Director of Public Prosecutions v Trangle (a pseudonym)
[2019] VCC 2052
•29 November 2019
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT BENDIGO
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| MICHAEL TRANGLE (A PSEUDONYM) |
---
| JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD |
| WHERE HELD: | Bendigo |
| DATE OF HEARING: | 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 August 2019 2, 5, 6, 9 September 2019 28 November 2019 |
| DATE OF SENTENCE: | 29 November 2019 |
| CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Trangle (A pseudonym) |
| MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2019] VCC 2052 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Ms. A Hassan with Mr L Cameron | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr M. Page | Leanne Warren & Associates |
HIS HONOUR:
1Michael Richard Trangle,[1] you have been found guilty by a verdict of a jury on 9 September of this year, after a two week trial, of the following charges: Causing injury intentionally, three charges; indecent act with a child under 16, six of them; there are 16 charges of incest; and one charge of common assault. Those crimes carry maximum penalties of 10 years, 10 years, 25 years and five years respectively.
[1] This is a pseudonym.
2Charges 14 and 30 are in fact course of conduct charges. You were also acquitted by direction be me of a number of charges, of which in the ultimate, no evidence was actually led. You, on any matter that got before the jury, you were convicted.
3Firstly, pursuant to s.464ZF of the Crimes Act, I make an order that you provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes. That order having been made, I must advise you that should you refuse to provide such a sample, police may use reasonable force to take it from you.
4You are now 58 or 59 years of age. The offending occurred against your two step-daughters when you were between the ages of around about 38 to around about 50. As I have said, you ran a trial and it is the situation that you in fact maintain your innocence of these charges. Accordingly, you get no benefit from a plea of guilty, which in these circumstances, would have been very significant.
5There is absolutely no remorse. That does not aggravate the situation, but it simply means that again, you do not have the benefit of that in mitigation and clearly, as it is displayed by the victim impact statements, the fact that you ran a trial, you do not get the utilitarian benefit of a plea of guilty having been made.
6Indeed, insofar as remorse is concerned, I simply point out what the evidence of one of your sons, Keith,[2] was when you told him about what had occurred, he said he was:
'I remember one day, Dad and Michelle[3] were having a smoke in the garage. They looked worried as they were talking. I asked them if something was wrong and Dad told me that Brittany[4] was filing a sexual assault claim against him. I said to him, "Really?" and Dad then said, "If she goes through with it, I will, Keith, kill her and her spastic fuck husband." I didn't know what to say.'
[2] This is a pseudonym.
[3] This is a pseudonym.
[4] This is a pseudonym.
7That is about the level of remorse involved in all this and it is a very significant example of it. It is also a situation where even though you deny ever having said these things and never having made any admissions, never having done the offending, that when Lucinda, at the age of around about 12 asked you why you had done these things to her, you said:
'I'm a rat and I'm an evil cunt and I'm just jealous that you're not mine.'
8She was not to know at that stage that it was going to continue against both her and her sister for another decade.
9When Brittany contacted you after these charges had been laid, or around about that time at least, and asked you why you had done it to her, you said:
'Well, you wanted it too. You were my girl.'
10I think that pretty amply displays what the background of this is, in terms of your remorse, or lack thereof.
11You do not have any prior convictions for sexual offending. You do have priors for drugs, which is of no real significance to me. You do have a prior where you had served 21 days' imprisonment for assault back in 1994. I am only aware that it involved some form of domestic violence and clearly it was not a part of this actual relationship. It seems that it was the one before with a woman with whom you had four children. I take that no further, other than to point out that your relationship with the mother of these children commenced not long after that had occurred.
12Firstly, because of the sentences that I will be imposing and for the convictions that you will be sustaining, you are to be placed on the sex offender's register. I advise you that the period of reporting will be for life and you will now be given a copy of that by your counsel.
13Can you just get him to acknowledge it for me. Thank you for that, Mr Page.
14I am also aware that because of the sentences I impose, you will be sentenced as a serious sex offender on Charges 6 to 8 inclusive, 11 to 14 inclusive, 16 to 20 inclusive, 25 to 30 inclusive and 34 to 36 inclusive.
15I am aware that the Act specifies that those sentences should be cumulative unless otherwise ordered. Obviously in these situations, totality demands concurrency and in some respects, total concurrency. There is no opposition to me doing that. Also, I am aware that community or public protection becomes a principle sentencing purpose and again, you are sentenced on that basis. The Crown do not seek a disproportionate sentence and I would, in these circumstances, not have felt the need to do so in any event.
16It is a situation where I think it should be put into an overall context before I get to the stage of going through each individual count.
17The complainants in this matter, I will just be using their first names. This will be anonymised later and people would understand, I have to do that. The complainants, Lucinda[5] and Brittany, are half-sisters. Their mother is Michelle Jeffrees. They have younger half-brothers, Jack,[6] who has made a victim impact statement and Levi.[7] Lucinda is nearly six years older than Brittany and Jack about four years younger than Brittany. At the time of the alleged offences, you were married to Michelle. You married in 1996 when Lucinda was 10 and Brittany was four. You were, at all times, the step-father of the children. Levi is your son with Michelle. You have other children from a previous relationship.
[5] This is a pseudonym.
[6] This is a pseudonym.
[7] This is a pseudonym.
18When you moved in with Michelle, the complainants and Jack, sometime before you were married, life was pretty normal. The family lived in the Bendigo area, initially in Jackaranda Street, California Gully and later after Lucinda had left home, in Lewis Street.
19What occurred after that is best described in the Crown opening and also the evidence that was given, and cross-examined on, before a jury by both Lucinda and Brittany. I think these matters which are in fact uncharged acts and therefore simply go to context, put the overall circumstances into that context. One relates to Lucinda and one relates to Brittany. It is clear that there was violence throughout all this and I think these pages give a bit of an indication before we get into the actual offences themselves about what it was all about.
20Lucinda was asked, 'How old would you have been?' Lucinda said, 'Maybe things sort of changed around Grade 5 or Grade 6, around about nine or eight or nine. I started to be singled out, compared to the other children. As I started to do chores, as every child should, but I then started to get punished for things that I hadn't done.'
21Question, this is the prosecutor, 'Well let's start with the chores, what kind of chores were you doing?' 'So I used to just wash dishes and vacuum, make beds, get kids ready for school and that was in the early stages and then it went from that to, I think, when I was maybe in Grade 6, I started washing the car every morning and then picking up leaves and dog poo and weeds and just all that sort of stuff. So I used to walk up and down the whole property picking up leaves one by one, morning and night.' 'Every day?' 'Yeah.' 'Summer and winter?' 'Yeah, from probably Grade 5 up until I left home when I was working full-time and stuff.'
22'Did it affect your school work?' 'Definitely.' 'So when was it that you did your chores?' 'So I'd wake up at six every morning and I'd do chores until I woke the other children up for school and I'd do it until I went to school and then I walked school and then I'd come home at lunchtime and do chores, then I'd go back to school and then come home and do chores. Then after chores I'd do spelling and then if I was lucky enough, I'd get a couple of hours' sleep.'
