Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication
IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
Case No. CR-14-01500
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
v
KUANG KING TAN
--JUDGE:
HER HONOUR JUDGE HOGAN
WHERE HELD:
Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
30 October 2014
DATE OF SENTENCE:
14 November 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:
DPP v Tan
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:
[2014] VCC
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---
Subject:
Catchwords:
One charge of rape – intern pharmacist from Malaysia digitally
penetrated customer of the pharmacy – breach of trust – spontaneous and opportunistic
offending by the defendant who was suffering Adjustment Disorder with anxiety and
depression and was subject to a number of stressors and had no sexual experience –
application of principles in R v Verdins – early plea of guilty – remorse – good prospects of
rehabilitation – sentence of 6 months' imprisonment with CCO of 3 years.
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:
--APPEARANCES:
Counsel
Solicitors
For the DPP
Mr S Ballek
Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused
Mr J Buxton
Paul Vale Criminal Law
Victorian Government Reporting Service
7/436 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne – Telephone 9603 9134
(Prepared by Auscript)
168988
!Und efined Boo km ar k, I
PP.1-16
HER HONOUR:
1
Kuang King Tan, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of rape which carries a
maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment.
2
The circumstances of your offending are detailed in the Summary of
Prosecution Opening (Exhibit “A”). At the time of offending, you were working
as an intern pharmacist at the Union Pharmacy at 393 Swanston Street,
Melbourne. You were aged 30 years. Your female victim, who was aged 22
years, was a customer of the pharmacy. On the day prior to the offending, she
had attended a doctor at the medical centre next door to the pharmacy. She
had consulted the doctor about rashes on her stomach, lower back and groin
area and been given a prescription for steroid tablets, an ointment, and a strong
moisturiser.
Following the consultation with the doctor, she went into the
pharmacy and handed the prescriptions to you. You dispensed the steroid
tablets and moisturiser, but told her that you would need to order the ointment
and she could return the following day to collect it. You asked her to show you
her rashes, but she said it was too difficult and left the store.
3
The following day, 21 May 2014, your victim attended the pharmacy to collect
the ointment.
You beckoned her over to a small office area behind the
dispensary. You asked her to show you her rashes. She was wearing a highwaisted skirt with a rear zipper and a singlet top. She lifted up her singlet top
and unzipped her skirt in order to show you the rash on her stomach. You
touched it and she told you that there was also a rash on her back. You then
moved behind her and pulled the back of her underpants down slightly and held
them down while continuing to look at her back. You then lifted the bottom of
your victim’s skirt above her waist and pulled her underpants down to a position
below her buttocks. You knelt on the ground and placed your hands on her
buttocks. You moved them around and, at one stage, separated her buttocks
and said something to the effect that it was “serious”. You then stood up and
walked around to face her. She told you that she had sores on her groin and,
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without saying anything, you then knelt down in front of her and pulled down the
front of her underpants. You placed your bare fingers on the front of her vagina
and applied light pressure. You then pushed your fingers inside her vagina and
moved them from side to side. At one point, you pulled your fingers out of her
vagina and smelt them before re-inserting them and continuing to prod her. She
then said, “This is really uncomfortable” and you stopped. She did up her skirt
and went to the main area of the pharmacy and you came out and gave her the
ointment and she quickly left the store.
4
Your victim was very distressed about what you had done and told her aunt
about it that evening. The following day, she attended the doctor whom she
had consulted and told her what had happened. The doctor reported the matter
to the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Authority and encouraged the
victim to report your conduct to the police.
5
Upon learning that you were to be reported, you attended the doctor’s rooms
and, upon questioning from the doctor, admitted to having put your hand into
your victim’s vagina to see if she had thrush, and that you had not sought the
patient’s permission. You tried to persuade the doctor not to report the matter
and attended the doctor’s rooms on two other occasions apparently for this
purpose.
6
Following your victim’s report of your conduct to the police, you were contacted
by police on 29 May 2014. They informed you of the allegations and made an
appointment for you to be interviewed the following morning. That evening, at
approximately 10.20pm, you booked a one-way ticket to Malaysia and were
arrested at the Melbourne International Airport by the Australian Federal Police.
7
When interviewed by police, you stated that you believed that doctors often
prescribe the wrong medicines and, as a pharmacist, you should examine
patients and that you are permitted to examine breasts, buttocks and genitalia
of female patients, and were permitted to invite patients to the private area
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behind the dispensary. All of these matters were not true. You admitted that
you had examined your victim’s back and stomach, but when the specific
allegations of rape were put to you, you answered “no comment”.
