hear day after day in these courts from the children who have been abused, and from their parents. So you must understand that the impact on these children and the broader impact on the wider family is not out of the ordinary. It is very much within the range of suffering that families suffer and something that must be taken into account in assessing the seriousness of the offending and the appropriateness of the punishment.
23 This is not the first time you have been dealt with by a court for sexual offences committed on nieces. After the offences committed against these two girls in the year 2005, you indecently assaulted two other nieces, who were the daughters of another sister of your partner. Those girls were 15 and 13 at the time of the offending against them. You touched or squeezed the 15 year old on her buttocks on three separate occasions on the one day, and on another day, some weeks later, touched the 13 year old on her breasts and made inappropriate comments about them to her.
24 Their complaints were at that stage taken immediately to the police and as a result, you were charged, and in 2006, you pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court to three charges of indecent act in respect of the three separate episodes of touching the 15 year old on the buttocks. In respect of that, you were placed on a community-based order. You also pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent act in respect of the 13 year old, and in respect of that, you were sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of four months, which was fully suspended.
25 Grace and Claire were much younger than the two cousins in respect of whom you have already been dealt with. They were prepubescent, not pubescent. The offending against Grace and Claire occurred over a longer period and involved more serious conduct, touching each of them on their vaginas under their clothing, touching one of them on her breasts under her clothing, as well as touching chests and buttocks in a manner similar to the misconduct with the older nieces. Most acts occurred while they were sleeping over at your house, after they had gone to sleep for the night or sleeping at their own home after they had gone to sleep for the night. One occasion occurred with Grace when she was in the shower, naked and vulnerable by reason of that. These are significant and material differences between the offences committed on the two older nieces.
26 These are not previous convictions so far as the offences for which I must sentence you. You have no other convictions for sexual offences, occurring either before the offences committed on Grace and Claire, or after the offences committed on your older nieces.
27 You have some other criminal offences. 20 years ago, you were dealt with for drug trafficking, possession of drugs, possession of a firearm, burglary and theft, and were sentenced to be placed on an intensive corrections order. You successfully completed that. More recently, in 2010, you were placed on a community based order for cultivation and possession of cannabis. You fulfilled the conditions of that community based order and you fulfilled the conditions of the community based order imposed for the sexual offences.
28 By the time you came to be sentenced for the sexual offences against your other nieces in 2006, you had already commenced a therapeutic relationship with the psychologist, Patrick Newton. The initial referral in September 2005 was for matters other than the sexual offending. Mr Newton said it was initially in relation to relationship difficulties, substance abuse and mental health generally. He notes in his report that at the time of the referral, there were no extant forensic issues. As your offending against both sets of nieces had already occurred, and as Mr Newton's later oral evidence on the plea made clear, by that he meant that you had not been charged with any sexual offences at the time that you first came to him for treatment and embarked upon treatment with him.
29 It was not long after the initial referral that you were charged with the offending against the older nieces. Mr Newton's counselling and treatment then expanded to include counselling and treatment in respect of this sexual offending. As part of the community based order imposed on you in 2006 in respect of the sexual offending against the nieces, you undertook a sexual offender treatment program conducted by Corrections. You continued your therapeutic relationship with Mr Newton throughout the period of the community based order and he provided you then and thereafter with what he described as further individualised treatment to reinforce the learnings from that sexual offender treatment program.
30 Even after the 2006 community based order finished, you continued your counselling with Mr Newton, and by the time of this plea, Mr Newton said that you had been a patient of his for over nine years and you had attended over 100 counselling sessions with him.
31 He said that over that time, the counselling had concentrated on corrective education, understanding personal factors contributing to the offending, challenging cognitive distortions and misconceptions which underpinned the offending, and relapse prevention training to enhance behavioural control and to reduce the risk of further sexual offending. It was also clear from his report and from his oral evidence that much of the therapeutic relationship since the completion of the 2006 community based order has been on other aspects, particularly relationship aspects, the substance abuse and your general mental health, working towards in more recent years assisting you to lead what is called a good life or a better life.
32 In Mr Newton's opinion, on historic risk factors relating to sexual offenders, he considers you to be at a moderate to low risk of recidivism. Taking into account dynamic risk factors, the absence of like offending since the offences committed against your older nieces in 2006, and what he describes as the protective factors of your participation in extended general treatment with him, what will be the requirements of sex offender registration as a result of this offending, and what he assumes will be the deterrent effect of sentencing for this on you, that he considers your overall risk of sexual reoffending to be low.
