- MS
WALKER: I'm so sorry, Your Honour, I had it in for 10.30, my deepest
apologies.
- HIS
HONOUR: Yes.
- You
pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and are now 63 years of age.
I
sentence you on the basis that you have ultimately, at least, shown appropriate
remorse and you must, of course, get the utilitarian
benefit of that plea of
guilty. A very significant number of victims have been saved the ordeal of
trial and there must be allowance
made for that.
- You
do have prior convictions for similar type offending back in 1975, as
I
understand it, when you were involved with the Scouting movement. It is clear
from way back then that you knew that what you were
doing was unlawful and yet
you persisted for something in the order of 15 years.
- Firstly,
pursuant to s.464ZF of the Crimes Act I make an order that you provide a
saliva sample for DNA purposes. That order having been made I must advise you
that should you
refuse to provide such a sample police may use reasonable force
to take it from you and that order is made and handed down.
- Next,
because of the nature of the offending you will be placed upon the sex
offender's register. I must advise you that the reporting
conditions on that
sex offender's register will be for life. If you could go with the associate
please, Ms Walker.
- Next,
because of the nature of the sentences that I am about to impose, from Charge 3
onwards you are to be sentenced as a serious
sexual offender. I am aware that
community protection becomes a principal sentencing purpose. That the sentences
are to be cumulative
unless otherwise ordered and that
I can give a
disproportionate sentence. A disproportionate sentence is not sought and I
would not have given it in any event. Insofar
as cumulation is concerned, for
reasons of totality, there will be a cumulation for each victim but it will,
unfortunately in their
view I suspect, have to be moderated because of those
principles. I will be expressing it in terms of cumulation. Therefore,
obviously,
anything that is not referred to in such a way is to be
concurrent.
- The
offending took place between 1974 to 1989. During that period of time you were
aged between 20 and 35. The victims in the matter
that I sentence for, and
therefore obviously will be anonymised subsequently, are Victim 1, Victim 2,
Victim 3, Victim 4, Victim
5, Victim 6, Victim 7, Victim 8, Victim 9, Victim 10,
Victim 11, Victim 12, Victim 13, Victim 14 and Victim 15. I will refer to
the
offending against each in as brief a terms as I can to make it clear that I am
fully aware of the entire of the entire Crown
opening and I am just endeavouring
to achieve this in a relatively short time frame if I can.
- Charges
1-5 relate to Victim 1. He is the older brother of Victim 2. You, in 1975,
moved into an address and married. You became
acquainted with your wife’s
family including Victim 1,Victim 2 and Victim 3. The Victim 1's father was
frequently away from
home due to work.-.
- On
occasions between 16 June 1974 and 15 15 June 1976 you attended the home. You
told Victim 1 to sit naked in the bath and masturbate
himself while you watched.
He estimates that occurred on a number of occasions. Some of these are
obviously uncharged acts that
operate on the Crown opening.
On other
occasions he would get out of the shower and was standing in the bathroom naked
when you would suddenly appear and would
then make suggestive comments
concerning masturbation. At that time you were employed by a family friend,
Their family purchased
a home and they were married in the early 1970's and you
were accepted as part of the family.
- Between
June 1974 and June 1976 the family went on an extended trip and you were
responsible for the management of the business while
they were away. You took
the victim to Balnarring, to a property in a removal truck. While staying
overnight you had conversations
with him about sexual matters and suggested to
the victim he should touch his own penis. You then suggested to him that he
should
perform oral sex on himself. He describes you as being "kinky" and
"depraved". You told him to undress and get on to his back.
You then
lifted his legs so that he could try to perform oral sex on himself.
He
told you he could not do it and you stopped.
- On
his 14th birthday, his brother died. After the funeral his parents separated.
The victim, his brother, Victim 2 and his mother
moved to Dandenong West.
A
few months later the parents reconciled and the father moved into the property.
They went away for a weekend at Geelong and you
stayed to look after the victim
and Victim 2. You were sitting in the lounge room and instructed him to sit on
your lap. The victim's
penis became erect and you put Vaseline on his penis and
told him to masturbate. He did that. You also asked him to use a glass
bottle
against his penis, which he also did. That gives rise to Charge 1.