23Question, 'You said you'd be up at six in the morning, could you get yourself up?' Answer, 'No, so it was Mike’s TV and he used to have a timer on it, so as soon as the static noise of the power got in the telly, if my feet weren't on the floor, that was a punishment, if I wasn't all ready to go.' Question, 'What was the punishment?' 'It could be spelling, it could be manhandled, it just depended on the day that he was having, I guess.'
24Question, 'All right, let's take that one by one. What spelling, what does that mean?' 'So if I start it off when I was in primary school. I went home with a book because my schooling was very affected ah and so I would - took a spelling book home to write words, trying to get smart, because I thought that would make Mike like me. And then it progressed from that time, spelling all night and then I'd get tired, so I'd sort of lay down a little bit on the table and then my sister would dob on me. Then I'd have to stand, so I used to stand in the doorway facing the family, write in the book backwards all night.'
25'When you say "all night", how long are you talking about?' 'Sometimes I wouldn't go to bed till 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning.' 'Was it Mike that was making you do this?' 'Yes.' 'You said you were manhandled?' 'Yes.' 'What do you mean by that?' 'I used to get headbutted. I used to get kneed. I used to get thrown around. I used to get choked, kicked, punched, thrown into walls, thrown out the back door like - yeah, just like a ragdoll thrown around.' 'We're talking about Mike when you ‑ ‑ ‑?' 'Yeah, yeah.' 'How did he speak to you?' 'Disgusting.' 'What sort of things did he say to you?' 'I was a peasant. I was a rodent. I was a mutt. I was a slut. I was brain dead. I was a pigdog. I was just - I was just, yeah, all the horrible things.'
26A lot of that material is confirmed by the lady who lives next door, as well as by other witnesses in this particular matter.
27She then goes on after that to describe being isolated from the rest of the family. And then she said, for example, 'And what did he do?', question. 'Depending. So sometimes I wasn't allowed to eat. Ah, from Grade 2 onwards, I was never allowed to have breakfast, ah because once I tipped the extra Weet-Bix in the bottom of the thing in my breakfast bowl, so he's like, "Well fucking go without" um and then I was only allowed to have one glass of water after dinner, if I was lucky.'
28Did you eat with the family?' 'No.' 'Where did the family eat?' 'So when he first came along, we used to all have our spots at the table. I used to sit beside him, 'cause I liked him and then he just sorta went from that to, "You make everyone sick, so you can stand around the corner and face the wall, away from the family, because no one wants to see you."' 'So that happened probably from about Grade 3 or 4?' 'Ah, yeah. And that's where I used to stand and eat.' Question, 'So that's where you regularly ate?' 'Yeah.' 'Was there ever a time when you were deprived your food and drink over an extended period of time?' She said, 'Yes' and went onto give examples of that. Insofar as the treatment is concerned, I don’t want to go through the details of it.
29Brittany had this to say about it. Again, uncharged acts, but just the unbelievable environment in which these children were forced to live. 'So tell us what' - 'Yeah, so I may have been in Year 8 or 9.' 'So tell us what happened when you were' - 'Yeah, so I'd asked to go to the social, um and he said, "No", Mike said, "No" and I was really upset because I just wanted to go and have fun with other kids at school. Later that day, he's come to me and said, "If you get a carrot and come down to the lounge room", when my brothers were asleep, and I inserted it in my vagina in front of my mother, then he'll let me go.'
30Question, 'So he asked you to do that?' Answer, 'Yes.' 'What did you end up doing?' 'I did what he said because I'm so scared of the man. I got a carrot and I went to the lounge room and I sat down, I inserted the carrot in my vagina.' 'And who was in the lounge room when you put the carrot in your vagina?' 'My mother and Mike.' 'And how did your mother respond when she saw this happening?' 'She said, "What are you fucking doing, you idiot?" I just kept doing what he said to do.
31'And what did you do when your mum said that?' I just looked at her and I just kept doing what I was doing and then Mike started laughing at me, calling me - he called me a "fucking idiot" and I cried and ran to my room, because he'd asked me to do it so I could go and that's what I did and then he was calling me that' and she said, that is the way he spoke to her all the time. Asked about Mike sexually penetrating, she said, 'Yes, he did' and she said that was when she was around about 12 or 13.
32I will go into that again in a moment, because later on she is asked about this incident with the carrot. So she said, 'So he had - he told me if I got a carrot, or zucchini, 'cause it happened a few times um and to go down because Michelle wanted it too and she was unsure, type of thing. He spoke about threesomes and things like that and that night I had to go down to the lounge room and sit on the couch and insert the vegetable up my vagina.'
33'You gave some evidence earlier about inserting a carrot in your vagina, were you talking about the same incident?' 'This is - like I said, like it happened so often, like there was lots of different - different times.' 'All right, so is this an incident where you had to insert it, what, a vegetable, in your vagina.' 'It was either a carrot or a zucchini. It depended what was in the fridge.' They are just examples of the way you conducted yourself with those children. There were a number of others.
34What, in these circumstances, I am going to do is, the Crown have very helpfully provided a summary of the offending related to the matters. I will direct that that summary, which incorporates the cross-examination by Mr Page, I will effectively annex that summary to these, my sentencing remarks. I will not be making any attempt to anonymise, so it will not be - with the - it will be on the court file and available, but it will not actually be attached to the sentencing remarks.
35Charge 1 relates to Lucinda and it is intentionally causing injury. She said there was a time that she had been deprived of food and drink over an extended period of time. 'And what happened?' And again, this has been paraphrased. 'He was punishing me for something and so I wasn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink and I was doing spelling and I was standing in the doorway doing spelling and it was summer and I was still doing my chores, still walking to school, doing all that sort of stuff and I was really thirsty. The first day I sorta said, "You know, Dad, can I please have a drink?" 'Nah, nah.'
36'And then obviously being a child, I started whining, you know, "I'm thirsty", so eventually my mum's lying in bed with him and I hear her say, "For fuck's sake, just give her a drink. Like I'm sick of listening to the cunt whinge." So he got up with a bucket and he filled the bucket up with water. We were standing in the kitchen and he's like, "Fucking drink.'
37'Did you?' 'I did. And I drank as much as I could and then I went to walk off to go back to my spelling and as I did, I'm not sure sorta what happened, but sorta went - he sorta went to grab me. I had the bucket as well and the water everywhere and he grabbed me by the hair and I was flying up and I landed on my tailbone and it took my breath away and I actually thought I was paralysed. Then all of a sudden it was just sorta my mum's come out and she's saying, "Get up. Like, you know what's going to happen, get the fuck up" and I couldn't breathe, I couldn't walk, anything. Once I finally got up, I had to stand there and still keep doing the spelling and he just walked off and acted like nothing happened.' She said she still had pain from her tailbone from that incident.
