DPP v Hana [2025] VCC 1876

You: Hi. How are you going? > > Victim: Hey yeah I'm alright, just another Thursday hahah. How are you? > > You: Yes it is. I'm good ... I was thinking of you earlier, and it feels so long since our last session.[5] But I know it hasn't been. How is your weekend looking? > > Victim: I have that work thing tomorrow night but that's about it, I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend. How's yours looking? > > You: Mine is looking relatively quiet as well. My Saturday evening is free if you wanted to talk or come in person? Or we could do that thing we've been discussing.

7. The victim agreed to meet you for exposure therapy. You suggested meeting for a drink at the Paris Cat Jazz Club ('the Jazz Club') on Saturday 9 April 2022.
8. You purchased tickets for the Jazz Club for $95.78 and told the victim not to pay you back.
9. You and the victim met at the Jazz Club at 6:00 pm on 9 April 2022. The victim was driven there by her housemate and you caught the train.
10. You bought the victim food and several vodka soda drinks, two of which were double shots. The victim did not buy any drinks, nor had she asked you to buy her any. She believed you bought her about six drinks in total at the Jazz Club. You were also drinking. When you bought the victim drinks, you did not always bring back a drink for yourself. Your bank account shows four payments made at the Jazz Club on 9 April 2022 for $45.72, $36.58, $42.67 and $27.43.
11. Over the night, you did not bring up how exposure therapy would work or discuss how the victim was feeling. Instead, you watched the live music at the club.
12. The victim was uncomfortable while being out with you. She went to the bathroom and snorted ketamine. This, coupled with the alcohol, caused her to feel intoxicated, and she was unsteady on her feet.
13. After the live music had finished at the Jazz Club, you suggested moving to another venue, as it was still early. Together, you left the Jazz Club just before 8:40 pm and went to the Uptown Jazz Café in Fitzroy.
14. You and the victim had some more drinks that you purchased. Your bank records show two payments for $50.44 and $16.30.
15. You then travelled to the Bonny Bar in Fitzroy. There, you made a further three payments for $36.00, $41.00 and $19.00. The first of these payments was made on 9 April and the remainder on Sunday 10 April. By the end of the night, the victim had consumed nine or ten drinks in total.
16. While at the venues in Fitzroy, you began asking the victim about her sexual history. You also told her about how many people you had slept with, saying you had "lost count" of how many women you had been with and that you "loved sex". You then told the victim that she was "sexy" and had "sex appeal".
17. During this conversation, you rested your hand on the victim's leg. You rubbed her leg and arm and then kissed her twice. The first was a peck. The second was a longer kiss for approximately 20 to 30 seconds.
18. You ordered an Uber and took the victim back to your home address in Essendon, arriving shortly after 2:00 am.
19. At your home, you began touching the victim. She asked you for a tour of the house. After the tour you started kissing and touching her again and led her into your bedroom, where you undressed her. You lay the victim on her back on the bed, before crouching next to the bed and penetrating her vagina orally, licking the outside of her vagina and then putting your tongue inside her vagina (Charge 1).
20. You undressed yourself and penetrated the victim's vagina with your penis (Charge 2).
21. You flipped the victim over so that she was on all fours and put your penis into her vagina again for a while (continuation of Charge 2), before removing it and penetrating her anus with your penis. After a period of time, the victim told you that it hurt and to stop, and you did (Charge 3).
22. You did not ejaculate and did not use a condom. You asked the victim to stay the night. She declined and left in an Uber just before 4:00 am.
23. Following this night, you and the victim exchanged text messages.
24. On 11 April 2022, the victim attended her last psychology session with you. During this session she said that she would not see you again as her psychologist. You said that you wanted to continue seeing her in your personal life, and that you would keep a session slot open for her. The professional relationship ended at the conclusion of this session.
25. On 18 April 2022, you invited the victim over to your house. She came over but you did not engage in any sexual intercourse.
26. On 4 May 2022, you and the victim had consensual sex at your house.[6] After this meeting, you and the victim exchanged further messages. Your contact petered out, as the victim stopped replying. Your final text message was sent to her on 9 July 2022 at 8:41 am. The victim did not reply.
27. The victim disclosed "boundary issues" with you and your visit to a bar for "exposure therapy" to her psychiatrist, who advised her to report the matter to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency ('AHPRA').
28. On 10 August 2022, the victim submitted a formal complaint to AHPRA.
29. On 3 October 2022, AHPRA served on you a Notice of proposed immediate action and an invitation to make submissions. The effect of the Notice was to suspend your registration as a psychologist. You made submissions in response to the Notice and were permitted to practice with restrictions on your registration.
30. On 29 November 2022, the victim made a statement to an AHPRA investigator, which was signed by her on 10 January 2023.
31. On 23 February 2023, AHPRA formally reported the matter to Victoria Police.[7]
32. On 9 March 2023, the victim signed two police statements attesting to the truthfulness of her statement to AHPRA.
33. On 26 March 2024, you were arrested from your home address and interviewed at Fawkner Police Station. You provided a mainly "no comment" interview, only confirming your phone number, email address, home address, where you had lived previously, and stating that you only used the DiDi rideshare app. You were released pending summons.

