R v Punter

[2019] NSWDC 965

District Court

New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation:

R v Punter [2019] NSWDC 965

Hearing dates:

Thursday 26 September 2019

Date of orders:

Thursday 3 October 2019

Decision date:

03 October 2019

Jurisdiction:

Criminal

Before:

Tupman DCJ

Decision:

(1) The offender is convicted.

(2) Sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years, pursuant to s 20(1)(b) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).

(3) Direct that he be released forthwith on his entering into a recognisance for a period of 2 years with a value of $500.

(4) I make a forfeiture order as per the document entitled “Forfeiture Order”.

Catchwords:

CRIME — Child sex offences — Commonwealth offence — Use carriage service to procure child for unlawful sexual activity — Maximum penalty of 12 years imprisonment — One substantive offence — Convicted by a jury — Offender was in his late thirties — Offender was approached online by an assumed identity created by police that was a 15-year-old-boy — Offender believed the assumed identity was an underage boy — Offender wanted to meet 15-year-old boy and he engaged in sexually explicit communication with that assumed identity — No prior criminal record — Offender does not admit guilt — low to medium risk of reoffending.

Legislation Cited:

Crimes Act 1914 (Cth): ss 16A, 20(1)(b);

Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth): ss 474.27(1), 574.27(1).

Cases Cited:

R v Nahlous [2013] NSWCCA 90

Category:

Sentence

Parties:

Regina (The Queen)
Mr James Punter (The Offender)

Representation:

Counsel:
Mr. S. Howell (the Crown)
Mr. S. Schaudin, (the Applicant)

File Number(s):

2017/00141793

Judgment

1. HER HONOUR: The offender is before the Court for sentencing following his conviction by a jury for a charge that between 13 March and 10 May 2017, he used a carriage service to transmit communications to a recipient, who he believed to be someone aged under 16, with the intention of making it easier to procure that person to engage in sexual activity with him. This is an offence contrary to s 574.27(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth) and as such carries a maximum penalty of 12 years imprisonment.
    

2. The trial with a jury ran between 3 April and 15 April 2019. The jury returned a verdict of guilty to this charge on 15 April. There have been some difficulties involving both my availability and the availability of others since then which have delayed the sentence, but he comes for sentence today.

3. The evidence before the jury was not significantly in dispute. There were also some agreed facts before the jury which in large part amounted to admissions relevant to prove formal matters. These included the fact that the offender during the relevant period was operating a Facebook account using a carriage service to do so and was operating using his own name, James Punter.
    

4. The subject matter of the charge comprised a group of online chats, telephone calls and SMS messages between the offender and a person who was in fact a fictitious person, an assumed online identity created by…