R v Brian Joseph Spillane

[2017] NSWDC 109

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:	R v Brian Joseph Spillane [2017] NSWDC 109
Date of orders:	16 February 2017
Decision date:	16 February 2017
Jurisdiction:	Criminal
Before:	DCJ Tupman
Decision:	See orders [127] – [155]
Catchwords:	CRIMINAL LAW – Sentence after Trial – Aggregate Sentence - Historic Child Sex Offences – Multiple Offences – Paedophile conduct - Buggery – Indecent assault – Victims male and under 16 - St Stanislaus College – Bathurst – Catholic Priest – Victim Impact Statement
Legislation Cited:	Crimes Act 1900 ss 61E(1A), 79, 81 and 81A Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 s53A
Cases Cited:	BJS v R [2013] NSWCCA 123 Denham v R [2016] NSWCCA 309
Category:	Sentence
Parties:	Director of Public Prosecutions (Crown) Brian Joseph Spillane (Offender)
Representation:	Counsel: Ms E Wilkins SC (DPP) Mr T Warr (Offender)   Solicitors: Ms D Mansour (DPP) Mr D Gleeson (Offender)
File Number(s):	2008/55729
Publication restriction:	Publication Restrictions re complainants – see separate judgment

Judgment

1. HER HONOUR: This is the sentence for the offender Brian Joseph Spillane. He is before the Court for sentence on 16 counts of child sexual assault covered by two indictments. The first of those is dated 18 October 2016, and the second is dated 7 November 2016. He faced two consecutive jury trials before me, covering these 16 counts, which relate to nine individual complainants involving sexual assaults over a lengthy period from 1974 to 1990 for the first indictment, and from 1976 to 1988 for the second.

2. All of these offences were committed when the offender was either a teacher or chaplain at St Stanislaus’ College in Bathurst, a private Catholic boarding school. All of the complainants were students under 16 at the time of the offending.

3. There have been a series of non-publication orders in place in relation to these and earlier proceedings for a number of years in order to enable the proper administration of justice, as all trials involving this offender proceeded through the Court. These non-publication orders were, in large part, revoked by me on 5 December 2016. Some restrictions remain in relation to the offender’s family, and there are obviously permanent orders preventing the publication of anything which could identify any of the complainants.

4. To that end there have been pseudonym orders made in relation to each of the complainants before me and I will use these pseudonyms when referring to them. There is a degree of artificiality in this of course, but it does reduce the risk of identification which might otherwise arise.

5. There are some common facts relevant for each of the offences. Throughout the time period covered by both the indictments the offender was an ordained priest working at St Stanislaus’ College in Bathurst. He initially worked there as a teacher and then later became college chaplain. He had contact with, and access to, each of the complainants in one or other of these roles. Each of the complainants, for their part, was a boy enrolled at the college and, in…