1. You have a dated appearance before the Magistrates' Court on 1 May 2002 for driving matters.[8] It has no relevance to this sentencing exercise. You are effectively a man of prior good character.

1. You are now 45 years old. You were born in Iraq to Catholic parents and are the second eldest of ten children. Your parents were occasionally physically and verbally abusive to you.
2. You and your family fled Iraq in 1991 in the wake of the First Gulf War. You lived in a refugee camp in Türkiye for about a year before your family migrated to Australia in 1992, when you were 11 years old.[9]
3. In Iraq, your parents were teachers. Your father worked as a taxi driver after arriving in Australia. Your mother did not work. The family struggled financially and you recall food being scarce.
4. Notwithstanding, you completed Year 12 and then an undergraduate course in psychology at the Australian Catholic University. You completed a Postgraduate Diploma of Psychology at Swinburne University in 2014.
5. You worked with Insight Psychology from September 2020 until October 2022, when the victim reported the offending to AHPRA.
6. You then worked at a practice in Preston between 24 July 2023 and 18 September 2024. You advised the clinical director at the Preston practice of AHPRA's investigation, and the conditions on your practice,[10] prior to your employment commencing.
7. You voluntarily surrendered your registration as a psychologist in October 2024. You are currently unemployed and in receipt of benefits.
8. You were in a relationship for some seven years. Your partner gave birth by caesarean section to your son in October 2025. Your relationship ended during the pregnancy, however, you have been assisting her with your son's care, including by staying overnight while she recovers from her surgery. You and your former partner are committed to a positive co-parenting relationship.
9. You currently live with your parents.
10. You continue to engage with a psychologist, Mr Geoffrey Burrows, who you have attended upon some nine times since May 2025.

Gravity of the offending and sentencing purposes

1. I accept the matters outlined by prosecution counsel, Ms Hamill, that inform the gravity of the offending. I also accept Ms Hamill's submission that despite rehabilitation remaining a relevant consideration, general deterrence, denunciation and just punishment are important objectives in this sentencing exercise. Ms Hamill submitted that your moral culpability is high, with which I agree.[11]
2. I am sentencing you for three offences, arising out of the one occasion, that each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment. As the Second Reading speech states, the gravamen of this offending lies in:[12]

...the particular vulnerability of persons with a cognitive impairment or mental illness to coercion or abuse. Because the offences are based on the person's vulnerability in the context of the care giving relationship, they do not depend upon, and are not precluded by, legal capacity to consent.

3. You offended against a vulnerable victim with complex mental health issues to whom you were providing psychological treatment. There was a significant power disparity due to both your position of trust and authority as the victim's psychologist, and the significant 20 year age gap. Clearly, as you accept in your letter of apology, as a registered psychologist, you owed your clients a duty of care, and you would have been well aware of the inappropriateness of engaging in a sexual relationship with a client. The offending involved an egregious breach of trust in the context of the psychologist-patient relationship. I bear in mind that the breach of trust is an element of the offence, and I do not treat it as an aggravating circumstance.
4. Your offending involved a degree of premeditation and cannot be described as a momentary lapse of judgment. It resulted following a period of some months where you complimented your victim, sent her text messages and suggested that she try out 'exposure therapy'. Under the guise of this 'therapy' you arranged to meet her in a setting where she had told you that she felt uncomfortable due to her social anxiety. You plied her with alcohol over the course of the night before the offending took place.
5. While there is no formal victim impact statement, in her police statement, the victim describes feeling "disgusted" and "very violated". She questioned whether you had taken advantage of her vulnerability.

1. In addition to her oral submissions, your counsel, Ms Locke, relied upon written submissions.[13] In support of these submissions she tendered:

(a) A letter from AHPRA dated 9 October 2024;[14]

(b) Character references from Susan Smith,[15] Hugo Caro,[16] and Shanti Lama;[17] and

(c) A letter of apology from you to the victim (undated).[18]

1. Ms Locke took no issue with the matters that inform the gravity of your offending.
2. Ms Locke relied upon your early pleas of guilty, genuine remorse, delay, prior good character, good prospects of rehabilitation, and the increased burden of imprisonment upon you due to not being present to support your former partner and newborn child.
3. These matters in mitigation are not controversial.

