R v At

The case before the court involved the defendant, R, who was charged with multiple offences relating to the sexual abuse of two minor victims. The victims, aged between 10 and 13, were the biological daughters of the offender, who was approximately 42 years old. The court had to consider three substantive offences: maintaining an unlawful sexual relationship with a child under 16, and two counts of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated indecent assault of a person under 16 years. Additionally, there were four Form 1 offences. The court was tasked with determining the appropriate sentences for these serious offences and considering the unique circumstances of the case, including the offender’s relationship to the victims and the psychological impact on the victims.

The legal issues before the court involved the assessment of the seriousness of the offences, the circumstances of the offending conduct, the impact on the victims, and the risk of re-offending by the offender. The court had to weigh the aggravating factors, such as the relationship between the offender and the victims and the psychological damage inflicted, against the mitigating factors, such as the offender’s early guilty plea and the actuarial assessment indicating a low risk of recidivism. The court also considered the Victims' Impact Statement (VIS), which highlighted the significant psychological harm suffered by the victims.

The court found the offences to be in the middle range of objective seriousness, taking into account the offender's manipulation and planning, the range of sexual acts committed, and the duration over which the offences occurred. The court acknowledged the serious psychological impact on the victims but noted that the offender had no prior sex offences. The court ultimately determined that while the risk of recidivism was assessed as low, the real risk was not negligible. Consequently, the court imposed an aggregate sentence of 12 years imprisonment, with an overall non-parole period of 8 years.

The final orders of the court were that the offender was convicted on all substantive offences. For the offences involving one victim, an aggregate sentence of 7 years was imposed with a non-parole period of 4 years and 9 months. For the offences involving the other victim, a sentence of 5 years with a parole period of 4 years was imposed, resulting in an overall term of imprisonment of 9 years. The overall sentence was 12 years with an overall non-parole period of 8 years.