8
You were charged with rape and the matter quickly resolved into a plea at the
earliest opportunity. This was at a committal hearing on 22 August 2014.
9
You are presently aged 31 years, having been born on 23 August 1983. You
come before the court with no prior or subsequent convictions and no matters
pending.
10
In a plea on your behalf by Mr Buxton, the court was told that you were born in
Malaysia to a close, law abiding family and are the middle of three children.
Your older sister had come to Australia and qualified as an accountant, and
your younger brother has completed an engineering degree here. Both of them
have permanent residential status in Australia and, now, both of your parents
have come to live in Australia as well.
11
You achieved well in secondary school and had wished to come to Australia on
a student visa to study pharmacy at Monash University, where you had obtained
admission. However, Mr Buxton stated that you come from a very strict Chinese
family and your father dictated that you should remain in Malaysia to study,
which caused you to suffer symptoms of depression. I note that references
from your parents and sister (Exhibit “3”) refer to you being the most
academically gifted of the three children and your father would appear to have
zealously overseen your studies to ensure that you achieved your potential.
12
You completed your pharmacy qualifications by undertaking two and a half
years of study at the University of Kuala Lumpur, and then one year of study to
complete your Masters of Pharmacy at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow,
Scotland. You completed your qualification with Second Class Honours, Upper
Division, and then underwent a year as an intern at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
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13
Once qualified, you continued to work for the next six years and specialised in
pharmacy in the Oncology/Radiotherapy Department of the hospital.
You
received an excellent reference from Dr Othman, under whom you had worked
full-time for three and a half years since November 2007. He described you as
having excellent communication skills and as being organised, reliable, diligent
and capable of working independently, such that you would be a tremendous
asset as an employee. He recommended you highly. This reference was dated
27 July 2011. (Part of Exhibit “4”)
14
A further reference from Yeok Siew Lim, Head of the Pharmacy Department at
Ampang Hospital in Selangor, Malaysia, dated 15 September 2014, stated that
you worked under his management in the Oncology/Radiotherapy Department
of Kuala Lumpur Hospital from November 2007 to December 2009.
He
described you as a high achiever who had worked as a senior pharmacist in his
department, and had been highly regarded by your colleagues. He stated that
you had particular skills in chemotherapy drug preparation procedures and
counselling cancer patients who were undergoing chemotherapy.
Dr Lim
described you as having great empathy and being hardworking and responsible
and highly passionate about your career, as well as being trustworthy and
having good ethics. He described you as one of the most outstanding staff in
his team. (This reference is also part of Exhibit “4”)
15
Another reference from Dr Harry K. K. Yeo, consultant physician and oncologist,
who worked with you for six years at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, echoes the
sentiments of Dr Othman and Dr Lim concerning your attitude of responsibility
and dedication as a high-achieving pharmacist, who was highly respected in
your field.
16
Mr Buxton told the court that you arrived in Australia in September 2013 from
Kuala Lumpur. This apparently took place because, gradually, all of your family
had moved to Australia.
Although you had been practising as a qualified
pharmacist for over five and a half years prior to this time, in order to become
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registered as a pharmacist in Australia, it was necessary for you to undertake a
one year internship in a pharmacy and undertake two examinations, which were
six months apart.
17
You completed part of your internship with a pharmacist in Elwood before being
transferred to the Union Pharmacy in Swanston Street, which had the same
owner.
Mr Buxton described your time working in the Swanston Street
pharmacy as an unhappy one. Initially, you were required to work for two weeks
without any payment at all. Also, the owner of the pharmacy directed you to do
menial tasks, such as vacuuming, when you had been practising as a fully
qualified pharmacist in Malaysia for many years. The rates of pay for an intern
were low but apparently you were being paid even less than the specified low
rate such that you were underpaid by approximately $100 per week, and not
paid at all for some work that you did on weekends and public holidays.
18
Mr Buxton stated that you bottled up your resentment over how you were being
treated because you are an unassertive personality and were keen to become
qualified in Australia. You had suffered performance anxiety around the time
of your first examination, which you had sat on 11 May 2014. Ten days later,
at the time of the offending, you were very anxious about whether you had
passed the examination. You found adapting to conditions and practices in an
Australian pharmacy stressful because they were different to Malaysia and you
were worried about whether your employer would report favourably upon your
internship to enable you to become registered in Australia as a qualified
pharmacist. In addition, you were yet to face and pass a second examination
which was to be an oral one.