38Charge 2 is again Lucinda and again, a charge of intentionally causing injury. Again, she had been spelling and, question, 'Then what happened?' 'Then I just had a little bit of an outburst and I just said, "Well I'm not doing any of my spelling" and I threw the book and it hit one of the kids in the head and the pen, then the pen - yeah.' 'Do you remember which one it hit?' 'I think it probably hit Brittany in the head, um and then next thing you know, he just got up and starting punching and choking me. I ended up with the flyscreen door in my forehead.'
39'How did that happen?' 'Ah, just from him - just manhandling me and I just had really, really long hair, so he used to just sort of just grab me by the hair and just throw me around. But, yeah, I remember he choked me this day and I thought I was going to pass out and I wet myself a little bit and then he headbutted me and as I've sort of fallen to the ground, he's just kneed me and just started kicking me and I had blood everywhere.'
40'And where was the blood coming from?' 'Ah, it was coming from my nose, but it was in my mouth as well, um and the kids were horrified and Michelle was sitting not far. 'That's your mother?' 'Yeah. And Mike just walked off and then Michelle didn't say anything and she just had a new carpet laid, so I just sat there and went - and spat, just spat it all on the floor, because I thought, "Well you're not gonna - you're not going to say anything like, you know."' 'This is blood from your mouth?' 'Yeah. And then she stood up and went into a fireball of rage because of her new carpet. So she went off at him for doing it, but not because of what he did, it was because of her new - the carpet getting stained.' 'What injuries did you have from that incident?' 'Ah, I think my nose was broken from it, but I wasn't taken to a doctor.'
41Charge 4, indecent act within the presence of a child under the age of 16. She was being asked again about the spelling and she said there was - had not done the spelling. Tried to do things to get out of it. 'There was a time when I suggested something and he's like, "No, cunt, no, something else" and actually this might have been the day that I was wearing the lingerie' and I do not have to go into all that detail. 'And he said - I don't know if it was him or not. I'm uncertain who suggested it, um, to insert my finger in my bum in front of everyone, so I had to bend over and do that in front of the children and my mother.'
42'So where did this happen, in the lounge room or in the hallway? Just take us through exactly what happened.' 'So I was standing there doing spelling and I said, "Dad, can I please go to bed?" and he said, 'No, cunt." I said, "Please." I said, "Like I've been" - I had permanent indents on my fingers from the pen and I said, "My fingers are hurting" and he's like, "No" and I said, "Well what can I do to get out of it?" and he said, "I don't know, you tell me" and then, yeah, I'm uncertain who suggested it, but yeah, he said, "All right, bend over and put your finger in your bum and I'll let you get out of your spelling", so I did that and I had to leave it there for a short time and I still had to do the spelling anyway.'
43'How old were you when that happened?' 'Probably Grade 6 or 7.' 'Who was in the room?' 'I'm certain the children were there and Michelle was there.' 'When you say you had to bend over, what did you have to - just describe what you had to do?' 'So I just bent over with my bum facing towards the family, put my finger in there and just stand there and just stand there until he said to take it out and then stand up and pull my pants up and keep spelling.'
44The next series of charges in regard to Lucinda are 5, 6, 7 and 8, which are all part of the one incident and as I have indicated, there has been very substantial concurrency because of that. She was asked, 'Did the treatment of - did his treatment of you ever become sexual?' 'Yes.' 'What's the first time you can recall him sexually abusing you?' 'Grade 6 or 7.'
45'All right, and what happened?' 'Ah, I was doing spelling and it must have been on the school holidays or something, because I was inside doing spelling and the kids weren't there and Michelle, 'cause they both smoked cigarettes, Michelle didn't have any cigarettes, so she went next door to get some smokes and he was being really sort of playful that morning, like it was weird, 'cause he was never nice to me. Like, and when she went next door, um he ended up with me on the couch with my pants off and he started - he had my legs up in the air. He started rubbing my vagina, he started rubbing my vagina and then he started licking it and sort of touched it with his penis and I didn't know then - back then I wasn't allowed to do sex ed at school, obviously now I know why. Um, I didn't know what - what it was that was coming out of the end of his penis, I just thought he spat on, but it turns out that he ejaculated'. And Question: 'Whereabouts was it he ejaculated?' 'On my stomach and down the side of the couch. He proceeded to lick my vagina and I don't know what happened, but I was very sensitive and I now know that I climaxed and then he just sort of left it at that, and I told him that Mum was coming before that, he just ignored me. And then when she came past the loungeroom window he then just walked into the bathroom. He used his shirt to clean up the stuff and I just stood there doing my spelling, acting like nothing happened. But I was real jittery and then Michelle walked in and sat down right where it happened. Back then she didn't know what was going on'.
46She was asked later, 'Do you know how many fingers he - did he put his finger into your vagina at all?' 'Yes'. 'How far did his finger go into your vagina?' 'I actually - I actually don't know. I just know that when he did it he put it into my mouth afterwards. Like I felt it go in, but I wasn't watching'. 'What was that first thing he did, did he put his vagina in your - did he put penis - finger in your vagina?' 'He spat on me first, yes'. 'And the next thing he did?' 'So he spat on me then he just put his finger in me'. 'How long did his finger stay in your vagina?' 'Just a short time'. 'Did he move at all?' 'Yes'. 'Did he move it in and out?' 'Yes'. 'What do you say the next thing he did?' 'Then he had his penis, it was just sort of pulling away a little bit'. So, yes, 'He put his finger in my mouth. 'Was that after he took it out of your vagina?' 'Yep'. 'Just describe what he did then?' 'As soon as I'd sucked on finger than he was trying to put his penis in me and I was sort of backing of a little bit, backing away'. 'You said that you sucked on his finger when it was in your mouth?' 'Yep'. 'Is that something he told you or the way he just sort of put it in there and didn't take it out, all right?' 'Yes, all right'. 'So what happens after his finger goes in your mouth?' 'Then he got the head of his penis and he was rubbing it on me'. 'When you say rubbing it on you, whereabouts?' 'On my vagina'. 'All right, did it go into your vagina?' 'No'. 'How long did it take - rub his penis on your vagina?' 'It was only a short time'. 'All right and what did he then do after that?' 'Then he started licking me. Like he put my legs backwards and then started licking me, I remember. Cause he was a smoker his saliva always just had this stale, disgusting feel when it used to dry. So he was licking me and then playing with himself as well and then it was just sort of all over'. 'When you say he was licking you, your vagina, did his tongue go in your vagina'. She said it was just licking. Then later on, 'What part of your vagina was he licking?' And she said, 'My clit'. And she said her clit was where he had been rubbing his penis as well. That gives rise to three charges of incest and one charge of indecent act.
47Next is Charge 11. This was a situation that happened in the shed.
