Director of Public Prosecutions v Wilson, William
[2012] VCC 2063
•17 December 2012
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT BALLARAT
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CR-12-01276
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| WILLIAM WILSON |
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JUDGE: | His Honour Judge Maidment | |
WHERE HELD: | Ballarat | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 17 December 2012 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 17 December 2012 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Wilson, William | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2012] VCC 2063 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr P. Bourke | |
| For the Accused | Ms T. Hartnett |
HIS HONOUR:
1 William Albert Wilson, you have pleaded guilty to an indictment charging you that on 1 April this year you took part in an act of sexual penetration with a child under the age of 16 in that you introduced your penis into the mouth of the child. She was under 10 at the time and that offence therefore carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 25 years.
2 That alone would of course indicate that the offence is a very serious one and it is no less serious because of the fact that you admitted to the police very frankly that there had been a number of other incidents in which you had engaged in similar activity with the young lady concerned.
3 I therefore have to approach sentencing you on the basis that this cannot be dealt with as an isolated incident, the offence being presented by the prosecution as representative of your conduct towards the young lady concerned.
4 The prosecution presented me with a summary of prosecution opening which is Exhibit A on the plea. I am not going to read that out in detail. The particulars of the offence speak for themselves. The offence is a serious one and the court has therefore to impose a sentence which reflects the serious nature of the offence and one which hopefully will deter others from committing offences of this kind.
5
Turning to matters personal to you, your counsel provided me with a report which was provided by Ballarat Health Services as a result of an assessment made of you on 29 May 2007, and a report of Dr Danny Sullivan dated
15 November 2012, and those collectively are Exhibit 1 on the plea.
6 The reports set out a deal about your background and I think it is unnecessary for me to repeat those in detail. Suffice to say that you have been brought up by foster parents. It seems that they have been very supportive of you over the years and provided you with a loving household. You have lived with them since you were five months of age and you have had the benefit of growing up with your foster siblings.
7 You had the benefit of having their family support also. Their presence in court is testimony to the fact that they continue to support you. It is clear from the fact that you did make very frank admissions to the police and from what you have said in interview with Dr Sullivan I think that you are very sorry for what occurred and you realise that what you did was very wrong. You have shown genuine remorse for what took place.
8 It is also plain from the report that you suffer from Asperger's Syndrome which is the expression used by Dr Sullivan to describe your condition and that you are in the lower quadrille of intellectual functioning. In short I think it is fair to say that the effect of the report is that those conditions which are described more fully and accurately in the report and indeed are reflected to some extent in the earlier report from 2007 show that your moral culpability for the offending is reduced. That is significant when it comes to determining the appropriate sentence.
9 The other matters that are particularly relevant arising from those reports is that you are clearly a person who is vulnerable. You have a naivety about you and I think it is undoubtedly the case that you would be susceptible to significant adverse influence if you were to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment in an adult prison.
10 It is also clear that you have been depressed, I think probably for some time. Certainly depression is a factor which is relevant I think to the difficulties you will face in undergoing a sentence. It is also relevant to note that in Dr Sullivan's view there is a risk of you self harming, a risk that you may commit suicide and that is too perhaps reflected in your immediate reaction when you were caught by your mother shortly after the offence was committed in that you sought to self harm with a box cutter.
11 It is necessary for this court to punish you adequately for your offending. It is necessary to express the denunciation of this court for conduct of this kind. It is necessary also I think to impose a sentence which has the effect of deterring you from committing other offences of this kind or indeed any other offences, and it is particularly important that the court imposes a sentence which has the effect of deterring others from engaging in similar conduct.
12 At the same time it is necessary to pass a sentence which as far as possible facilitates your rehabilitation. For a young man, 19 at the time of the offending and 20 now, rehabilitation is to be regarded as an important sentencing objective. It is important of course from the community point of view that a young man does have good prospects of rehabilitation and that the court supports those prospects.
13 It is best to place rehabilitation high on the scale of the competing sentencing considerations. Although of course you have difficulties which will make it difficult for you to overcome this setback in your life and will expose you to influences from others who are more sophisticated I think in the circumstances that a sentence which avoids sending you to an adult prison is much to be preferred to one which exposes you to the risks of adverse influence from more sophisticated criminal offenders.
14 In those circumstances I was persuaded that seeking a pre-sentence report with a view to discovering whether you are suitable for a youth justice centre order should be undertaken. The report finds you suitable for a youth justice centre order.
15 As Dr Sullivan indicated and the report reflects, it is to be hoped that you will undergo the male adolescent program for positive sexuality, otherwise known as the MAPPS program. You indicated to those that were responsible for interviewing you today that you were willing to undertake rehabilitation programs at the Malmsbury Youth Justice Centre, including that program. I think it is important that you do that and if you do that then I think your prospects of rehabilitation are good.
16 On balance it seems to me that your age, naivety and your reasonable prospects of rehabilitation are such that it is appropriate that I sentence you to a youth justice centre order. I have to consider the seriousness of the offence and I think that it is necessary also to consider the period of time during which the influence of the youth justice centre may be available to assist you.
17 Would you stand up please? For the offence of sexual penetration of a child under 16 years I sentence you to a youth justice centre order for three years and I convict you. But for your plea of guilty to the offence I would have sentenced you to a term of imprisonment of four and a half years with a non-parole period of three years.
18 The prosecution has applied for an order that you provide a forensic sample and I make that order. The order will require you to undergo a forensic procedure by a making a scraping from the inside of your mouth and that will be requested in due course by a member of the police force. If you provide the scraping from the inside of your mouth that is all you are required to do.
19 If however you fail to do that or refuse to do it then the police officer Is authorised to take a sample of your blood and to use reasonable force to obtain that. I am sure you will not put the police officer to that trouble. I will make that order in the terms of the draft to which I have been supplied. Anything else?
20 MR BOURKE: Just an order in relation to the Sex Offenders Registration.
21 HIS HONOUR: Indeed. I need to explain to you also that you will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for a period of 15 years as a result of this offence and you will be supplied with paperwork which will indicate what your obligations are. You will have plenty of time to study that and to get some advice on what you will need to do when you are released from custody.
22 It has been noted on the order that your client suffers from Asperger's Syndrome and that there is a risk of self harm, suicide risk. Of course the department is very well aware of that and it is noted in the report in any event, but nevertheless that is on the order.
23 MS HARTNETT: Your Honour, I wonder if it is possible if I could have a few moments with my client here, just given the situation with his father, whether he could have a few moments in the dock?
24 HIS HONOUR: It is a matter for the officer. Did you hear that custody officer? Are you willing to permit that? Yes, I will leave the bench while you do that.
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