33 The only reservation I have about Mr Newton's opinion concerning your progress under the sexual offender treatment program and throughout the years since then and the further education and counselling with him and his opinion more generally about your risk of reoffending is that he was unaware of the circumstances of this offending until you were charged in 2013.
34 In his oral evidence, he said that when the offending concerning the older nieces was first revealed by you, at a time that you were aware that a report had been made to the police concerning the older nieces, he asked you if there was "anything else" and encouraged you to raise anything else with your legal advisers. He had in fact referred you to lawyers after the police had become involved following the complaints by the older nieces. Mr Newton said that he later found out that an appointment had been made for you to attend the police station for questioning in relation to the younger nieces, but that you did not keep that appointment and it came to nothing because you were then told that the family had decided that they did not want to take it to the police, so you were not going to self-report in those circumstances.
35 Mr Newton in cross‑examination acknowledged that there were significant differences in the offending concerning these two victims compared to your older nieces. His articulation of the significant differences was that this was more serious offending, that these two complainants were much younger, that there was a significant added breach of trust by molesting them in bed, after they had gone to sleep for the night and in the bathroom when bathing, and by reference to the greater extent of a power imbalance by reason of the much younger stage of childhood that these two were, compared to the older nieces, and the places where you chose to molest them. There are other features that Mr Newton did not mention that I have already referred to which in my view also make it more serious; that is, that there were more occasions of inappropriate touching and the touching itself was more serious.
36 Mr Newton said that from the time he started the therapeutic relationship or the treatment in respect of sex offending against the older nieces that he was aware that you had cognitive distortions in relation to young girls, and he said he considered that was more important than what you had actually done. He described your problems with young girls as boundary issues, and said that on his assessment and on what you had said to him, that they were indiscriminate.
37 It was not clear to me whether he had specifically addressed "boundary issues" with children as young as these victims were, or whether either you or he made any distinction between these younger girls and the pubescent girls that the older nieces were.
38 What Mr Newton did make clear was that despite the mental health and substance abuse issues that you reported to him that you were suffering from at the time of the offending, that you understood and at all times could tell right from wrong. His report details a history of depression, untreated, until the time you saw Mr Newton, and significant substance abuse, both alcohol and illicit or ill-used prescription drugs.
39 Mr Newton said that despite the cognitive distortions which apparently allowed you to justify or minimise your behaviour, the reported abuse of drugs and alcohol over the period of the offending, and your reported attribution of blame for the offending on your impairment by drugs at the time of each offence against these two victims, that he was nonetheless clear that your ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of your actions was unimpaired. In fact, he said that there was no issue about that. He said that you had always understood that what you were doing was wrong.
40 Although you reported to Mr Newton at the time and continued to report throughout treatment with him a history of depression and, since treatment with him started, a significantly diminished history of drug and alcohol abuse, the character evidence presented on the plea and the evidence of Mr Newton about your progress during the therapeutic relationship makes it clear that during the period of the offending, you were holding down steady employment, and during that period, despite the difficulties reported in relation to depression and substance abuse, that you were earning the regard of many of those around you, including the two very impressive character witnesses who gave evidence on your behalf on the plea. They were both friends of long standing. They spoke of your shame and the steps that you have taken to make sure that you are not in the company of young girls and the assiduous adhering to those steps since 2006, when the matters in relation to the older nieces first came to light.
41 Significantly, you told both of these friends, as the matters came to light in relation to the two older nieces, that you were facing allegations concerning your nieces. It would appear that you told them also when the allegations were raised concerning the younger nieces, either in somewhat elliptical terms or in more specific terms, and one of them was aware that you were at the time aware that there were complaints or concerns raised about these two complainants, your younger nieces, that you had indicated a preparedness to go to the police and was aware that the matter lapsed when the issues in relation to the younger children, these two complainants, did not eventuate in a report or complaint to the police at the time. The fact that they were aware of that and aware of the treatment you were seeking and the steps that you were taking to remove yourself from temptation does indeed speak well of your belated but nonetheless significant recognition of the wrongness of your actions and the steps you have taken to make sure you are not putting yourself in a position where such could happen again.
42 You come to be sentenced now as a man of 51. Your childhood memories are not happy. Your father drank excessively, and your memory of your sibling relationship is poor. You were the youngest and your older brothers bullied you and physically abused you.
43 You were in a long‑term relationship with your partner and you have five children with her. You have lived separately from her since these allegations first came to light in 2005, but you have spent much time still as an active parent of your children and assisting your partner with the five sons born of the relationship. I am told that you are at the home four nights a week, although you do not sleep over, and that you have been particularly assiduous in your care of your second youngest son who has a severe autism disorder and a significant vision impairment, and as he gets older and his behaviour becomes more physically aggressive that you have been of considerable assistance to your partner in helping to manage him.