- You
would after that rub talcum powder on the victim and others bodies and genitals.
On another occasion during that period of time
you were in the living room of
your home in Noble Park and you inserted a matchstick into the head of the
victim's penis, causing
him pain. The victim had no idea why this was going
on.
- On
another occasion you went camping. During the camping trip you put your hand in
the victim's sleeping bag and masturbated his
penis until he ejaculated, Charge
3.
- During
that period of time you and your wife moved into a home in Cranbourne. On an
occasion after you moved to Cranbourne you were
at home with the victim in the
lounge room and you sucked the victim's penis, Charge 4. That is a
representative charge and that
is the first occasion. On another occasion in
the lounge room you sucked his penis again and stopped when someone knocked on
the
door. That is part of Charge 4. You would put your hands down his pants
and fondle his penis and you would, on occasion, tell him
to masturbate while
you watched him. There are other uncharged acts of similar depravity, which I
do not need to go into for these
purposes.
- On
an occasion between 16 June 1974 and 15 June 1975 you were with the victim, he
was fairly dirty and you told him to have a shower.
You got into the shower and
you inserted your penis into his anus. The pain was so severe that he passed
out and fell on to the
shower floor. That gives rise to Charge 5 of buggery.
You then masturbated over the top of him.
- Charges
6-10 involve Victim 2. He was aged between 13 and 15 at the time of the
offending. On one occasion you rubbed talcum powder
on his testicles, which
gives rise to Charge 6 of indecent assault. That becomes a representative
charge because you doing that
again and also rubbing toothpaste onto his
testicles.
- On
an occasion between 28 February 1976 and 27 February 1977 this victim was
working with you at the Dandenong factory. You waited
until all other employees
had gone home, showed pornographic magazines to him in an attempt to arouse him.
You showed him magazines
and taught him how to masturbate on a number of
occasions. You gave him Vaseline and told him to masturbate. You grabbed his
penis
and then sucked his penis until he ejaculated into your mouth. That is
Charge 7, indecent assault.
- Again,
further uncharged acts insofar as he is concerned but on one camping trip the
victim was asleep in a tent. During the night
he woke lying on his back to find
you on top of him penetrating his anus with your penis, another charge of
buggery. You were also
masturbating his penis whilst you were penetrating him.
The following night the victim woke up to find you sucking his penis. That
is
Charge 9, indecent act. There were other occasions when that occurred and they
are uncharged acts. I am simply going to put
this in a generalised way.
- On
another circumstance the victim went into a toilet with magazines in order to
masturbate. While he was in the toilet you came
in with a matchstick and you
inserted it into the head of his penis causing him severe pain. That is Charge
10. Ultimately the
matters were referred to police.
- Charges
11-13 relate to Victim 3 who was aged between 12 and 15.
He was working
with you during this period of time. On an occasion you, at work, said "Why
don't you take your clothes off?" He
took off his clothes, exposing his penis.
You then rubbed Vaseline on his penis and masturbated him until he ejaculated.
That is
Charge 11 which is a course of conduct charge. You would also
masturbate his penis and your own penis on occasions and he estimated
this
occurred virtually every weekend. During the same occasions you would also suck
his penis until he ejaculated and one of those
occasions was, indeed, witnessed
by another victim. That gives rise to Charge 2, course of conduct of indecent
assault.
- On
another occasion you and he were naked in the shower at home.
You soaped
and masturbated his penis and he touched your penis. That is a continuation of
Charge 11. You turned the victim around,
rubbed your penis between his buttocks
and then inserted your penis into the victim's anus causing him pain. He
managed to stop
you and got out of the shower. That is another charge, 13, of
buggery.