48'Do you remember how was it you ended up being in the shed with him?' 'I was down there helping him. Like, he wanted me to help him for something'. 'All right, what happened in the shed?' 'So he's called me to help me. Michelle used to have fairly long shower routines. She was in the bathroom having a shower and I went down there and this is the first time it happened in the shed. I remember because he gave me a cigarette, because I actually got caught smoking in Year 7'. She had had a cigarette, 'Ended up feeling violently ill until I vomited and I passed out'. And they thought it was quite funny and then a couple of days later I’m doing doing spelling and he suggested that I went down to the shed again. So I went down there and he gave me a cigarette and she said, "Don't tell your mother". And then says - then he said - he goes, um, "You should put your finger in your bum again". And I said, "No, Dad, I'm not doing that". And he then said, "Can I?" I just shrugged my shoulders and then he said - you know, sort of turned me around and I bent over and I'm still holding the cigarette. At that point in my life short term pain was so much easier to deal with than getting starved and bashed and punished for stuff that I hadn't done. So while I couldn't look, while I couldn't see his face I didn't care what happened because I knew it was going to be over'. 'So he's put his finger in your anus?' 'Yes, he spat on it, cause I remember seeing the spit fall on the concrete floor in the shed. I remember seeing his hands like moving, so he was obviously playing with himself'. 'Was it just the one finger?' 'Yes'. 'How long was it in for? Did he leave it in your anus?' 'Not very long'. 'Did he move it?' 'Yeah'. 'How did this incident finish?' 'Yeah, once he'd obviously got whatever he was getting out of it he said, "There you go, cunt. You liked that, didn't ya". I just - I never answered him, of course. Of course I didn't fucking like it. I just had to go back out and do the leaves and act like nothing happened and go to school and still try and learn shit at school'.
49Next one is Charge 12 of intentionally causing injury. Again, I do not need to go into a great deal of it. Just essentially the same sort of circumstances, that the discipline, all that sort of thing, was still continuing. The punishments were still continuing.
50'Did you ever as you got older did you ever try to talk to Mike about what was happening?' 'Yeah'. 'What did you do?' 'I try and approach it properly but he'd just tell me, "Fuck up, just like deal with it", like every other kid does, so you should to'.
51She went on to then describe having doing other chores. She described only being able to change and shower once a week. At one stage she refused to pick up the leaves and then 'He got up off the chair and he just charged at me and just belted the absolute crap out of me. And the fine details I'm unsure off because it was all over and done with, then I was just standing there and I was black and blue, blood was everywhere. I had hair out, I was just jittery'. 'How old were you when this happened?' 'I would have been 16 or 17'. 'All right, you said you can't remember the details, but how much details you can, just tell the members of the jury what happened to you, what Mike did to you?' 'He punched me, he kicked me, threw me into the wall. Threw me down on the concrete, spat on me, headbutted me, chocked me, like all them sort of things'. 'Were you injured?' 'Yes'. She said she thought her nose had been rebroken. 'I had bruises all over my ribs. I remember I sort of had strangle marks all over my arms and legs. That was the final out. He said, "Fuck off, like we don't want you to live here anymore. You're nothing but a pain in the arse, fuck off", and so I went'.
52They're the charges that relate to Lucinda. They were not done in isolation, that is clear from all the contextual material. You are not being sentenced for the contextual material. But in no way shape or form can it be said that any of that offending against that, at the start, a little girl was in anyway opportunistic or any such thing. It was deliberate and calculated brutalisation of a child.
53I then go onto the charges in relation to Brittany. The first of those was the situation where you were in the toilet and Brittany said that she went, said, 'I asked him if I could shave my legs'. And he said, 'What will you do for me'. She said she could see into the toilet and she could see him sitting on the toilet. He said, 'What can you do for me?’ ‘What happened then?' 'I said, I'd pick up the leaves properly and then he goes, "Well that's stupid". And then I said I'd wash the cars properly and he said that was stupid. And then he said, "What about this?" Then he pointed to his penis and I asked what did he mean because I didn't know anything about that type of stuff at this stage in life and he said, "Touch this and you can shave your legs"'. 'So when you said he pointed to his penis?' 'That's correct'. 'Was his penis exposed?' 'Yes, it was a little bit sort of hanging in the toilet'. Yes, basically goes on to say that if she didn't touch it she wouldn't be able to shave her legs. 'And did you touch his penis?' 'I did'. 'And how did you touch his penis?' 'I literally just poked it and he laughed and said, "Not like that", and he showed me how to make a cylinder with my hand and he put my hand over his penis and then pushed it backwards and forwards'. 'And how long, how many times did he push your hand backwards and forwards over his penis?' 'It was a few times, maybe for two or three minutes. I moved my head away after it was finished and said, "Goodnight"', and then she said she was able to go and shave her legs. She said that was the first time she ever touched his penis and it happened on a number of occasions. More than many other times. That is a course of conduct charge as I have already indicated. When asked how many she really could not say, that it just kept happening and kept going until she was around about 19 or so was when the offending overall stopped. On the material before me it would seem that that form of indecent act occurred on multiple occasions, probably approaching triple figures, I would have thought. But that is not necessarily part of the charge and it is all part and parcel of what has occurred. That gives rise to the Charges of 13 and 14, that is the exposure of the penis and the masturbation.
54Charges 16. 'Did Mike ever try and sexually penetrate you?' 'Yes, he did'. 'Could remember when, called me to his room. I was maybe 12 or 13, Michelle was in the shower', which again seems to be a fairly common factor throughout this. 'You went into the room?' 'Yes'. And he said, 'We're going to do something new', and he told me to lay on the right side of the bed, which I did and he pulled his shorts down to his knees and he rubbed his penis on my vagina and around'. 'So when he rubbed his penis on your vagina did you have any clothing on, were you naked?' 'So I'm pretty sure I had a nightie on'. 'Did you have pants under your nightie?' 'I had my knickers'. 'So he rubbed your vagina with his penis? Was it over your knickers or under your knickers?' 'It was under my knickers'. 'After he rubbed his penis on your vagina, what's the next thing that happened?' 'He was then moving it up and down, then he tried to push it into my vagina and it wouldn't go in'. 'Did it go in at all?' 'It went in past the flap area. All I remember is it just hurt'. 'Did you say it hurt?' 'Yes'. 'Did he try to push it into your vagina once or a number of times?' 'Number of times'. 'And you said that it went past your flap area?' 'Correct'. 'Did it go any further?' 'No'. Then he said he stopped trying. 'He said had to keep it a secret or there'd be consequences and the people that I loved would get hurt'. She was asked to repeat that, 'I said that he said that the people I love would get hurt if I said anything'. The threat is made to Lucinda as well, which I will come to in a few minutes.
55Charge 18 is one of incest and again penile. 'Did he try and penetrate your vagina with his penis again?' 'Yes, it wasn't long after that in the loungeroom. We dropped Michelle off at the hairdresser and I had to stay with Mike because he may have had a diabetes attack or a heart attack or something and I had to make sure that he was okay without Michelle. We dropped Michelle off at the hair salon. He sat down on the couch and told me to face the same way, which I did. I had to hold onto his knees so that I wouldn't fall When he brought me back his penis went into my vagina'. 'On this occasion, did it go fully in your vagina?' 'It did'. 'Did it move in and out of your vagina?' 'Yes, it did'. 'Do you know if he ejaculated?' 'Yes, he did'. It was after that you took her - she said you took her shopping an bought her clothes. She said that her vagina was very, very sore when she woke up the next morning. Her mother had a look her vagina, said that she might have thrush. She was able to know that you had ejaculated inside her because in fact you told her.