44 Although you left school young, at the age of 15, you have got a very solid work history. You have worked in various occupations of a labouring or semiskilled labouring variety, but all of them involving hard physical work and real commitment. You appear to like working out in the open air and much of your work as been open-air work. For the period between 2003 and 2008, so starting before the offending for which I must sentence you occurred and through to well beyond that and after the time that your community based order expired, you were working as a stonemason and the evidence given by people who first knew you during that period was the impressive character evidence to which I have already referred.
45 Since 2009, you have been working as a storeman and delivery driver. You can clearly hold down stable employment and must be well regarded by your employers, and you have made sure that the money that you earn is spent not just on looking after yourself but significantly on supporting and assisting your partner and children.
46 You are managing a depressive illness which is of long standing. I accept the evidence that you have had depressive episodes throughout most of your life as an adult, but you are generally, with the assistance of the counselling from Mr Newton and with medication prescribed as and when needed, able to manage that, but you have at times had psychotic episodes, heard voices and at times have needed anti-psychotic medication to assist in quelling anxiety or schizoaffective-type psychotic symptoms that occur from time to time.
47 You have some physical conditions, ulcers and blood pressure, which are able to be managed by medication, although I am told that you are not always in a position where you consider you can afford the medication, obviously prioritising other matters, particularly, as I understand it, support for your children.
48 I have to balance the impressive evidence of the efforts that you have made to continue in counselling and to rehabilitate yourself, the potential effect on your mental health of a term of imprisonment and the absence of like offending since 2006 with the need to impose just punishment for these offences and to denounce them and to impose a sentence that acts as a deterrent for those family members who think that they can take advantage of children within the family circle. It is a very difficult balancing process, given the impressive evidence of efforts to rehabilitate yourself since 2006. I say that, despite the fact that one could say a more courageous person would, in 2006, when it was known or believed that you had interfered with these two girls as well, have made a full confession and dealt with the matters then. But you are not being sentenced for lack of courage. What you have done now when confronted by the police, ultimately by the time of committal, acknowledging your guilt, accepting the truthfulness of the complainants and reading their victim impact statements rather than going into a state of denial about it shows that, with understandable human responses of trying to avoid trouble if one can, you have faced responsibility now for what you have done.
49 Nonetheless, the offending is very serious and the effect on your victims, as you know, has been serious. They have had a childhood taken away from them. That is something that no child should have to suffer.
50 Your counsel acknowledged in the course of his careful and very carefully thought through and well-presented plea that no sentence other than one of imprisonment was appropriate. The sentence must be tempered considerably by the evidence of your engagement with Mr Newton and the evidence of your risk assessment, and that is despite the misgivings I had expressed about Mr Newton's assessment, having regard to the fact he did not inquire further of you at the time as to what the other offending was, and no treatment seems to have specifically addressed indecently dealing with children as young as these two. But the history of your behaviour since 2006, your continued engagement in treatment and the steps that you have shown of the ways you have made sure you are not in the company of young girls, whether they are family or children of friends, indicates that despite that concern, you have shown not only a desire but a capacity to remove yourself from temptation. That also is, in my view, significant evidence of remorse. That is, of trying to make amends for what you have done by not acting in a like manner again or putting yourself in a position where you could or might.
51 I accept that despite the gains that you have made over your time in counselling with Mr Newton in managing your episodes of depression and the significant gains that you have made in dealing with your substance abuse so you can no longer be called a substance abuser, the evidence of the way you have worked on your maintenance plan and your living a good life or a better life, there is a risk, as Mr Newton said, that that will be set back upon your remand in custody, and I must take that into account and reduce the sentence otherwise appropriate. Mr Newton said that you would need monitoring and care for your mental health whilst in custody. He said that he was prepared to continue to provide counselling to you within the limits of what can be provided by a private provider to a person in custody and the limits of your means, or lack of means. But I endorse Mr Newton's recommendations and I recommend to the Corrections and parole authorities that they take careful heed of Mr Newton's report and his recommendations and do all they can to facilitate the continued engagement and counselling with him during your period of imprisonment.
52 Because of the nature of these charges, you come to be sentenced as a serious sexual offender.
53 Ms Millar and Mr McGrath, is it in respect of all charges because of the previous offences or is it only in respect of Charges 3 to 7 on this Indictment? I think we assumed last time that it was only in respect of Charges 3 and following on this Indictment but ‑ ‑ ‑
54 MR McGRATH: That was the assumption that I'd been working on.
55 HER HONOUR: Yes, it's just occurred to me that given his previous offences, it probably operates for all charges, doesn't it?