- Charge
14, Victim 4. This occurred in circumstances where you persuaded his mother
that he should work for you. He did so. You
asked him to stay overnight at
your home in Cranbourne. When he was in the shower - he got into his pyjamas
and he went into the
bedroom, he went to sleep. During the night he woke and
saw you come into the room and lean over the bunk opposite him to where
another
person was sleeping. He then saw you pull up the sheets, put your hands
underneath and he heard the other boy moaning and
you told him to be quiet. You
then walked over to Victim 3's bed. You sat next to the victim and reached up
to him. Victim 3 was
moaning and saying something and you told Victim 3 to
shush. You then pulled out his penis and began to masturbate. Your penis
was
about one foot away from the victim's head and you ejaculated onto the blanket.
That comes in to Charge 12.
- You
knelt down beside the bed, pulled back the sheets and blanket. You then sucked
the victim's penis, he panicked, sat upright and
said "What's going on?" You
then got up quickly, grabbed the blanket off the bed and left. That is Charge
14 of indecent assault
upon a male and it is a little bit difficult to see how
it could have occurred in a more brazen circumstance, Mr Harvey. Afterwards
you
offered cash as thanks for what had happened. You then, insofar as that victim
is concerned, told him if he said anything that
you knew where he and his family
lived and he felt threatened.
- As
happened a number of times, from what I can gather, in this matter, he told his
mother. She accused him of lying and said he was
making it up because he did
not want to go to work. He tried to raise this again on several more occasions
about what had happened
to him and again was told he was a liar. It stopped
around that time.
- Charges
15-18, Victim 5. The victim lived in Cranbourne. He helped you with
landscaping and car washing. He was between 14 and
15 years of age. The
situation where he was to wash the car you in those circumstances took out
pornographic magazines and talked
about sex. You asked him if he ever had sex
before and he said no. You made him show you his penis and said to him, "I can
help
you". You then grabbed his penis, pulled his foreskin back causing him
pain. You told the victim to follow you to the bathroom
where you took out a
jar of Vaseline and you rubbed Vaseline on his penis and you then masturbated
him.
- On
another at least seven to eight occasions when he attended your premises to wash
the car he was shown pornographic material and
masturbated by you in the same
way. On some occasions you would give him alcohol. That is the course of
conduct charge being 15,
indecent assault upon a male.
- On
another occasion he was in the lounge room, he had been drinking and he passed
out. He woke up lying in the hallway to find you
on top of him sucking his
penis, Charge 16, indecent assault. On another occasion he was at your home,
you put Vaseline on his penis
and masturbated him as part of Charge 15. You
then became frustrated he did not get an erection and you sucked his penis. You
stopped
only because your wife was due to arrive home. Charge 17, indecent
assault upon a male.
- There
are further uncharged acts in relation to him. The next one, or there is a
charge, is he was attending a landscaping job with
you. You told him to undo
his pants so that you could look at his penis. You pulled his foreskin back and
put Vaseline on his penis.
You stretched his foreskin back and made him work
like that for the rest of the day causing him to suffer large blisters on the
head of his penis. That is Charge 18, indecent assault on a male. He also
disclosed the offending to his mother and stepfather
and they did not believe
him.
- The
next victim, Victim 6, who was aged around 14 at the time of the offending,
again, went to your house to wash - was asked by you
to wash the car.
He
went to the house, sat on a couch in the lounge room. You gave him pornographic
magazines and told him to look at them while you
made coffee. You then asked
him if he masturbated and acted in a way that gives rise to an uncharged
act.
- But
a week later he returned to your house, you made him lie on the lounge room
floor with his pants down, put a condom and Vaseline
on his penis and
masturbated him until he ejaculated. You said to him, "No, don't do that yet,
don't do that yet" and gave him a
towel to wipe his penis. Charge 19, indecent
assault upon a male. He never went back.
- Charge
20, Victim 7, aged between 14 and 15. Between June 1978 and June 1980 attended
a squash court to play with other young males
from the Cranbourne area. You had
discussions with him about asking if he knew how to masturbate and talking in a
sexualised way
to him. That went on for some time and again there were
uncharged acts involved in that.
- On
one occasion you put your hand into his pants and said "Here, I'll try". This
is in regards to masturbating. You pulled his shorts
down and exposed his
penis. He froze and was in shock. You then masturbated him. He did not know
what to do. He tried to tune
out and look out the passenger window of the car
waiting for you to finish. He did not get an erection so you stopped. You told
him he should keep trying at home. That is Charge 20, indecent act and had
further conversations with him.
