//
© 2026 Zoe. All rights reserved.
Zoe is a legal information platform. Always consult the Federal Register of Legislation for authoritative text.
[2020] VCC 829
County Court of Victoria
2020-06-11
Original judgment source is linked above.
Sentence: 8 years' imprisonment with 6 years' non-parole period - s.6AAA: 10 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 8 years' imprisonment
1 Rayhan Parra[1], on 3 April 2020 you came before me and pleaded guilty to one charge of rape. You admitted your extensive prior convictions. I ordered a pre-sentence report in respect of you, and your plea was adjourned to
2 On 1 June, tendered as Exhibit A and read aloud in court was the summary of prosecution opening upon plea.
3 At about 1.40 pm on 22 February 2019 you boarded a Firefly bus at the Horsham bus station. You asked the driver if you could be taken to Dimboola, he informed you that the bus was going in a different direction. You then asked if you could go to Bendigo, and paid cash for the fare. At the time there were approximately 40 passengers on the bus.
4 The bus travelled from Horsham to Murtoa before arriving at Rupanyup at about 2.22 pm. The complainant boarded the bus at Rupanyup and sat next to you in Seat 31. You introduced yourself to the complainant as 'Sam', and the complainant introduced herself to you.
5 The complainant was sitting with a pillow on her lap and speaking to a friend on the telephone. As the complainant was speaking on the phone, you put your hand under the complainant's pillow and began touching her. You then placed your hand inside the complainant's underwear and penetrated her vagina with your finger (Charge 1, rape).
6 Shortly after leaving Rupanyup the bus driver noticed that your victim was sitting with her legs in the aisle and her head was turned backward. A female passenger on the bus could see your arm moving back and forth between the gap in the seats, and thought that your actions were very aggressive and directed towards your victim.
7 At Marnoo the bus driver approached the complainant and asked her if she was okay. He sensed that the victim was uncomfortable, and asked her to move to Seat 45, which she did. You asked the bus driver why he had moved your victim, and the bus driver informed you that your victim was uncomfortable in her original seat.
8 After leaving Marnoo you approached the bus driver and asked again why he had moved your victim. You were informed that your victim was uncomfortable sitting where she was. You were heard to ask the bus driver, 'Did she tell you she was uncomfortable?' You told the bus driver that it was not right that your victim had been moved, and that you wanted to get off at the next town. You then returned to your seat.
9 A short time later you went to the front of the bus with your belongings and squatted next to the front row. The bus driver asked you to return to your seat, as it was dangerous to remain where you were. You refused to return to your seat, so the bus driver stopped the bus, opened the door, and asked you to get out of the bus, which you did.
10 The bus continued to St Arnaud, stopping there at about 3.15 pm for an afternoon break. The female passenger who had earlier observed your actions with your arm approached your victim, who immediately began crying and hugging the female passenger. The female passenger approached the driver, who in turn approached your victim, who told the bus driver that you had touched her. The bus driver asked your victim if she wanted to call the police, and the victim replied that she did. The bus driver stepped off the bus and called triple zero.
11 At approximately 3.30 pm police attended at the bus and were informed by the bus driver what had taken place. You were arrested shortly thereafter at the IGA supermarket in St Arnaud.
12 On 23 February 2019 you were interviewed under caution, and told the police that:
(i) "It's not true. I did not rape anybody. I did not commit any offence."
(ii) "And none of that happened. Nothing happened at all, that's lie and bullshit."
(iii) "And I was just looking through the window and checking my phone and that - that's it."
(iv) "I swear to God that I'm telling you the truth. I didn't touch the girl. I didn't do nothing to her."
(v) "And come on, man. I'm gunna rape someone on a bus? I don't even do that. You know?"
(vi) "The girl, she's lying. I didn't do that."
13 You have been on remand since 22 February 2019.
14 The maximum penalty for the offence of rape is 25 years' imprisonment.
15 Pursuant to the provisions of the Sentencing Act 1991 the offence of rape is a Standard Sentence Offence, and the standard sentence for the crime of rape that "is in the middle range of seriousness" is ten years' imprisonment, while the non-parole period is six years' imprisonment.
