R v Barbarin

In the case of R v Barbarin, the defendant was committed for sentence following a plea of guilty in the Local Court. The defendant, a 47-year-old French citizen, had committed indecent assaults on five young Asian women in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The victim’s identities were such that they were strangers to the defendant, and the assaults involved touching outside of their clothing on their breasts. Each offence was of short duration and was deemed opportunistic. The court had to determine the appropriate sentence considering the totality of the offences and the defendant’s circumstances.

The court was required to determine the appropriate discount to apply to the aggregate sentence and whether any special circumstances warranted a departure from the usual sentencing principles. The legal issues involved balancing the objective seriousness of the offences, the offender’s personal circumstances, and the overall criminality of the defendant. The court had to consider the threshold of section 5 of the relevant legislation due to the overall criminality and whether any special circumstances applied.

The court determined that the aggregate term should be 3 years, with 18 months of non-parole period. It considered the below mid-range objective seriousness of the offences but acknowledged the overall criminality reached the threshold due to the cumulative effect of the offences. The defendant's personal circumstances, including his psychiatric history, lack of relevant prior convictions, good work record, and the absence of appropriate treatment at the time of the offences, were weighed. The court was also persuaded by the evidence of genuine remorse, positive personal references, and a plan for ongoing psychiatric care upon return to France. The court concluded that the probability of sexual offending recidivism was low. The sentence was backdated to the date of the defendant's custody.

ORDERS:
Aggregate term of 3 years; NPP 18 months; Indicative sentences of 18 months (RE Seq 2-6).