- Charges
21-22, Victim 8, aged between 15 and 16. In 1983 you purchased a milk bar,
apparently, in Pakenham. A number of young boys
worked there from time to time.
On an occasion between June 1986 and June 1987 the victim was working there. He
went back to your
house for drinks with some of the other boys including victims
I have not mentioned yet, that is Victim 13, Victim 10 and Victim
9. You
provided all of them with alcohol, you played a pornographic video. At bedtime
you told them where they would all sleep.
- During
the night he woke to see you crawling from the bedrooms to the lounge room and
around the sofa bed. He reached out and felt
a large grain ashtray nearby. He
held it to protect himself for fear you were about to sexually assault him. You
put your hand
underneath his bedcovers and touched him on the groin. He
pretended to stir, made a noise and rolled away. You left the lounge
room.
That is Charge 21.
- The
next morning he was having a shower when you opened the door and walked into the
bathroom. You had toothpaste in your hand and
reached around the shower
curtain. You then rubbed toothpaste into his testicles. He told you to piss
off. That is Charge 22,
indecent assault.
- Victim
9, obviously the brother of Victim 10 and Victim 11. Again, all worked at your
milk bars in Pakenham and Gembrook. On occasions
between 1987 and - 1998 they
were working the milk bar on the weekend. There was a large Scout jamboree in
the nearby park. The
victim stayed the night at the milk bar with you in order
to assist with the large amount of customers in the area.
- He
went to sleep in one of your children's bedrooms. During the night he woke to
find you in the bedroom kneeling beside the bed.
You pulled his pants down to
his knees, put Vaseline on his penis and masturbated him. He managed to get you
off. That gives rise
to Charge 23, indecent assault.
- Then
charge 24, Victim 10. Again involving alcohol, playing cards and the like and
you were trying to grab him by the crotch and
lift him off the ground. Again,
uncharged acts I will not refer to. On a particular occasion he drank alcohol
to excess and went
to sleep in the top bunk next to the caravan. During the
night he woke up to find you with your hand down his pants masturbating
him.
You told him, "Don't worry, just go back to sleep". He just laid there. Charge
24, indecent assault.
- Charges
25-26, Victim 11, who was aged between 12 and 13 at the time. Again there was
sexualised conduct. Charge 25 was a representative
charge. He woke one night
staying at your premises to find your hand down his pants masturbating him. He
was able to get your hand
away. You would, again, walk into showers when he was
there, told him not to tell other people. The second occasion is briefly
identical circumstances.
- On
another occasion he went to bed in a bunk bedroom shared with your son. During
the night he woke to find his pants down and you
sucking his penis. Your son
woke up and you quickly left the room. Charge 26 of sexual penetration with a
person aged between ten
or 16.
- Charges
27 and 28 relate to Victim 12. You would befriend him and give him lollies and
other things to keep him coming back. He
was around about the age of 16. He
was small for his age and you would have conversations with him about bulking
up. You would
touch his inner thigh and again uncharged acts I am not going to
elaborate upon.
- On
an occasion you pulled down his pants and masturbated his penis. Just about as
he was going to ejaculate you squeezed his penis
several times to stop him
ejaculating. That is charge 27 of indecent assault. You removed your own
clothing and inserted his penis
into your mouth. At the same time you
masturbated your own penis, which is an uncharged act. The victim was shocked
and wanted
to get out. He ejaculated, pulled up his pants, told you to take him
home, which you did. That is Charge 28 of sexual penetration.
- Victim
13, again, uncharged acts and you inveigled your way into his household, as I
understand it. You asked if you could touch
his penis and were very persistent
about it. In any event you did grab his testicles, moved your hand onto his
penis and that gives
rise to Charge 29 of indecent assault.