16 The application of the standard sentence provisions was considered by a Bench of five Justices of the Court of Appeal in Peter Brown v R [2015] VSCA 286. At paragraph [4] of the judgment of the Court it opined:
"The key new requirement is that a judge when sentencing for a 'standard sentence offence' must 'take the standard sentence into account as one of the factors relevant to sentencing'. This requirement:
17 Later, at paragraph [7] of the judgment, the Court opined:
"In our opinion, the standard sentence provisions do not have any bearing on the judge's obligation to assess the seriousness of the subject offence. The assessment remains a necessary part of the process of instinctive synthesis and it is not constrained by the legislative definition of 'objective factors'."
18 Later, at paragraph [25] of the judgment, after reviewing the authorities, the Court opined in respect to the non-parole period for a standard sentence offence that:
"These passages may be distilled into a number of propositions, as follows:
(a) 'without reference to matters personal to a particular offender or class of offenders'; and
(b) 'wholly by reference to the nature of the offending'.
19 Contained within the summary of Crown opening is a useful chronology. Having been charged with the offence of rape on 23 February 2019, your committal mention was listed for 29 May 2019. On that day you dispensed with counsel and indicated that you wished to plead guilty. The matter was adjourned to the following day, and on 30 May 2019 you re‑engaged lawyers from Victoria Legal Aid and indicated that you wished to plead guilty. On 6 June 2019 at the initial directions hearing you once again dispensed with counsel, stating that you wished to represent yourself and intended to plead guilty. The matter was adjourned to 4 July 2019 for a further direction hearing and listed for plea on circuit commencing 21 October 2019. On 4 July 2019 your matter was listed for a further direction hearing. You were represented, and the matter was adjourned for plea.
20 Accordingly, you entered your plea at the earliest opportunity and are entitled to the benefits that flow to you from that plea, being that it is some evidence of your remorse and that it has utilitarian benefits.
21 Tendered as Exhibit B were the victim impact statements of the victim and her mother. Your victim has been diagnosed since childhood with an intellectual impairment and speech impediment. At the time of your offending she was 26 years of age. Your victim's statement is profound in its simplicity. She states she cannot sleep at night as she has nightmares about your offending, and that she has a baby to look after. She writes that she is scared to go on the bus, as she does not feel safe anymore, and it costs too much if her mother takes her wherever she wants to go by car. Finally, she writes:
"I was very scared and frightened and he hurt me. I was sore."
"I felt totally shocked and angry. You think that when you put your intellectually-impaired daughter on a bus to go and visit her boyfriend some two hours away that she would be safe."
23 She further wrote of her disbelief on being told that her daughter had been offended against sexually. She wrote that it took her daughter six months before she could get on a bus again, but when her daughter does she is still scared. Further, her daughter is entirely dependent on public transport as she is incapable of obtaining a driver licence. She concludes her statement with the words "Nothing will ever be the same."
24 Tendered as Exhibit 1 on your plea was a document from the Thomas Embling Hospital which set out in summary form your history on remand and contact with psychiatric services in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria since 2001. In 2001 you had your first contact with mental health services in New South Wales at the Liverpool Mental Health Service where you were diagnosed with a drug-induced psychosis. In 2003 you were diagnosed at the Bankstown Mental Health Services with schizophrenia. You moved to Queensland and remained in contact with the Queensland Cairns and Hinterland Mental Health Services. In 2018 you were admitted at Mental Health Services at Cairns for non-compliance to medication. At the time you stated that you had schizophrenia, but you had been cured. It was noted in Exhibit 1 that you had a history of eight years' incarceration in Sydney and during that time utilised the services of Justice Health. It was further noted in Exhibit 1 that in August 2019 at the Melbourne Remand Centre you were admitted with florid psychiatric symptoms with paranoid delusions and auditory hallucinations. Further, it was noted that you had a significant history of violence while in a psychotic state.
