Sentence: Total effective sentence 12 years 2 months; non-parole period 7 years 5 months
[2]
Oliver Booth,[1] you were found guilty by a jury of 12 of three charges of Sexual Penetration of a Child under 16, three charges of an indecent act with a child under 16, one charge of Common Assault, one charge of making a threat to kill and one charge of sexual assault of a child under under 16, those offences all occurring between 2011-18.
[3]
The agreed basis for your offending is set out in the amended summary of prosecution opening for trial dated 3 March 2025.
All of your offences were against KA, born September 2005, the daughter of your then partner NY.
Sometime around Mother's Day in either 2011 or 2012, NY went to a Mother's Day event, leaving her children at home in your care.
That night, KA was laying on the living room floor with her brother and you told her brother to leave and go and have a shower. You then told KA to come and lie on the couch where you were. She complied. As she approached you, you slapped her on the face and told her that if she told anyone about what was to happen, you would kill her (Charge 1- Common Assault, and Charge 2 - Threat to Kill)
You then pulled KA's skirt and underwear down, made her lie on her back, and proceeded to lick her vagina (Charge 3 - Indecent Act with a Child under 16). You then inserted the tip of your penis into her vagina (Charge 4 - Sexual Penetration of a Child under 16).
The insertion of your penis caused KA pain, but she remained silent. As you were unable to insert your penis fully into her vagina, you ceased relatively soon after the initial contact, and recommenced licking her vagina (Charge 5 - Indecent Act with a Child under 16).
On a later date, sometime in 2014, NY left the house to purchase something from a nearby shop. Once NY had left, you told KA to go into the bathroom. She complied and you followed her in, locking the door behind you. You lowered your pants and asked her to put her mouth on your penis. Despite her protests, you persisted and ultimately continued pushing her head towards your penis until you had inserted it into her mouth. You continued that penetration her a minute or two, until NY returned from the store (Charge 6 - Sexual Penetration of a Child under 16).
In late December 2015, you went to collect KA from her cousin's house telling her that she had to come home with you. She asked if she could bring her cousin to accompany her and you refused. Once you arrived home, you took her into a bedroom, lay her on the bed, and began kissing her lips, neck, cheeks and chest. You then straddled her and began griding yourself against her leg (while clothed) while moaning. (Charge 7: Indecent act with a child under 16). After some time, you let her return to her cousin's house.
Between 4 November 2016 and 11 January 2017, when KA was about 11 years old she woke up and moved into your room to sleep with her brother. KA thought that you had already left for work as was your usual routine. She fell back asleep but woke to the feeling of you penetrating her vagina with your fingers. You stopped when you heard somebody else approaching the room (Charge 8: Sexual Penetration of a child under 16).
In June 2018, KA was home from school, and you were not working. You, KA and a guest who was staying at your residence were all at home. Around lunchtime, you entered her room and lay down on her bed with her. Whilst holding her, you began kissing her and ultimately removed her pants, as well as yours, and you pushed against her bottom with your penis, while telling her to relax. (Charge 9 - Sexual assault of a child under 16 years).
[4]
You were first arrested on 18 March 2013 after KA made a complaint about the Mother's Day incident. Following a police interview, police did not formally charge you.
In 2022 however, after KA provided further information, you were interviewed again and charged. Between the date on which you were charged and the date of the verdict in this matter, about two and a half years passed.
This delay was the result of several administrative adjournments, including due to your counsel being unavailable, also due to a prosecution application and then due to the unavailability of a Judge in October 2024. There were also several pre-trial examinations required and the pre-recording of the complainant's evidence. I accept that this delay has no doubt caused you stress and anxiety and that the delay cannot be said to have been your fault directly.
In your 2013 interview you told police that you considered KA and her siblings as if they were your own children and denied sexually touching her or ever being naked in her presence.
Clearly you did not plead guilty to these charges but instead took them to trial. You will not be punished more severely for running a trial, but your sentence is of course not reduced because of a guilty plea or any indications of remorse. I note that there is no material before the court suggesting remorse.
[5]
During your plea, you have relied on the Report of Gina Cidoni dated 20 May 2025 (Exhibit 1), an addendum to that report dated 28 August 2025 (Exhibit 2); and a letter indicating the end of your employment (Exhibit 3).
You were born in South Sudan, the eldest of five siblings. After being displaced to North Sudan by armed conflict during your early childhood, you were routinely exposed to war-related trauma, including deaths, armed soldiers in the streets, and by experiencing torture at their hands. When you were 15 years old, your father was killed.
In 2002, you fled North Sudan out of fear of persecution, initially relocating to Egypt and then ultimately to Australia. Two of your brothers tragically were killed in Khartoum, and your youngest brother died in 2023 from a heart condition. You have one surviving brother and sister.
In all the circumstances, I accept that you have lived through several traumatic events throughout your life and no doubt continue to suffer the consequences of them.
In 2008, after moving to Australia you entered a relationship with NY. She had two children from a prior relationship, one of whom is the victim. You and NY had a child of your own born in February 2011.
You completed school in North Sudan and report no concerns with respect to that.
As for your employment, you have a strong work history. Having arrived in Australia, you worked as a labourer from 2007 until you were remanded on 13 March 2025, following the verdict.
You have no prior criminal history and there is no evidence before me that you have engaged in any other offending at any time. In custody you have engaged in life inside the prison and without any suggestion of incident.
The report of Gina Cidoni and the accompanying addendum report satisfies me that you have post-traumatic stress disorder based on your experiences growing up in war-torn circumstances and your direct experience of trauma.