19
Mr Buxton said that he was instructed that you found the transition to living in
Australia and being treated poorly as a junior employee difficult, and you were
also very lonely, as you lived in a unit in Spencer Street by yourself. You had
no friends here in Australia and, even though your father had come to live in
Dandenong with your brother, who was undertaking his engineering degree,
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you were working long hours and only managed to see them once per week on
Sundays. At the relevant time, your mother was still in Malaysia (although she
has subsequently come to reside here) and your sister lived in Sydney.
20
Mr Buxton stated that you instructed him that you had had no sexual education
and no sexual experience, at all, prior to the date of your offending. Your father
had discouraged you from having a social life in Malaysia, as he was firmly of
the view that you needed to devote yourself to obtaining your qualification and
working hard to establish yourself as a pharmacist. You lived with your parents
right up until the time that you arrived in Australia, 10 months prior to the
offending. You were a virgin at the time of the offending and remain so.
21
Tendered on the plea as Exhibit “2”, was a report from Mr Edwin Kleynhaus,
psychologist, together with a Mental Healthcare Plan authored by Dr Glenton
White, general practitioner, on 7 July 2014.
Dr White referred you to Mr
Kleynhaus for treatment of depression and, between 18 August 2014 and 6
October 2014, you underwent 10 counselling sessions with him. Mr Kleynhaus
reported that you came from a strict and conservative Malaysian family, where
your father was very controlling. He confirmed that your father was with you on
the first occasion that you came to see him, and he observed the controlling
nature of your father’s behaviour.
22
He stated that his impression was that your upbringing had been protected and
you were not permitted to have girlfriends, and not given any education in the
field of sexuality. You were dictated to by your father, who expected you to
perform, and you described suffering problems with anxiety and depression
since your adolescence.
23
Mr Kleynhaus took a history that you felt stressed and depressed whilst working
at the Union Pharmacy. You were not treated with respect by the owner, who
exploited you, and you felt lonely and were naïve and inexperienced, with no
skills about how to ask a woman for a date. Your stress led to you eating junk
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food, which caused an increase in your weight, and this added further to your
depression and anxiety.
24
Mr Kleynhaus stated that your counselling sessions had addressed the ethics
of behaviour to female customers as a pharmacist and discussed your inability
to communicate effectively with potential partners, as you lacked social skills,
tend to be a perfectionist, and fear failure with the opposite sex. The treatment
focused on assisting you with how to be assertive and learning social skills, as
well as you undergoing cognitive behaviour therapy to learn stress
management techniques.
25
Mr Kleynhaus considered that you had a positive prognosis if you continued
with psychological treatment for your personality adjustment. He indicated that
you had shown remorse for your offending and had since joined a Catholic
parish in Doveton, where you are receiving support from your church
community, which includes your family. He considered that your increased
capacity to socialise and receive support in the church community had assisted
your stress levels. He also thought that your work ethic and level of education
were protective factors.
26
Also tendered on the plea was a lengthy report from Mr Jeffery Cummins,
forensic psychologist, dated 29 October 2014 (Exhibit “1”). He saw you on two
occasions, 16 and 24 October 2014, for the purpose of psychological
assessment. In his report, Mr Cummins stated that, in his opinion, at the time
of offending, you were suffering from a Chronic Adjustment Disorder with mixed
anxiety and depressed mood. He noted that you had a history of having
suffered depression and anxiety for which you were medicated with Xanax back
in Kuala Lumpur, but your condition had improved. He stated that in Australia,
your Adjustment Disorder was triggered by the stress you were under at the
time of working at the Union Health Pharmacy. This consisted of an unpleasant
work environment, where you felt exploited and were reminded by the owner to
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obey directions because your registration as a pharmacist in Australia
depended upon her signing relevant papers. Mr Cummins noted that you were
of a perfectionistic personality, who had suffered performance anxiety. You
were stressed about the exams, which you needed to pass to qualify as a
pharmacist and, further, you were lonely, anxious and depressed about how
you could go about finding a relationship with a member of the opposite sex.
He confirmed by questioning that your knowledge of sexual behaviour and
genital anatomy was extremely limited and that, save for your offending
behaviour, you had had no sexual experience whatsoever.