56Charge 19, again, of incest. She said she went down to the shed, could not remember how old she was. The main shed in the big corner. 'I started to sweep' - she said, 'I started to sweep and then he came in and he said he was going to teach me something new. ‘After that, he said he was going to teach me about a blow job'. 'Did you know what a blow job was?' 'Vaguely, because the boys at school used to muck around and say that their girlfriend would give them blow jobs'. 'So you were a high school girl at this point?' 'Yeah'. 'So take us back to the shed. After he said, "Teach you how to give a blow job", what happened?' 'He told me to get on my knees and make a circle with my mouth. All I remember was that it stunk like odour. Like gagged at the smell'. ‘Did he put his penis in your mouth?' 'He did. He pulled my head over his penis, his penis went inside my mouth and he kept pulling my head backwards and forward. And all I remember is just - I was gagging. I just like I felt I had to spew'. 'Did he ejaculate?' Question. 'He said that he was about to ejaculate and I pulled my head away and he goes, "No, no", and he pulled - pulled my head and put his penis back in my mouth and then he ejaculated in my mouth'. "What did you do when he ejaculated in your mouth?' 'I just gagged, just like I had to spew. You could feel it rolling down the back of my throat'. 'And after this did Mike say anything to you?' 'He said we couldn't say anything because no one would believe me by this point'. 'And after he'd finished did you go back to the home?' 'No, we couldn't leave the shed at the same time. He left and I had to finish cleaning up the shed and then I finished and went back inside'. 'Was your mother inside?' 'I think so'. 'Was that the only time you went to the shed when he' - the answer was, 'No'.
57Charge 20 of incest is another situation where it is in the shed. I do not have to go through the detail of that. She was told - you told her to lie on the ground and inserted your penis into her vagina and ejaculated onto her tummy. She said she cleaned it up with a rag.
58She was going to the school social, 'And tell the jury what happened when he collected you?' 'He would collect me from the venue. He would drive to a place of Donald Street. She was able to show a photograph of that. 'It was a dirt, dirt track near the swamp. Not the swamp, near the - we would - we would drive to a place off Donald Street, we would get out of the car, he would come round to my side, push the seat back, get me to put my legs in the air whilst my back was on the seat. And I'd have to my hands underneath my bottom to tilt my pelvis up and he would insert his penis in my vagina'. 'Are you talking about a one off or you're talking about repeated behaviour?' 'This is every time, like the times that I went to a social'. She was then, as I say, she was then shown the photograph and identified the spot where it occurred and it is not a representative charge, it is the first occasion that that occurred.
59Charges 26 and 27, again, incest. That occasion she said she remembers specifically because they had been watching a pornography DVD of two women having sex on the television, and again same situation and in these circumstances said, 'That was all just turned off and it was back to normal. I remember on that occasion it was the first time I'd ever had anybody - somebody' - sorry - 'lick my vagina'. 'So he licked your vagina?' 'Yes'. 'Where were you when he licked your vagina?' 'I was lying on the couch facing the TV'. 'Were you dressed or naked?' 'I was dressed'. 'Did you have your undies on?' 'Yes'. 'Like, the routine of me getting toilet paper, going and waiting. The DVD was playing and he got down and started licking around my vagina and with that he also - that's when he inserted his penis into my vagina'. 'So when he began to lick your vagina were your pants still on?' 'I don't recall'. 'When he was licking your vagina did he penetrate your vagina?' 'With his tongue'. 'His tongue went into your vagina?' 'Yes'. 'How far did it go in?' 'I don't know how far it went in, it was a strange feeling'. 'How long was he licking your vagina?' 'Maybe two minutes, it wasn't very long and then after that he put his penis in my vagina'. She said you ejaculated.
60Charge 28 of incest. It is a situation where she said that you called her into your room and she said that, 'We were going to try something new again and had Vaseline with him. He said he was going to put his penis in my arse, that's what he said'. She does not how old she was at the time. She said she thought she was about 16, could have been Year 8 or 9. Could have been 14, maybe. She said, 'He had Vaseline'. 'What'd he do with the Vaseline?' 'He put the Vaseline, like he put his finger in the Vaseline and he rubbed it around my bum hole'. 'Were you naked at this point or did you have something on?' 'I think I normally only used to wear a nightie to bed normally'. 'So you had no pants under your nightie?' 'Yeah, just knickers normally'. 'How did he position you when he rubbed the Vaseline on your bum?' 'So I was on my knees on the bed and he tried to put it in my bum and I remember it hurting and I pulled away and said, "No, no"'. 'What did he do when you said, "No"?' 'It didn't end up happening, I just got up and I ran off to the loungeroom'. 'Was there ever an occasion when he did penetrate your anus with his penis?' And she said, 'No - no'. She then was quite further examined on that because of the pain aspect, obviously, where the prosecutor said, 'I'm sorry to do this to you, Ms Trangle, but when you were giving some answers about when he tried to penetrate your anus, did he put his penis in your anus at all?' Answer: 'So all I remember is it was stinging and hurting and it felt like it was not all the way in. All I remember was that it hurt so much and that's why I jumped away and I said, "No more"'. 'So you felt a pain sensation?' 'Yeah'. The inference from that is irresistible that in fact there was a degree of penetration at least.
61Charge 29 is indecent act. 'What about the bathroom?' 'Yeah, the occasion he told me I had to wee on him'. 'What happened? All right, where was he?' 'He told me I had to go and start to do a wee cause I couldn't stand and wee. He was laying with the top of his body in the shower and once I started to wee he said, quick, come now and I remember peeing on his face and he was smiling. I was just disgusted. I couldn't believe I'd just done that'. 'Where was your mother when this occurred?' 'I'm not - she was - like I said, she was either - like, it happened so often, it was either she was - I don't think she was in the loungeroom at that time, but yeah'. 'How old were you when that occurred, when you weed on him?' 'Maybe 15, maybe. That's the only time that I ever weed on him'.
62Charge 30 is another course of conduct charge, which involves penetration of Brittany's vagina with your finger and she said that that happened a lot.
63She then goes through descriptions of that occurring. She said it happened maybe twice a month, just depended and went on, effectively, up until she was around about 19. She said it happened regularly, happened in the bedroom and sometimes other parts of the house. Again, I do not have to go into the detail of that.
64Charge 34, again, a charge of incest. Again, a situation where mother was out of the house and by that stage your son Keith was there and was watching TV. Keith, effectively, supported this version of events as well, in terms of the cigarette at least. The question of going out to the shed to have sex, so she said, 'So I lay down on the floor. It was concrete, but he had carpet over the concrete. He inserted his penis in my vagina and we had sex'. 'Do you know if he ejaculated?' 'I can't recall. He was - it depended'. She said you had a smoke in your mouth the whole time.