25 On 20 January 2020, due to concerns in respect to you being unresponsive to treatment despite being mostly compliant with your medication, you were certified and transferred to the Thomas Embling Hospital. You have in the past assaulted a co‑patient in an unprovoked attack as a result of paranoid ideation. According to entries made in Exhibit 1, you feel that other patients are conspiring to harm you, particularly bikie gangs.
26 At the time of your plea you had been transferred from the Thomas Embling Hospital back to Ravenhall.
27 Tendered as Exhibit 3 was a document from the Department of Health New South Wales Sydney Local Health District concerning your admission to the Concord Repatriation General Hospital between 25 February 2014 and 18 March 2014. Within Exhibit 3 it was recorded that you had numerous previous mental-health admissions and that you had a forensic history, having spent time in prison following an occasion where you stalked and stabbed one of your previous doctors. Further, that your family had reported that you had become increasingly aggressive at home over the previous few months and had recently been making threats to them.
28 You were seen by David Ball, psychologist, on 9 January 2020, and his report became Exhibit 2 on the plea. At the time of your consultation with Mr Ball you had been in custody for approximately 10 months and were accommodated in the Erskine Acute Mental Health Unit. You were prescribed Olanzapine 10mg, Risperidone 5mg, and in addition received a monthly depot injection of 200mg of Risperidone to manage your schizophrenia.
29 Mr Ball described your mental status examination as broadly unremarkable and that there was no evidence of frank mental illness such as psychotic symptoms, hallucinations or delusions on clinical interview. Further, according to Mr Ball, you appeared at interview to be responding well to medication. Despite this, some eleven or so days later you were committed to the Thomas Embling Hospital.
30 By way of personal history, you are one of three children, having migrated from Lebanon with your family in 1995 when you were aged about 12 years. You have happy memories as a child growing up. You reported to Mr Ball that you suffered a head injury in 2004 during a fight when you were hit with a hammer, although Mr Ball could find no record of you having an acquired brain injury as a result of this incident.
31 You were educated to Year 10 at school, and after leaving school commenced an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. You did not complete the apprenticeship but took up work as a spray-painter and panel-beater. There was little by way of employment history provided to me, and it appears that you have mostly been living on the disability support pension. You have had two significant intimate relationships and have children from both. You have three children from the first relationship, and one surviving child from the second relationship. A daughter of the second relationship died during infancy.
32 As to your drug and alcohol history, you started drinking alcohol when you were aged about fifteen, and consumed alcohol at dangerous levels by way of binge drinking. You have been an habitual user of the drug methyl‑amphetamine as well as cannabis.
33 During your consultation with Mr Ball, you stated to him that you had a clear recollection of your offending, and that you were largely unaffected by substances at the time. You told Mr Ball that you had consumed a substantial amount of alcohol the previous evening; however, at the time of the offending you were compliant with the medication that was then prescribed to you, namely 5mg of Risperidone and 300mg of Seroquel.
34 Mr Ball opined that you appeared to lack insight and empathy during your clinical interview. Further, that you appeared to have limited capacity to effectively solve problems and to act with good judgment. You suffer from significant anti-social personality features which become more prominent when affected by alcohol and other substances and when you are
non-compliant with your medication. Further, Mr Ball opined that you can become irritable, aggressive and violent when faced with conflict and confrontation, and that you view the world through "a paranoid lens". Mr Ball assessed you as a moderate risk of sexual reoffending relative to other male sex offenders.
35 In respect to the pre-sentence report from Dr Fiona Best, consultant psychiatrist, of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Mental Health, dated
14 May 2020. Dr Best corroborates your long history of mental illness and diagnosis of schizophrenia. Your finances are administered by the State Trustees. Your sole source of income is a disability support pension. At the time that Dr Best assessed you, you were a security patient under the
Mental Health Act at the Argyle Unit of Thomas Embling Hospital.