27
Mr Cummins recorded that, ultimately, you had come to Melbourne in
September 2013 at the suggestion and request of your family – your father
having joined your brother here, your sister having returned from Malaysia in
2012 to live in Sydney, after having studied and lived here earlier, and your
mother having more recently followed your father to live in Australia.
Mr
Cummins noted that you felt under pressure to get a girlfriend here and you had
always thought that you might have had more luck meeting a girlfriend in
Malaysia.
Mr Cummins expressed the opinion that you were generally
immature and your psychosexual immaturity played a causative role in your
offending behaviour. He is of the view that your Adjustment Disorder, triggered
by the stress of your work situation, was then exacerbated as a result of you
coming to the conclusion that you lacked the skills to form a relationship. He
considered that, at the time of offending, you had problems with self-awareness
and would still be assessed as being psychosexually and interpersonally
immature.
28
Mr Cummins noted that, on each of the occasions you attended his rooms, you
presented as severely anxious and, at least, moderately depressed, and as
being absolutely psychologically overwhelmed by your offending behaviour and
associated legal situation. He noted that you felt attracted to your victim and
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described your offending as being situationally motivated and opportunistic. He
stated:
“In my opinion at the time of offending he was feeling desperately anxious
to find an age appropriate girlfriend and sexual partner and ultimately his
anxiety about this overwhelmed him and he was no longer able to
appropriately control his sexual impulses.”
29
He considered that your perception and ability to think clearly and to make
rational decisions was compromised, at least to some degree, as the result of
you suffering from an Adjustment Disorder at the time of the offending. Thus,
he considered that it was appropriate to regard your moral culpability as
reduced. Further, he stated that your current mental health is very fragile, such
that you are “just keeping yourself together”. Mr Cummins stated that it was
very probable that your mental health would deteriorate significantly if
incarcerated and incarceration would be more onerous for you, noting that you
do regard your offending as being unacceptable and incompatible with your ego
and that you have always seen yourself as a very responsible law-abiding and
ambitious member of the community. He considered that you had remorse for
what you had done and were able to express appropriate empathy with the
plight of your victim. He stated that you had shown a willingness to address
your psychological condition by attending Mr Kleynhaus for counselling, but Mr
Kleynhaus was not qualified to administer sex offender treatment.
Nevertheless, you are willing to participate in such treatment. Mr Cummins
considered that your risk of reoffending was low to moderate and would
probably reduce as a result of you participating in a Sex Offender Treatment
Program.
30
Mr Tan, the offence which you have committed is extremely serious as indicated
by the maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment prescribed by Parliament.
A person who is in a professional capacity, like a pharmacist, has very strict
boundaries when it comes to dealing with patients and your behaviour towards
your victim was a grave breach of trust. For such behaviour, generally strong
emphasis would be placed upon denouncing your conduct and the principle of
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general deterrence, so that others who are minded to abuse their position and
transgress professional boundaries, will know that they will meet with just
punishment.
31
It is apparent that your victim has suffered significant psychological distress as
a consequence of your offensive, unexpected violation of her bodily integrity in
a situation where she thought that you were trying to help her. It was plain that
she was already distressed by the embarrassing rash that she had on her body
and, then, she suffered the trauma of you digitally raping her. In her Victim
Impact Statement your victim described how your offending has caused her
serious anxiety such that her physical state has greatly declined.
32
Your victim suffers sleep and appetite problems and has suffered panic attacks,
feeling that she is unable to remain safe. She has overwhelming emotions of
anger about how you abused her rights in such a disgusting way and still cannot
find comfort in seeing a male doctor or even walk past a pharmacy without
remembering your assault. She has had to see a psychologist regularly to
manage her anxiety symptoms, as well as to see a physician for antidepressants and anti-nausea medications. She was in the process of looking
for a new job when your offending occurred, and she has become frightened by
the idea of having a one-on-one interview with a stranger, and her self-esteem
and financial situation has suffered.
33
It is well recognised that the humiliation caused by a violation of one’s bodily
integrity, resulting from conduct like yours, can have the sorts of grave
psychological effects described by your victim. These are understandable and
foreseeable consequences of your bizarre and offensive behaviour.
34
Mr Tan, I have already indicated that, generally speaking, in sentencing for this
serious offending, the Court must denounce such conduct and sentence in a
way so as to deter others and impose just punishment. Although I consider that
an immediate custodial sentence is warranted, I accept the submissions of your
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counsel, which are significantly supported by the report of Mr Cummins, that,
although you are an intelligent, tertiary-educated person, you are emotionally
immature and psychosexually completely uneducated and have had no sexual
experience whatsoever. This is an unusual situation which co-existed in the
context of an Adjustment Disorder at the time of the offending.