56 MR McGRATH: He's certainly been sentenced in the past. Your Honour, in relation to - he received a community based order for three of the offences and a suspended sentence for one.
57 HER HONOUR: Right.
58 MR McGRATH: So they're certainly not in relation to the community based orders and then in relation to - I will have to look at the definition of "imprisonment" in the act - but if that includes a suspended sentence ‑ ‑ ‑
59 HER HONOUR: Then it would be from Charge 2.
60 MR McGRATH: 2, yes.
61 HER HONOUR: I think "imprisonment" includes a suspended sentence. I'll just check.
62 MR McGRATH: Yes, Your Honour. I'm just looking in s.3 for the definition. It's a term of imprisonment that's been suspended.
63 HER HONOUR: It's a term of imprisonment, isn't it?
64 MR McGRATH: Yes.
65 HER HONOUR: Yes, because the suspended sentence provisions say it's a term of imprisonment for all purposes, doesn't it?
66 MR McGRATH: Yes, I think it does, Your Honour.
67 HER HONOUR: All right.
68 By reason of the conviction on the charge of indecent assault in 2006 for which you received a suspended term of imprisonment, that means that having regard to these offences, you come to be sentenced for Charges 2 through to 7 on this Indictment as a serious sexual offender, and I direct that that declaration be noted on the record. I do not consider that the need of protection of the community means that a disproportionate sentence should be imposed and I consider that it would offend the principle of totality were I to impose cumulative sentences upon the sentences for Charges 2 through to 7. Some cumulation is required to reflect the different nature of the offending and the different complainants, but certainly not total cumulation.
69 You also are required, by the provisions of the Sex Offenders Registration Act, to be registered for life and I am required to provide you with a copy of the conditions of registration which I will have provided to you shortly.
70 I have, having regard to the matters that have been put to me, imposed a sentence that is significantly lower than I would have otherwise thought appropriate and imposed a much lower period as the time that you must serve before being eligible for parole than I would have, had it not been for the evidence of that continued engagement with Mr Newton and the other evidence of your efforts at rehabilitation since then. Nonetheless, it seems to me that the offences are so serious that, as your counsel properly acknowledged, no sentence other than one of imprisonment is appropriate, and I have come to the view that no sentence other than one of imprisonment with a term immediately served is appropriate.
71 Could you now please stand, Mr Thompson.
72 Richard Thompson, on all seven charges to which you have pleaded guilty, you are convicted. On Charge 1, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of two years, and that is the base sentence.
73 On Charge 2, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 12 months, and I direct that two months of that is served cumulatively upon the base sentence and the other partial cumulation orders I am about to make.
74 On Charge 3, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 12 months and two months of that to be served cumulatively.
75 Charge 4, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months, and two months of that is to be served cumulatively.
76 On Charge 5, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of two years, and one year of that is to be served cumulatively.
77 On Charge 6, your are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of six months, and two months of that is to be served cumulatively.
78 On Charge 7, you are sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of two years, and four months of that is to be served cumulatively.
79 That makes a total effective sentence of four years, and I fix a nonparole period of 18 months. I declare pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act that but for your pleas of guilty, you would have been sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of six years and I would have fixed four years as the period that you would have had to have served before being eligible for parole.
80 I will ask Mr McGrath now to take the sex offender registration conditions to you and ask if you are prepared to sign a receipt acknowledging that you have been provided with them. You do not have to sign the receipt. The court record will show that you have received it in any event.
81 Ms Millar, can you check the arithmetic and check to see if there are any further orders that are required to be made. Mr McGrath, can you check the arithmetic?
82 MR McGRATH: Yes, sorry, Your Honour. I just missed Charge 6, but I've been assisted by my learned friend.
83 HER HONOUR: Charge 6 is six months with two months cumulative.
84 MR McGRATH: Yes.
85 HER HONOUR: You can take a seat.
86 MR McGRATH: Could I just have a moment, Your Honour?
87 HER HONOUR: Yes.
88 MS MILLAR: I agree with Your Honour's calculations.
89 HER HONOUR: Thank you. They're the only ancillary orders, the ones that I've made?
90 MS MILLAR: Yes, Your Honour.
91 MR McGRATH: Yes, Your Honour.
92 HER HONOUR: Thank you. Could you remove Mr Thompson, please.
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