She states that your ability to engage with life in custody and specifically in treatment will be hampered. I accept that you will need to be supported by appropriate trauma-informed services in custody and on your release if you are to achieve significant recovery from those debilitating experiences.
[6]
The maximum penalty for sexual penetration, Charges 4, 6 and 8, is 25 years' imprisonment each, because KA was under 12 years old at the time. For Charges 2, 3, 5, 7 and 9 it is 10 years each. For Charge 1, it is five years.
The offending in Charge 9 occurred after 1 February 2018 and so it attracts a standard sentence of four years' imprisonment. I have taken this into account alongside all other sentencing considerations relevant to that charge.
Further, as is required in standard sentence cases, I must fix a non-parole period of at least 60 per cent of the total effective sentence, unless it is in the interests of justice not to do so. It was not suggested that I should go below that level, and I will not do so.
After imposing a sentence of imprisonment on the sexual offences in Charges 3 and 4, you are to be sentenced as a serious sexual offender on Charges 5-9. To that end, I regard protection of the community as the principal sentencing purpose and will make orders for concurrency that are consistent with the purposes of that Part.
Under Part 2A, I am permitted to impose a disproportionate sentence, if necessary, in order to meet these objectives. However, the prosecutor submitted that I need not do so and I will not.
The gravity of your offending is objectively serious. Any charge of sexual assault or penetration of a child under 16, indeed under 12, is inherently very serious.
In your case, it is all the more serious given your relationship with KA. Your offending was a gross breach of her trust and her family's trust in you; you were meant to be her caregiver and protector. Yet you took advantage of that trust and offended against her.
Your offending occurred over a lengthy period of time and, on at least one occasion, you relied on threats and violence to carry out the offending. In all the circumstances, I find that the objective gravity of your offending is high.
The question of moral culpability in this case is more complicated. As previously stated, your childhood and background was marred by trauma. Your counsel submitted I should consider the principles in Bugmy in the way that your moral culpability should be taken to be lower than for somebody who did not live through such trauma, and also that your exposure to such extreme violence may explain your recourse to violence and, in all the circumstances, making your overall moral culpability lower.
I accept the opinion of Ms Cidoni that your 'experience of torture and resulting sexual dysfunction likely contributed to distorted views about control, power and bodily autonomy'. Therefore, I accept that your exposure to violence and torture growing up, at least in part, lowers your moral culpability.
Your counsel submitted that I should consider leniency with respect to this diagnosis of PTSD. I had some reservations about Ms Cidoni's assessment in this regard, however on balance, I am satisfied that you have lived with post-traumatic stress for a long time. I accept that this will likely make your time in custody harder than it would be for a prisoner without that condition. Your sentence is reduced accordingly. I have also taken this into account when setting your non-parole period.[4]
I have also reduced the weight given to general deterrence to a mild degree on this basis. It must be remembered however, that at the time of your offending, at least at the beginning, KA was a very young child.
Your counsel suggested that I should use your lack of criminal history and strong work history as evidence of your good character. I accept this to an extent, that is that you were a relatively mature aged man up until the time when you commenced offending.
At to your prospects for rehabilitation, I accept that you have not offended in any other ways, and not at all until 2011-12 when you were about 36. I am mindful of the specific circumstances in which you commenced your offending and that you were assessed as being only a moderate risk of further offending. Accordingly, I find that your prospects for rehabilitation are reasonable.
As to delay, you were first interviewed in relation to KA's allegations in 2013 and have lived with the prospect of prosecution since that time. I accept that will have created anxiety. While you went on to re-offend between 2013 and 2018, and have demonstrated little insight into your conduct, the Court has had the benefit of observing your behaviour during that time. Your lack of further offending over an extended period favours my assessment of your prospects for rehabilitation. I have taken that into account in terms of a basis for leniency.
I have given some but not a great deal of weight to specifically deterring you from further offending and to protecting the community, in the circumstances. Remembering that protection of the community remains the primary focus of assessing your sentence because of your serious offender status on Charges 5-9.
I have considered the totality of what you did and reviewed the total sentence to ensure that they remain in proportion.
Both your counsel and the prosecutor agree that only a term of imprisonment attracting a non-parole period would be appropriate in this case, and I accept that.
I sentence you as follows, if you could stand please:
[7]
On Charge 3, indecent act with child under 16 - 1 year
[8]
On Charge 4, sexual penetration of child under 12 - 7 years 6 months
[9]
On Charge 5, indecent act with a child under 16 - 1 year 6 months
[10]
On Charge 6, sexual penetration of a child under 12 - 5 years
[11]
On Charge 7, indecent act with child under 16 - 1 year
[12]
On Charge 8, sexual penetration of a child under 12 - 5 years
[13]
On charge 9, sexual assault of child under 16 - 2 years 6 months
[14]
Two month of the sentence on Charge 1, three months of the sentence on Charge 2, six months of the sentence on Charge 5, one year six months of the sentence on Charge 6, three months of the sentence on Charge 7, one year six months of the sentence on Charge 8, and six months of the sentence on Charge 9 are to be served cumulative upon each other and upon the sentence on Charge 4.
The total effective sentence is therefore 12 years 2 months.
I fix a non-parole period of 7 years 5 months.
I declare that you have already served 272 days and direct that this be reckoned as a period already served under this sentence.
[15]
Under the Sex Offenders Registration Act2004, charges 4, 6 and 8 are Class 1 offences, while Charges 3, 5, 7 and 9 are Class 2 offences. Upon being sentenced for those offences you become a registrable offender and in accordance with s34 of that Act, you must comply with reporting obligations for life.
You may apply to the Supreme Court after 15 years of reporting for a relaxation of those obligations in some circumstances and you should talk to your lawyers about this.