In these
circumstances I consider that the principles in R v Verdins1 should have
application in sentencing you.
35
I consider that the combination of stressors in your life – being relatively newly
arrived in Australia, very lonely, sexually inexperienced, being poorly treated
and underpaid when you were an experienced pharmacist, and worried about
adapting to Australian requirements for the practice of pharmacy and passing
demanding examinations, all combined to increase the anxiety and depression
to which you had shown yourself vulnerable at an earlier time in your life when
studying in Malaysia. For this reason, I do consider that, although your conduct
is in no way excusable, it is perhaps more understandable than otherwise would
be the case. I consider that the severity of your symptoms should reduce your
moral culpability, to some degree, as well as moderating, to some degree, the
emphasis to be placed on general deterrence and specific deterrence.
36
I accept the view of Mr Cummins, that you have become quite overwhelmed by
the legal situation in which you find yourself, and it is clear, from the lack of any
other offending and the character references which have been tendered on your
behalf, that such offending is out of character. For a person of your emotional
and sexual immaturity, coupled with your Adjustment Disorder with anxiety and
depression, I consider that a sentence of imprisonment is likely to be very
onerous, indeed, and that there is a serious risk that imprisonment will have a
significant adverse effect on your mental health. I consider that you are such
an unusual and vulnerable combination of being a high achieving,
perfectionistic person, with limited social skills and great naivety, that there is a
1
(2007) 16 VR 269
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very real risk that a term of imprisonment of significant length would crush you
completely.
37
In short, although your offence is serious, particularly because of the breach of
professional trust, I consider it to be the product of a socially inept, sexually
uneducated and generally unsophisticated person (in a social sense) rather
than that of an inherently deviant person. It is obvious that your offending would
very easily be brought to light and I accept that it was a spontaneous and
opportunistic exercise of appallingly poor judgment.
38
I accept that following your offending, on 29 May 2013 you were served with a
letter from AHPRA suspending your registration as an intern pharmacist and
that, upon receiving it, and also a call from the police, you panicked and tried to
flee to Malaysia. It does you no credit that you did not acknowledge to police
that you had no professional entitlement to undertake the examinations of your
victim that you took, but you obviously faced up to the full moral and legal
responsibility of what you did very quickly and pleaded guilty at the earliest
opportunity possible, which was only three months after the offending occurred.
Indeed, this plea hearing occurred only five months after your offending. I am
also satisfied that you are very remorseful for what you have done. This is
referred to in the professional references and, also the ones from your family.
Mr Buxton in open court stated that he had been instructed on your behalf to
publicly apologised to your victim for the hurt which you have caused her.
Further, you have endeavoured to atone for your offending by converting to
Catholicism and, at the date of the plea, had performed 66 hours of unpaid
community work with the Salvation Army. By reason of your very early and
remorseful plea of guilty, you are entitled to a high discount on the sentence
which otherwise would have been imposed. You have saved the State the time
and expense of a trial and facilitated the course of justice. You have saved your
victim the trauma of having to give evidence and I am satisfied that you are
genuinely sorry for your offending.
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39
Although I consider that there is a need for you to do the Sex Offender Program,
I doubt that you would be likely to reoffend in this way. Apart from anything
else, you did not contest your deregistration as an intern pharmacist even
though you had passed your May 2014 examination.
You have resigned
yourself to never being able to work again in your chosen profession.
40
I note that you were remanded in custody in the Melbourne Custody Centre for
five days before being given bail. This is a particularly onerous custodial
environment with no natural light and claustrophobic conditions and no facility
to receive private visits. It was designed as an overnight holding facility and, in
my view, is not suitable for any period of detention longer than that.
For
someone of your formerly unblemished character, who had used his intelligence
to work hard to obtain professional qualifications, and held a position as a senior
pharmacist in an oncology department of a hospital in Malaysia, this would have
been a very nasty experience.
I further take into account that you have
honoured your onerous bail conditions which prohibited you from entering the
City of Melbourne, except for legal or treatment purposes, and required you to
report to Oakleigh Police Station seven days a week.
41
I also take into account that you have taken steps towards rehabilitating yourself
by seeing your general practitioner and being referred for and participating in
psychological counselling, as well as adopting a spiritual path by joining a
religious denomination and undertaking unpaid community work.