- Charges
30-32, that is Victim 14 aged between 16 and 17. Again the circumstances, your
premises, he fell asleep and woke to find
you had removed his pants and was
sucking his penis. Charge 30, sex-pen. You then laid down beside him, he
rolled away, you then
put your finger against his anus. You then stopped and
left the room. That is Charge 31 of indecent assault. On another occasion
he
drank so much that he passed out and woke up to find you kneeling in front of
him sucking his penis. That gives rise to another
charge, 32, sexual
penetration of child between 16 and 18.
- Victim
15 is another one of these bizarre circumstances. Between
7 February 1986
and 6 February 1987 he was at your milk bar with you and some other boys.
During the evening he vomited on himself.
You told him you would run him a bath
so he could clean himself up. You took him to the bathroom. You told him that
he did not
have a father, he would not know how to clean his penis. You then
removed his clothing. You took out a cotton bud, held his penis
and inserted
the cotton bud into the eye of penis causing him pain.
- When
you were interviewed you stated you could not recall the allegations or
basically denied them. I have got the details of the
previous offending from
back in 1975 and again the situations of masturbation on boys around about the
age of 13 or 14 when you were
dealt with, as I have indicated, by the courts at
that time.
- The
offending is extremely concerning. As pointed out in the Crown submissions, it
was committed over a lengthy period of time.
It was
pre-planned, predatory,
exploitative and committed for your own sexual gratification. It is clear that
you would inveigle your way
into families and some of them were from
dysfunctional family environments and had no father figure. It would appear
that you took
advantage of that. There was obviously grooming, there was
alcohol, there were lollies and various other pressures that were put
on these
young boys.
- I
have read all of the victim impact statements a couple of times. In a situation
such as this where there are so many victim impact
statements I do not propose
to quote from them as I might in a situation where there were one or two.
- Suffice
to say that what you have achieved, Mr Harvey, is that the normal circumstances
of such offending exist here over a large
scale. Boys questioned their own
sexual relationships. They questioned their own sexuality. They had massive
self-doubt and all
the aspects of lack of self-worth and the like that follow
through. They have situations of ongoing depression, relationship difficulties
and it is often said that no sexually assaulted child is ever a happy adult. It
might not be totally true but it is certainly common
enough. Those victim
impact statements eloquently describe the havoc that you wrought on these young
boys.
- The
offending is obviously very serious indeed. It calls for the application of
general and to a certain extent, specific deterrence,
denunciation and
appropriate punishment. The only possible sentencing option in these
circumstances is one of custody and of very,
very significant proportions.
- All
of this offending realistically occurred where you were in breach of trust.
Where parents and families had put their faith in you. There is one
instance of a threat. There are instances of grooming that
went on for a decade
and a half. As the Court of Appeal pointed out in the case of Toomey and
two other cases and some of these relates specifically to incest but the same
scenario existed in terms of sexually offending
against children. Justice
Vincent, as I recall:
"The situation in this respect can be seen to
be similar to many encountered in the courts where there has been the sexual
abuse of
young persons. Often such victims experiencing unjustified feelings of
embarrassment, shame and guilt that have been induced by
the behaviour of the
perpetrator, will continue to remain so for many years. According and very
frequently as in this case, the
commission of the offences will not be exposed
until long afterwards. Considered in this light it is my opinion that it is
apparent
that the principle of general deterrence must assume very considerable
significance as a sentencing consideration.
Further it is incumbent upon the courts, however long ago the offences were
committed, to express the denunciation of the community
of such behaviour
through the sentences imposed on perpetrators. It must be seen to indicate that
that is the society that they
represent, fundamental to which is the protection
of its children".
"A society which
fails to protect its children from sexual abuse by adults, particularly by those
entrusted with their care, is degenerate".
"The offence of incest is particularly erosive of human
relations and casts doubts on the assumption that parents are the natural
trustees of the welfare of their children".
"More importantly in this situation it would be
unnecessary to recount the morbid features of incest. The most prominent of
which
include the exploitation by the stronger will of the adult of the weaker
will of a child. The physical and psychological subordination
of the child to
the perverted indulgences of the adult. The gross breach of trust placed in the
offender by the victim and the community
and the irreparable, fundamental damage
to the victim".