65Charge 35, again, incest. It was a situation where - it is identified specifically because Jack came into the room. She said, 'Mike would come and wake me up every morning at 6 o'clock, he'd push me out of bed. And this one time he came into my room and woke me up but his penis was erect. I laid flat in my bed and he was in between my legs on his knees and had his penis in my vagina with - and we had - he had the blanket wrapped - he had the blanket wrapped around him. Then Jack - cause he was making Mike a cup of tea, and that's what we had to do, get his cup of tea. So Jack was doing that then he was going out to feed the dog and clean up the dog poo and he walked and looked in'. 'You saw Jack?' 'Yes'. 'Did Mike see Jack?' 'Yes'. 'What did Mike do when he saw Jack?' 'He started pushing me around saying, "Get up you bitch, it's time to get up, stop being lazy"'. She said she just laid there, she could not move. She said, 'Once Jack had left he finished having sex and ejaculated inside me and I cleaned up - I cleaned myself up again'.
66Charge 36, again, a charge of incest. This occurred when you took the truck to Myrtleford, and there was supportive evidence of this from another witness as well, and you had penial-vaginal sex in the bunk part of the truck overnight. After you had undressed her she said that you ejaculated in her vagina. She said that was the only time you had done that in the truck.
67The last matter was one of assault, where you apparently found out about a boyfriend and you assaulted her as a result of her response to that. She said, 'He told me that I needed to stop talking to him, um, and he called me down the garage, of the Grant Street house and he grabbed me by the back of my head and he was ramming my head into the motorbike. He was pushing me, swearing at me, saying I was a piece of shit and just, yeah'. 'What was your mother when - where was your mother when this was happening?' 'She was standing there'.
68That is a summary, if it can be called that, of the offending. Words fail me, in terms of trying to categorise it. It is extremely serious offending. It is, in anybody's view of it, vile, depraved, went on for a long period of time, in a lot of dreadful circumstances.
69The offending is in fact aggravated by the age of the victims, that is Lucinda was 10 up to about 16 or 17, 18; Brittany was 12 to round about the same sort of an age. The penial-vaginal sex with both was unprotected. Gave rise to the risk of infection, the risk of pregnancy. It is a situation where the occasion of having Brittany urinate on your face is simply almost unbelievable.
70The offending occurred regularly, as I have indicated. There was significant violence, there was punching, choking, headbutting, kicking and spitting and your threatened violence if they were ever to disclose this. Brittany was told, as I have already indicated, the sexual offending against her was to be a secret and there would be consequences if anyone found out and people she loved would be hurt. It is also done in the circumstances with the sheer domination of those children.
71Lucinda, in her evidence, when was asked that there had been physical abuse. Question: 'Why didn't you talk to your father about that?' Answer: 'Because Mike had always told me that he would kill or hurt anyone, or myself, if I was to tell anyone about any of it'. So it is extremely serious and I think I can put no higher categorisation of it on that. It has the aggravating circumstances.
72In a moment I am going to - which is an unusual course - thing to do. But in a moment I am going to read the victim impact statements in full, just so that everybody has a very clear idea of the damage that you have done.
73It is put as part of the mitigation, and properly so, on your behalf that there was a delay between the cessation of the offending and the involvement of the police. So far as that is concerned, it is a matter I have to obviously take into account. But I refer back to the words of Vincent J in R v Toomey [2006], that was in regard to a Christian brother as I recall it. But anyway, same concept.
'The situation in this respect can be seen to be similar to many encountered in the courts, where there's been the sexual abuse of young persons. Often such victims, experiencing unjustified feelings of embarrassment, shame and guilt that have been induced by the behaviour of the perpetrator, will continue to remain for many years. Accordingly, and very frequently, as in this case, the commission of the offences will not be exposed until long afterwards. Considered in this light, it is in my opinion apparent that the principle of general deterrence must assume very considerable significance as a sentencing consideration. Further, it is incumbent upon the courts, however long ago the offences were committed, to express the denunciation of the community of such behaviour, through the sentences imposed on perpetrators. They must be seen to vindicate the values of the society that they represent, fundamental to which is the protection of its children.'
74In ED v The Queen [2011] and a couple of decisions were referred to. The first was the decision of the DPP and the DDJ, where Crockett J, way back in 1992, said,
'It is the undoubted fact that in recent times there has been evidence of a rising tide of public indignation that such crimes have been committed and can be seen to be anything but infrequent occurrences. The courts, and particularly this court is, I consider bound to respond to the legitimate community concern with the response placing emphasis on the need in particular to have sentences give effect to both specific and general deterrence'.
75In 1993, His Honour Marks J, in the oft quoted passaged said,
'A society which fails to protect its children from sexual abuse by adults, particularly those entrusted with their care, is degenerate. The offence of incest is particularly erosive of human relations and casts doubt upon the assumption that parents are natural trustees of the welfare of their children. It ought to be unnecessary to recount the morbid features of incest, the most prominent of which include the exploitation by the stronger will of the adult of the weaker will of the child, the physical and psychological subordination of the child to the perverted indulgences of the adult, the gross breach of trust placed in the offender by the victim and the community, and the irreparable fundamental damage to the victim'.
76That is the situation with each of your stepdaughters.
77I then turn to the victim impact statements and in normal circumstances I simply quote passages from them. But the victim impact statements in this case are very succinct and very compelling. They are moderate in the way they are expressed and it is very much to the credit of those who have made them. It takes a lot of courage in these circumstances. It will be clear, as is known to the courts, from the passage I have just read out from Vincent J. It takes a lot of bravery to go through with this process. Each of the victims, as well as their brother who also made a victim impact statement, was subject to cross-examination, both a committal and at a trial. Both these girls were called liars. That has persisted. But not when you were talking to them at the time. As I said, you told Lucinda you were an 'evil cunt'. But you certainly continued that sense.
78The sentence is affected, not just by the emotional damage and the like, but what you put them through afterwards. It has to be taken into account, in terms of the damage that you have done.
79Brittany said,
'As a young girl, I had the whole world at my feet. So innocent and pure, ready to take on my life, wherever that led me. But the ground I was standing on was slowly dug from beneath me and my world changed. That young girl that once was, was robbed of her childhood, her innocents and her freedom. It was taken in the blink of an eye, with no one to save her because of the fear of such a brutal, vile, evil man.
'The abuse happened so often to me that it ended up being my normal. No child should ever have this life as their normality. The abuse on myself was hard enough, but seeing the people I love being brutally assaulted on a regular basis made me feel so sad. I felt guilty for not helping and still do. I was in so much fear of this man I just could not help. He made me powerless. At times I would cry myself to sleep. All I wanted was my mum to help me, but that help never came. Even to this day. I felt totally alone through most of my childhood and hope now that justice is finally done, he will get to know how this feels.
'I have future without the person who gave birth to me. I will hurt forever that the person I called mum could let this happen and stand by the person that was so brutal to her children. But I am lucky to have found a lady willing to be there for me, even knowing what has happened to me. That is what a mother should do.
'Looking back on my childhood I feel dirty and ashamed. I feel like I have been controlled by my whole life by him. On reflection I feel like I was never really a child. One thing we were told growing up, ironically, was never to lie and to be loyal. With that, here I stand today doing just that. Having told the police the truth I was then made to go through a trial. He did not tell the truth. The trial process has been humiliating, having to relive my past. I felt controlled still by him for making me go through the process, but now his power is finally gone and I am now in control of my future.