Your
involvement with the church community, together with the fact that you live with
your parents and brother means that you are no longer so socially isolated, as
was the case when the offending occurred. This level of support bodes well for
your rehabilitation. Further, it is to your credit that you obtained a job in a health
store, where you have been working full-time, even though you were very
depressed and overwhelmed by your legal situation and fearful about the
outcome.
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42
I accept the opinions of Mr Cummins and Mr Kleynhaus that you demonstrate
victim empathy. Mr Buxton stated that you have confided your offending to
Father Shadbolt, the priest in charge of the parish which you have joined.
Father Shadbolt described you as a decent and respectful young man, who
feels remorse for what you have done. This is part of Exhibit “4”. Also a part
of that exhibit is the character reference from Professor Dr Harry K. K. Yeo, to
which I have previously referred. He is a consultant physician and oncologist
who has known you for six years and expresses his surprise at your offending,
which he describes as being inconsistent with the perfect “Mr Good Citizen”
image that he has seen in all the years that he has known you. I have previously
mentioned the other references forming part of Exhibit “4”, namely, those from
Dr Lim and Dr Othman. It is clear that you were regarded as a very competent
and respectable pharmacist, who had risen to a senior position in Kuala Lumpur
and were regarded by experienced pharmacists as having a bright future. That
future is now lost to you because of your bizarre offending behaviour. In that
sense, you have already suffered some extra-curial punishment, which I take
into account. I consider that the qualities mentioned in these references do
indicate optimistic prospects of rehabilitation.
43
The sentence which I intend to impose might be regarded as an unusual and
lenient one by some for an offence as serious as rape. It matters not that it was
digital rape, it is still rape, and the impact upon the victim has been very
deleterious. However, I consider that your mental condition at the time of
offending, together with your ongoing fragility psychologically, your early and
remorseful plea of guilty, your unusual social immaturity and lack of sexual
knowledge and experience, the significant extra-curial punishment that you
have already undergone, and your very good prospects of rehabilitation, make
a combination of an immediate custodial sentence of relatively short duration
and a Community Corrections Order the appropriate and just sentencing
disposition in all the circumstances of this case.
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44
On one charge of rape, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for
a period of 6 months. I further order that, upon release, you undertake a
Community Corrections Order for a period of three years. In this regard, I note
that I have received a report from the Office of Corrections indicating that you
are suitable for a Community Corrections Order.
45
Mr Tan, I can only make such an order if you consent to it. Do you consent to
it?
46
Prisoner: Yes, I do.
47
The terms of the order are as follows:
(a)
you must not commit, whether in or outside Victoria, during the period of
the order, an offence punishable by imprisonment;
(b)
you must comply with any obligation or requirement described by the
regulations;
(c)
you must report to and receive visits from the Secretary during the period
of the order;
(d)
you must report to the Community Corrections Centre specified in the
order within two clear working days after the order comes into force;
(e)
you must notify the Secretary of any change of address or employment
within two clear working days after the change;
(f)
you must not leave Victoria except with the permission, either generally
or in relation to a particular case, of the Secretary;
(g)
you must comply with any direction given by the Secretary that is
necessary for the Secretary to give to ensure that you comply with the
order.
48
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In addition to the said terms, the following conditions apply:
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(i)
that you perform 300 hours of unpaid community work;
(ii)
that you undergo treatment and rehabilitation by way of assessment and
treatment, undertaking a sex offender program or any other programme
recommended by the Secretary to reduce the risk of reoffending and,
also, undertaking mental health assessment and treatment;
(iii)
that you be supervised, monitored and managed as directed by the
Secretary for the term of the order.
49
Do you understand the terms and conditions that I have just read out, Mr Tan?
50
Prisoner: Yes, I do.
51
Do you agree to enter into an order for a period of three years and to comply
with such terms and conditions?
52
Prisoner: Yes, I do.
53
Pursuant to s18 of the Sentencing Act, I declare a period of 20 days presentence detention to be time reckoned as already served under the sentence
imposed this day.
54
Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I state that, had it not been for your
plea of guilty, the sentence imposed would have been a total of 4 years’
imprisonment with a non-parole period of 3 years.
55
I make no order pursuant to the provisions of the Sex Offenders Registration
Act 2004 and note that no such order is sought by the Prosecution.
VCC:SA/AA
16
SENTENCE
DPP v Tan