1. I accept that you have pleaded guilty at an early stage. By doing so you have facilitated the course of justice and taken responsibility for your actions. You have saved the community the time and expense associated with a contested hearing and thereby spared a vulnerable victim from having to give evidence.
2. In terms of remorse, I consider the evidence before me as being particularly cogent. There are of course your early pleas of guilty. However, there is much more.
3. Your counsel noted that the restrictions placed on your practising licence by AHPRA, including that you would only treat male clients, were proposed by you.
4. Mr Caro, the clinical director of the practice you worked at whilst under investigation, states that you frankly disclosed the AHPRA investigation, and informed him of the formal conditions imposed upon you prior to commencing your employment. Mr Caro confirms that throughout your employment you have conducted yourself with professionalism, punctuality and integrity. You have met your clinical responsibilities, respected the boundaries of your role and treated clients and colleagues with courtesy and care. Your team members regarded you as approachable and respectful.
5. I also take into account that you chose to voluntarily relinquish your registration as a psychologist in October 2024. Your counsel told the court that you took this significant decision as a result of your ongoing counselling with Mr Burrows. You explored with Mr Burrows issues that led to your extremely poor decision making and concluded that you have work to do with continuing to develop insight.
6. The three references tendered on your behalf speak of your deep remorse. Mr Caro states:

Mr Hana expressed to me - on multiple occasions - his sincere remorse for his past misconduct. He spoke openly about the deep sense of shame and regret he felt for breaching professional boundaries and the emotional harm this caused his former client. He also expressed guilt for the pain, this situation brought to his family, friends, and professional community. It was clear to me that he had reflected seriously on the consequences of his actions.

There is no justification for what I did. I crossed a boundary that should never have been crossed. You came to me for safety, containment, care, and healing. Instead, I became a source of confusion, betrayal, and emotional harm. > > What I did was a serious breach of trust, professional, ethical, and human. I crossed a line that exists to protect people like you from people like me, therapists who, start meeting their own needs at the expense of their client's safety. > > At the time, I rationalised the shifts as therapeutic connection. But I now understand they were warning signs of ethical collapse that I failed to act on. I failed to protect you. > > I stopped being your therapist the moment I put my needs above your safety. This is not about my suffering. It's about yours. You came to me, trusting that I would do no harm. I broke that trust.

8. The letter continues in a similar vein. I acknowledge that it is an eloquent account of your wrongdoing and the impact upon your victim. The letter appears to be heartfelt and genuine. That is clear when one takes into account all the other evidence indicative of remorse and shame.

1. The offending occurred over three and a half years ago. The complainant made a complaint to APHRA on 10 August 2022. You were served with a formal Notice by APHRA on 3 October 2022. The matter was formally reported to the police on 23 February 2023. You were arrested on 26 March 2024 and released pending summons. You were not charged until 3 November 2024. Once charged, the matter proceeded fairly quickly and you were committed to this Court on 7 July 2025.[19] You bear no responsibility for this delay.
2. The delay is relevant to your rehabilitation prospects which I regard as very good. During this period of delay, you co-operated with APHRA, suggesting conditions on your practice and abiding by them. You continued to work until September 2024 and engaged in psychological counselling with Mr Burrows. You have expressed remorse and have not re-offended in any way. You have supported your former partner and your son in the first few weeks following his birth. You voluntarily chose to relinquish your registration.
3. The delay is also relevant as an additional punishment. The matter has been hanging over your head and weighed heavily upon you. Your former partner outlines in her reference the emotional toll of the offending upon you. She notes that you have struggled with ongoing mental health challenges and severe insomnia. The stress of this court case has led your relationship to end halfway through her pregnancy.

Previous good character and prospects of rehabilitation

1. I take into account that you are of prior good character and this offending was a serious aberration that you deeply regret. As I have indicated, I am satisfied that your prospects of rehabilitation are very good.

1. This will be your first experience of custody. The fact of custody in itself will have a greater deterrent effect upon you. You will be serving a custodial sentence knowing that you are unable to support your former partner or your newborn baby. I accept that your inability to do so will cause you anguish and make each day in custody more burdensome.

1. Ms Locke submitted that despite the seriousness of the offending, in light of the significant mitigating factors, a punitive Community Correction Order ('CCO') was within range.
2. Ms Hamill submitted that in order to do full justice to general deterrence, punishment and denunciation, a term of imprisonment was necessary, whether that be a straight sentence not involving a non-parole period or in combination with a CCO.
3. I have had regard to the CCO suitability assessment report dated 14 November 2025, which confirms that you are suitable for such an order.