'At this time, I still feel hurt and betrayed. I still get scared and have nightmares and flashbacks. I still feel angry and suffer from anxiety, but I'm not starting counsel to help me address this.
'I have always questioned if I was to blame and I've kept myself isolated so nobody knew what was happening to me. I've been emotionally numb. As time's gone on I knew I couldn't let my mind and thoughts defeat me, so I've been building my ground back up. I've built a wall so that I could try to be never hurt again. Trusting other human beings has been so hard, but even more so trusting a man. I've struggled with this for so long, but I've taught myself to think and realise that no every man is like him. Someone can love me without hurting me because I'm a good person.
'Having my beautiful baby's grounded me. They gave me a future to look forward, but with this future the scars of him seep through. I often get scared to even look at them with a smile because I'm scared of what people would say or think. I find it hard bathing them as I think I'll be judged for washing them. All I want is to be a normal mother and live a normal life for them. This has been a challenge at times as I've never known a normal life until now. The best thing I've always known is how not to treat my babies and will protect them the best I can forever.
'People have said that with time my scars will heal, but in fact they never will. I can never erase the past or make the memories and nightmares go away. I can never get back my childhood. I will just teach myself slowly to live with them and battle each day as it comes with a smile and be the best person I possibly can, not only for myself but my gorgeous sons'.
80Lucinda said,
'During the time I was growing up at the hands of this man I was numb. It was the only way I knew how to survive. It wasn't until my adult years I realised the impacts the trauma had on my. Once I'd left this life behind to live with these impacts, which consisted of hurt, anger and frustration, and constantly on edge. There were a lot of things I was fearful of. I'd always be on edge with every sound, thinking it was him coming to torment or hurt me. I never got the chance to learn the value of me. I constantly felt on edge, paranoid about every moment; how I slept, my breathing, how I ate, how I was standing wrong and what the consequences were waiting for me if any of this were not to his liking. This was exhausting.
'I feel like a childhood should be a loving, caring and nurturing and parents should do all they can to protect you from any trauma. I felt like my childhood was stolen, I was not allowed to act or react like a child after being exposed to negative psychological and physical behaviours of an adult.
'Trauma had huge effects on my lifestyle. I would be re-triggered by various things. One of these triggers includes simple showering routines. Not one to shut my eyes in the shower for fear when I opened them I would see him. I still feel anxious a lot of the time. My heart races so much that it feels like I'm having a nervous breakdown. I always wondered what I did to deserve this. Routines make me feel vulnerable, controlled and isolated. I wasn't allowed to take risks when I was younger or make my own decisions. He would not allow me to have hobbies or injuries, such as sport. He controlled my education, my friendships and relationships. He took away my independence and controlled my money. I would have to give him all my wages and therefore I worked for nothing.
'I feel as though I struggled to move forward from what I knew as normality and reality of my life has never been normal. It wasn't until I left home that I learnt how to live in a normal world. I was always startled by the smallest triggers, finding myself always on guard, always avoiding certain situations in environments, being paranoid, there was a risk I may see him and he would follow through on the threats he'd previously made to me.
'It is extremely difficult to link certain impacts that I experienced to actual traumatic events, because these events were what was normal for me. There were just too many. I was isolated from reality. I've got a long list of the crimes that have scared, tainted and impacted me or even moulded mine and my daughter's daily routine still now.
'I was repeatedly being told that I was worth nothing and worthless. I was told so much that I believed it. This played out in my everyday life. It affected my work, relationships, my health and my self-worth was non-existent. My whole being was made to feel like it was wrong. I have been diagnosed with ADHD, PTSD, anxiety and depression as a result of the crimes. I see counsellor on a regular basis. I used to self-medicate on drugs to assist easing my pain and suffering. The drugs enabled me to stay alert during the night as these were times I feared he or others would hurt me.
'As a mother I was always doing my very best at what I could do. I never had help or support as I never knew it even existed. Raising a child on the grounds I knew nothing about was so hard. Learning how to raise someone so precious when I wasn't raised correctly. I feel like my childhood was something out of a horror movie, seeing how incompetent the people who raised me were and what they did to me.
'I had to step in and try and raise my siblings to what I thought may have been normal. I was scared to leave home until I was 18, I didn't want to leave them behind at the risk of the brutality that I endured. I knew if I went they would then be exposed to the level of suffering I had throughout my life. In the end, the violence and fear got too much and I then did leave behind. I still live with this guilt. One of the biggest effects was finding out that my attempts to protect and (indistinct) it happen to anyone else had failed'.
81She then goes onto describe matters which are probably matters I cannot take into account, so I will not complete that. It simply indicates the guilt she feels, particularly about having left and then in fact what happened to her sister.
82The other victim impact statement was from the younger brother, Jack, and I do not need to read his out in total. What he says is this,
'He took away my innocence, the child was left inside and destroyed him. No matter how times I tried to put the pieces back together he was always there ready to pull at the threads holding me together. He tore my family apart. He tore my two elder sisters apart so (indistinct) alone and afraid'.
83He then goes onto say that,
'We're proud to know that we're not afraid anymore, of opening my mouth letting it out. He destroyed what family bond we had. We even lost the right to call our biological mother, Mum. Where was she when we needed her the most? At the age of 18 the fear was too much for me. I packed up my car and what I could and fled'.
84He goes on to describe he started out by himself, that he was alone and had the extreme, unfairly obviously, but the extreme guilt of having leaving his sister behind at the hands of you. He said he could never return to the house, which meant he would risk never seeing his sisters again. He said that nearly broke him at times.
85He finally wants to get all this over with, he said,
'After treating us like he did, how can he call himself a human being? I question all the time how a person could have done this and ask why it was. Trust me when I say this, if I could have I would spoken sooner, but imagine making such allegations at a young age, being left to feel like no one would believe me. All I wanted to do was be a brother and protect my sisters, but this nefarious man stood in the way, not only emotionally but physically traumatising us. If I had been as strong as I am today, maybe I could have spared myself the pain I went through and the suffering my sisters went through. But at the time I was just a scared child and the fear and trauma since has presented that. I'm glad finally I was able to speak of what happened. If I can one more terrible person or thing out of people's homes, away from children and prevent what happened to my sisters, then I can sleep at night knowing I'm safe, as well as anyone else'.
86As I have already indicated, you are sentenced for the crimes you have committed, not the background material but that gives a very graphic description of the reign of terror that you exercised over these two girls. As said in one of those victim impact statements, their life was like living in a horror movie.
87The sentence must involve a very significant, indeed, custodial sentence. I have discussed with counsel comparative cases, particularly since the case of Dalgleish we are in somewhat uncharted waters. As I have indicated, I am just simply going to say this is extremely serious and deserving of an extremely serious sentence.
88Matters were put on your behalf and the matters that I had to take into account have all been described in the decisions of Vincent J, Marks J. Those matters, I do not think I have to go through those again.