"A combination of his mental health difficulties and his substance abuse difficulties are likely to have affected his capacity to exercise appropriate judgement and make calm decisions and think clearly at the time of the alleged offending. Additionally, imprisonment may have the capacity to weigh more heavily on him than on an individual without those difficulties because he is more vulnerable to relapse of his major mental illness."
37 Mr Parra, you suffer from a serious psychiatric illness which appears to be resistant to medication. You have little insight into your psychiatric illness as well as your offending, despite stating to Mr Ball "I am sorry that I did it and I'll never do it again."
38 Mr Thyssen of counsel, who appeared on your behalf, accepted that a lengthy term of imprisonment was warranted in all the circumstances. However, he correctly submitted that each of the limbs of The Queen v Verdins[2] have application in your case. Further, he submitted that your plea of guilty is of significant utility; a submission which I accept. He emphasised your significant mental health issues, and that you will continue to suffer a serious psychiatric illness for the foreseeable future. You are separated from your family, as they reside in New South Wales, and you only have limited telephone contact with them. In addition, in recent months you have been subject to the restrictions placed on prisoners as the result of the COVID‑19 pandemic, although for the preponderance of that time you have been housed at the Thomas Embling Hospital.
39 Mr Buckland of counsel, who appeared on behalf of the Crown, in his written submissions on sentence emphasised that your conduct was brazen and opportunistic; that you offended against a stranger in a public place who was a young woman travelling alone. Further, Mr Buckland emphasised that you reported to Mr David Ball that you had a clear recollection of the offending and that you were largely unaffected by substances at the time, though you described having drunk alcohol heavily on the previous night.
40 Your extensive criminal history contains no sex offences. However, you have been assessed by Mr Ball as "in the Moderate Risk for sexual re-offence relative to other male sex offenders". Later in Mr Ball's report he expressed the same opinion somewhat differently, "Mr Parra is considered to be a Moderate Risk of recidivism." Mr Ball further opined that the factors that increase your risk of recidivism are your schizophrenia, episodes of
non-compliance with medication, anti-social personality disorder, socially isolated lifestyle, the nature of the offence, history of substance abuse and violent offending whilst in custody for the instant offence. Accordingly, your prospects for rehabilitation are bleak.
41 Your offending is a serious example of the crime of rape.
42 The application of the principles of general and specific deterrence must be sensibly moderated in your case. However, denunciation of your conduct, just punishment, and protection of the community, are the principal sentencing purposes to be applied when arriving at an appropriate sentence in your case.
43 My interpretation of the standard sentence legislation is that I am required to identify fully the facts, matters and circumstances which bear upon the judgment which I have reached as to an appropriate sentence in your circumstances. I have endeavoured to do this in the reasons set out above.
44 Doing the best I can, taking into account the circumstances of your offending and their effects, your personal circumstances and antecedents, endeavouring to produce a sentence which reflects and promotes the purpose of sentencing in a manner appropriate to you and your offending, I sentence you to eight years' imprisonment and I fix the period of six years' imprisonment as a period that you must serve before you will become eligible for parole.
45 I declare that you have spent 475 days by way of pre-sentence detention not including today.
46 Pursuant to s.6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I declare that but for your plea of guilty I would have sentenced you to 10 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of eight years' imprisonment.
47 At the time of your plea the Crown made application for you to be subject to the reporting conditions of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004. Charge 1, rape, is a Class 3 offence under the Act. Should a sex offender registration order be made, for the purposes of calculating the reporting period pursuant to s.34(1)(a) of the Act, the registration period is eight years.
48 Taking all the matters referred to in paragraph 40 above into account I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you pose a risk to the sexual safety of one or more persons. Accordingly, I direct that you are subject to the provisions - - -
51 HIS HONOUR: It is all right, Mr Thyssen, it happens.
52 MR THYSSEN: I was at a funeral yesterday afternoon and I was told it was 10.
53 HIS HONOUR: That is all right, Mr Thyssen. Mr Parra was adamant that I proceed.
54 OFFENDER: Yeah - yeah, hang on, hang on, we're back now.
56 At the time of your plea the Crown made application for you to be subject to the reporting conditions of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004. Charge 1, rape, is a Class 3 offence under the Act. Should a sex offender registration order be made, for the purposes of calculation of the reporting period pursuant to s.34(1)(a) of the Act, the registration period is eight years.
