Secretary to the Department of Justice and Community Safety v Bennett (a pseudonym)

[2020] VCC 248

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

AT MELBOURNE

COMMON LAW DIVISION

Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

Secretary to the Department of Justice and Community Safety	Applicant
v
Miles Bennett (a pseudonym)	Respondent

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JUDGE:		Judge Pillay
WHERE HELD:		Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:		2 March 2020
DATE OF RULING:		12 March 2020
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:		Secretary to the Department of Justice and Community Safety v Bennett (a pseudonym)
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:		[2020] VCC 248

REASONS FOR RULING
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Subject:  Application for Review of Supervision Order

Catchwords:             Supervision order – whether respondent poses unacceptable risk of committing offence

Legislation Cited:     Serious Offenders Act 2018
Ruling:  Application granted

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Applicant	Ms S. Flynn QC	MinterEllison
For the Respondent	Ms M. O’Brien	JDA Law

HIS HONOUR:

1 Ms Flynn, appearing for the Secretary to the Department of Justice makes application for review of a supervision order under s 99(1) of the Serious Offenders Act 2018 (Vic) (“the Act”).

2       The respondent, Mr Bennett,[1] is represented on the application by Ms O’Brien. Ms O’Brien advised that the respondent did not oppose the making of the order or the proposed conditions. However, it is still a matter for me to determine whether the test for the making of the order has been met and if so, the conditions that are appropriate on the order.

[1]A pseudonym

3 I have had the opportunity to read the detailed assessment report prepared by Dr Karen Owen, Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, dated 17 October 2019. The report is Exhibit A1 on this application. Based on the material in that report, I am satisfied that the respondent poses an unacceptable risk of committing a serious sex offence as defined in the Act if a supervision order is not in effect and he is in the community. I am satisfied that the core conditions and additional conditions that both counsel submit are necessary to address the risk of further offending.

4 I therefore order that Miles Bennett be subject to a supervision order under the Act. The order is to commence on 2 March 2020. The supervision order remains in force until 4 August 2021. The supervision order is to be subject to the conditions consented by the respondent and detailed in paragraphs 4, 5 and 6 of the formal order signed by me on 2 March 2020.