89Put on your behalf is that you are an ill man. You have type two diabetes, you have sleep apnoea, asthma, ventricular tachycardia, fibromyalgia. It is submitted that those illnesses will make your time in custody more difficult than those of a healthy prisoner. That is undoubtedly true, but the reality is, I suspect, that your sentence will be undergone in Ararat and unfortunate as it all is that gaol is particularly well setup for people of your age and with your disabilities. However, I do take into account that gaol will certainly be a difficult thing for you. And I do take into account that as it stands at the moment you are a protection prisoner, and I take into account that the likelihood will be that you will remain a protection prisoner. As I said though, and I think your counsel concedes, that is of far less weight if in fact you do go to Ararat, but I certainly do in these circumstances make allowances for it.
90I have already referred to the Serious Sex Offender provisions.
91In your situation, you are now 58 or I think you said 59, on my calculation. You were born in Mooroopna. Your family moved around a great deal due to your father's work as a truck driver. You would have obviously gone to a significant number of different schools.
92You described your childhood as being positive, you being the eldest. You told your counsel that that upbringing was strict and there was some corporal punishment. Your relationship with your stepbrothers, as they were, has ended due to their drug use. The other siblings are still supportive of you and I understand one's been at court, as has indeed your partner.
93Your education was limited, due to a combination of moving and learning difficulties and you left school at 14. After brief periods of shelf stacking in a supermarket, I think I was told, you were then employed as a truck driver for 40 years, driving locally and interstate. That work has been reduced significantly because of your health. It is not suggested that you have never been a worker.
94In your early years you were a heavy drinker and your prior criminal history would seem to bear that out. Again, it is conceded that with that drinking there was aggression and violent behaviour.
95You have four children from a previous marriage, all of whom are now adults. The children have all apparently done well. That marriage broke down prior to you meeting current partner, Michelle. I have already indicated the circumstances under which that would have appeared to have occurred back in 1994, but you are not to be sentenced for that and I will not speculate any further.
96You met Michelle in 1995 and then married in 1996. You do have one child together, Levi, who is now aged 22. He apparently is supportive of you and works on a farm.
97As I understand the situation, because of the seriousness of your ill health Michelle is in fact your formal carer.
98That is really about it. Not much can be said, as your counsel very sensibly indicated during the course of the plea. Very little can be said in these circumstances. Your conduct is, as obviously as it has been described, vile and in your own description, evil.
99I take into account the concept of totality, as much as I can. I will indicate that a number of the sentences - I have modified the actual sentence by reason of totality. In these circumstances the Act provides for me to cumulate the sentences unless I otherwise order. In this situation that would result in an extraordinary long sentence. Accordingly, I have given very limited cumulation. There is cumulation between the two of the girls and I feel uncomfortable with the lack of the sentence, if I can put it that way, as far as it relates to Lucinda. But that cumulation is very limited indeed and it feels to me that it should be greater cumulation than that, but principles of totality and the necessity to avoid, if possible, a crushing sentence make it even more difficult.
100I have indicated there is submissions put in relation to delay and I have indicated what Vincent J had to say about that, but I do take the delay into account. It is brought about, to some extent, by your continued denials of this offending, but be that as it may it is put again strongly on your behalf that you have no priors for sexual offending and that is true. But, again, it has to be borne in mind that this offending took place over a period of in excess of a decade.
101The principles of Verdins are not enlivened. I understand you have been examined and there are no materials there which are of assistance to you in this plea. So far as rehabilitation is concerned, that is somewhat up in the air. The risk of you re-offending, bearing in mind the length of the sentence that you are going to get and your current age, I think is low and as I said, the rehabilitation is somewhat problematic.
102You are now 59, there is obviously in these situation, there is always a risk of an accused, who gets a very significant sentence, dying in gaol. But there is not much I can do about that and there is certainly no matters put before me which would indicate that you have any form of life-threatening prognosis, certainly at the present time.
103As I say, I have taken into account the matters that I can take into account and impose the following sentence. You can remain seated during this.
104I will do this slowly. Gentlemen, I am sure the figures are right, but I will do it very slowly.
105Charge 1, six months.
106Charge 2, 12 months.
107Charge 4, three years.
108Charge 5, 10 years.
109Charge 6, 12 months.
110Charge 7, 10 years.
111Charge 8, 10 years.
112Charge 11, 10 years.
113Charge 12, 18 months.
114Charge 13, 12 months.
115Charge 14, seven years.
116Charge 16, 12 months.
117Charge 17, 10 years.
118Charge 18, 10 years.
119Charge 19, 12 years.
120Charge 20, 10 years.
121Charge 25, 10 years.
122Charge 26, 10 years.
123Charge 27, 10 years.
124Charge 28, 10 years.
125Charge 29, 3 years.
126Charge 30, which will be the base sentence and it is the rolled up charge, as was Charge 14, 12 years.
127Charge 34, 10 years.
128Charge 35, 10 years.
129Charge 36, 10 years.
130Charge 37, 12 months.
131I direct that the sentence on Charge 1 be served wholly concurrently. I direct that the sentence on Charge 6 be served wholly concurrently. I direct that the sentence on Charge 13 be served wholly concurrently. I direct that the sentence on Charge 16 be served wholly concurrently. I direct that the sentence on Charge 26 be served wholly concurrently. I direct three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 2, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 4, 12 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 5, three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 7, three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 8, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 11, three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 12, 24 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 14, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 17, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 18, 18 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 19, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 20, nine months of the sentence imposed on Charge 25, nine months of the sentence imposed on Charge 27, 12 months of the sentence imposed on Charge 28, nine months of the sentence imposed on Charge 29, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 34, six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 35 and six months of the sentence imposed on Charge 36, and three months of the sentence imposed on Charge 37 be served cumulatively upon each other and upon the sentence imposed upon Charge 30. That gives a total effective sentence of
25 years' imprisonment.132I direct that you serve minimum term of 19 years before becoming eligible for parole and I direct that 362 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.
133Those figures add up to you, Mr Page?
134MR PAGE: I apologise, as Your Honour was going through it I lost track of a couple of cumulations.
135HIS HONOUR: Yes, I can tell you now if you want?
136MR PAGE: Cumulation on Charge 27, Your Honour?
137HIS HONOUR: Nine months.
138MR PAGE: And the cumulation - I think that's the - sorry, the sentence on Charge 28.
139HIS HONOUR: Twenty-eight, 10 years.
140MR PAGE: I'm grateful for that, Your Honour.
141HIS HONOUR: All right, those figures add up to you, Mr Lew? I've checked it about 20 times, I'm sure they're right, so I won't keep people sitting. All right, there's no other orders I have to make? I've made the 464?
142MR LEW: No other orders, Your Honour.
143HIS HONOUR: All right, thanks, you can take him now, thank you. Yes, thanks, gentlemen. I've expressed this before too, the way this very, very difficult matter was conducted is a credit to both the Crown and to you too, Mr Page.
144MR PAGE: I'm grateful, Your Honour.
145UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Thank you.
146HIS HONOUR: Very much a credit to both of you.
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