57 Taking all the matters referred to in paragraph 40 above into account I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you pose a risk to the sexual safety of one or more persons. Accordingly, I direct that you are subject to the provisions of the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004 for eight years.
58 Is there anything that arises out of the sentence, gentlemen?
62 OFFENDER: I just have to say, Your Honour, I'm sorry. I wouldn't - I'll never do something like that again. Which is, um, like - I never do something like that.
64 OFFENDER: But, ah, I'm happy with you and the sentence and I know you were fair with me.
67 HIS HONOUR: Is there a prison officer present in the room with you,
69 HIS HONOUR: If that prison officer could stand up please so I can see you.
71 HIS HONOUR: Thank you very much. There should have been sent to the prison a copy of the papers under the Sex Offender Registration Act. Do you have those?
72 PRISON OFFICER: Yes, I've got - yes, I've got (indistinct words.)
73 HIS HONOUR: Thank you very much. Mr Parra, what that document does is two things: it sets out your obligations under the Act, but it also asks - you are requested to sign it simply to acknowledge that you have received the documents. So if you would sign that please.
74 OFFENDER: Where does he want me to sign, just here?
76 HIS HONOUR: All right, now what I would ask you to do, madam prison officer, is this; if that could be scanned and sent to my associate and the administration section of the prison will have that address. And the original can remain in Mr Parra's personal property so that he has that for his own records. Would that be able - - -
79 PRISON OFFICER: Yeah, thank you (indistinct words.)
82 HIS HONOUR: Now what I am going to do is leave this link open because
Mr Thyssen is in court and he will speak to you for a short period of time.
83 OFFENDER: (Indistinct words.) I wanted to talk to you, Mr Thyssen.
84 HIS HONOUR: Yes, that is all right. He is here present in court.
86 HIS HONOUR: And he will speak to you on the video link.
88 HIS HONOUR: And we will break the link with the prosecutor, Mr Buckland. I will leave the court and Mr Carthew, my tipstaff, will remain in court simply to keep the electronics working and - - -
90 HIS HONOUR: - - - Mr Thyssen can have a conversation with you, all right?
92 MR BUCKLAND: Just one thing, I apologise. I'm reminded by instructor just now that - - -
94 MR BUCKLAND: - - - we received a disposal order. I need to doublecheck what that was, but - - -
95 HIS HONOUR: Well, there was an application and order under s.464, but that is not required because it is a 464 offence.
97 HIS HONOUR: There is a disposal order, it relates - - -
98 MR BUCKLAND: Just some - his items of clothing.
99 HIS HONOUR: Yes. It seems an odd request, Mr Buckland.
100 MR BUCKLAND: Not requested? The 464 wasn't requested, Your Honour, I believe the clothing's order was. My instructor was there but that's - - -
101 HIS HONOUR: No, I have it in front of me and I am looking at it. It is asking for the disposal and destruction of the clothing that the man wore.
102 MR BUCKLAND: Yes, it's a matter for Your Honour.
103 HIS HONOUR: Yes. No, the prisoner's property can be returned to him in the normal course of events by him signing the appropriate Victoria Police document, absolving them of any responsibility in respect to the property. I have no doubt upon his release he will need clothing. I will not make the order.
104 MR BUCKLAND: Thank you, Your Honour. Your Honour pleases.
105 HIS HONOUR: But thank you for drawing that to my attention because I had seen it, noted it and then immediately forgot it. Thanks, Mr Buckland.
106 MR BUCKLAND: Likewise, (indistinct), Your Honour.
107 HIS HONOUR: So we will break the connection now. And what time do we kick off tomorrow?
DPP
Parra
(2007) 16 VR 269