1. Pursuant to s 6B of the Sentencing Act 1991, upon conviction and being sentenced to a term of imprisonment on Charges 1 and 2, you fall to be sentenced as a serious sexual offender on Charge 3.
2. Pursuant to s 6D of the Sentencing Act, in determining the length of the sentence on Charge 3, I must regard community protection as the principal sentencing purpose. Plainly, a disproportionate sentence is not necessary.
3. Pursuant to s 6E of the Sentencing Act, there is a presumption of accumulation with regards to sentencing for serious sexual offender offences. Nevertheless, totality remains important.[20]
4. Sensibly, no order for discretionary registration under the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 is sought by the prosecution.

1. I am unable to accede to your counsel's ultimate sentencing submission.
2. In sentencing you, I must send a clear message to those involved in supporting and treating the vulnerable members of our community who struggle with mental health issues and cognitive impairments, that a breach of their important duty of care will result in punishment involving deprivation of liberty. Your conduct, which involved pre-meditation, must also be denounced. Specific deterrence has a limited role to play. Your progress over the last three and a half years, suggest that protection of the community is not a concern. You will of course, no longer be practising as a psychologist.
3. I have ultimately concluded that a term of imprisonment followed by a treatment only CCO will meet all sentencing objectives.
4. Mr Hana can you please stand.
5. Having carefully considered all relevant circumstances and factors,[21] Maher Hana, you are convicted on each charge and sentenced as follows:
   • On Charge 1 - 5 months' imprisonment.
   • On Charge 2 - 7 months' imprisonment.
   • On Charge 3 - 7 months' imprisonment.
6. The sentence on Charge 2 will be the base sentence. One month of the sentence on Charge 1 and two months of the sentence on Charge 3 will be served cumulatively upon each other and on the base sentence.
7. This makes a total effective sentence of 10 months' imprisonment.
8. In addition on Charges 1, 2 and 3 you are sentenced to a CCO of 18 months' duration.
9. The CCO will commence upon your release from prison.
10. Every CCO has core conditions that you must comply with. They are set out in a document that I will get you to sign. They include not committing an offence punishable by imprisonment and not to leave Victoria except with permission.
11. In addition to the mandatory core conditions, the CCO will also include the following special conditions:

(a) First, you must undergo any mental health assessment and treatment as directed;

(b) Second, you must engage in programs that address factors relating to your offending behaviour; and

(c) Third, you will be subject to supervision as directed for the duration of the CCO.

1. You must report to Broadmeadows Community Correctional Services within two working days of your release from prison.
2. You need to understand that if you were to breach the CCO in any way, either by committing another offence or by not complying with any of the core or special conditions, then you could be charged with the offence of breaching the order.
3. The offence of breaching a CCO itself carries a maximum penalty of three months' imprisonment. So were you to breach the order, you would need to come back to court and face sentencing for that breach offence. In those circumstances, you could also be re-sentenced for the offences for which you have been placed on the order. You would then face the very real possibility of being sent back to prison.
4. So, there are serious consequences attached to any breach. Do you understand Mr Hana?
5. OFFENDER: I do.
6. HIS HONOUR: Do you also understand all the conditions of the proposed CCO?
7. OFFENDER: I do.
8. HIS HONOUR: Do you consent to being placed on a CCO in the terms I have outlined and to abide by all of its conditions?
9. OFFENDER: I do.
10. I will now get you to sign the CCO document confirming your consent.[22]

1. Pursuant to s 6F(1) of the Sentencing Act, you are sentenced as a serious sexual offender in respect of Charge 3, and I order that this fact be entered into the records of the Court.

Section 6AAA declaration

1. Pursuant to s 6AAA of the Sentencing Act, I indicate that had you pleaded not guilty and been convicted, I would have sentenced you to a term of 3 years 6 months' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 2 years.

[5] Records show the victim attended an appointment on 4 April 2022.

[6] At a time when you were no longer in a professional relationship.

[7] Although Ms Hamill noted that the matter was actually reported by AHPRA at an earlier date, and that

23 February 2023 was the date the matter was assigned to the informant internally by Victoria Police.

[8] In South Australia for offences of drive vehicle without a licence, excess speed and failing to truly answer. You were convicted and fined $300.

[10] The restrictions included not being allowed to consult with female patients and undergoing counselling.

[11] See Outline of Prosecution Submissions on Plea dated 13 November 2025 (Exhibit B).

[12] Second Reading speech for the Crimes (Sexual Offences) Act 2016, Legisilative Assembly, 9 June 2016, Martin Pakula, pg. 7.

[18] Exhibit 6 - the letter was made available to your victim however she declined to read it.

[19] An application for summary jurisdiction was refused on 7 July 2025.

[20] I must ensure that the totality principal is applied in a manner that does not undermine the legislative policy inherent in s 6E of the Sentencing Act - Gordon v R [2013] VSCA 343.

[21] I have considered the cases provided to me by the prosecution which are of limited assistance - Torrefranca v The Queen [2021] VSCA 157; The Queen v Wu [1999] VSCA 209; R v Foster [2021] NSWDC 726.