DPP v Petersen [2025] VCC 835

1. At the plea hearing, the prosecution tendered three Victim Impact Statements. These were read out by the prosecutor. The first of these, from the victim of your offending, indicates that she suffered anxiety and depression after the offending, could not talk about the incidents, could not go out alone. She has felt angry all the time and pushes people away, including her family. For some time her mental health was very poor and she stayed at home. Her sense of safety has suffered, and she feels sick if she sees a car that resembles yours. She has been helped by counselling, but wants the court process to be completed so that she can stop talking about the events and stop thinking about them.
2. The second Victim Impact Statement was provided by the victim's mother. She stated that the victim had been a very social person before your offending, but afterwards suffered from depression, lost her friends, and became dependent on her mother. The family home has become tense because of the victim's outbursts, which have affected her mother and younger brother. Her mother feels guilty that she did not protect her daughter.
3. The third Victim Impact Statement was provided by the victim's father, who stated that you were supposed to be the supervising adult at the party his daughter attended, to keep the guests safe, yet you turned out to be the one who offended against her. He said that he felt angry that he did not protect his daughter, had lost trust in male friends, feared that the impact on her would be life-long, and had become more vigilant in relation to her. He lost time from work to attend hearings and appointments with his daughter.

1. The prosecution relied on written submissions filed on 18 June 2025 which were in similar terms to those filed at the sentence indication hearing. The prosecution submitted that your offending was aggravated by a number of factors: the age gap between yourself and the victim; the offending occurred after she told you she was 15 years old; the offending occurred at your home, in your van, during a 16 year old birthday party for your son's girlfriend, where you were the responsible adult present to look after teenagers who were consuming alcohol; your offending represented a significant breach of trust; and, the offending involved multiple sexual penetrations during which you did not use a condom or any form of protection, thus putting the victim at risk of becoming pregnant or contracting a sexually transmitted disease.
2. The prosecution submitted that your offending falls at the mid-level of seriousness for this type of offending. This was conceded by your counsel. The prosecution accepted that limbs 5 and 6 of Verdins[2] are made out in the light of the conclusions in Ms Lechner's addendum report. The prosecution submitted that you were the responsible adult who should have avoided abusing alcohol while taking prescription narcotic and anti-depressant medication. The prosecution submitted that the sentencing principles of just punishment and general deterrence were particularly relevant sentencing considerations.

1. Your counsel relied on the written submissions filed on 21 April 2025 as well as his oral submissions. He tendered a number of documents. Firstly, the psychological report of Carla Lechner dated 24 March 2025 with its addendum dated 9 April 2025.
2. Ms Lechner concluded that you pose a low risk of further sexual offending because of your insight and remorse, and protective factors of family and employment. Ms Lechner noted that you have a background of depression since 2011 due to the death of your mother, your back pain and your exposure to confronting motor vehicle accidents. She noted that the offending occurred against the background of your self-medicating with alcohol and prescription medication. She diagnosed you with major depressive disorder, and opined that imprisonment would have a significantly adverse effect on your mental health given your suicidal ideation, and that it would weigh more heavily on you than on a person not suffering from this condition. It was common ground on the basis of this report that limbs 5 and 6 of Verdins are made out.
3. Secondly, your counsel relied on your letter to the Court dated 19 June 2025 in which you expressed deep regret for your actions and the damage they have caused to the victim and her family. You also apologised to your children. You wrote that at the time of offending you were taking prescription medication and self-medicating with alcohol, and deeply regret your conduct on the night. You have recently stopped work because of the anticipated outcome of your plea. You expressed the wish that all those you have hurt can recover. Thirdly, a bundle of 11 character references noting your general good character, your extreme remorse for your offending, as well as your charity work in raising awareness of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, a disease which killed your mother in 2011. Fourthly, an extract of your medical records which reveals a history of depression since 2011 requiring medication, as well as a chronic back pain condition requiring relief by narcotic medications.
4. In his written and oral submissions, your counsel relied in mitigation on a number of factors: the utilitarian value of your plea of guilty, as well as the remorse which inheres in it and the fulsome expressions of remorse made in your letter to the Court, to Ms Lechner and to those who provided character references. Your plea also served a very important purpose of sparing the victim, who has been unable to put the offending behind her because of the prospect of giving evidence about it, from reliving the trauma at trial.
5. In his oral submissions today, your counsel emphasised your good character (both in terms both of a lack of prior convictions and your good character more generally), submitting that the explanation for your offending lay in the poor choices you made when affected by alcohol, narcotic medication and anti-depressant medication.
6. It was common ground that the offending is of mid-level seriousness, for which your moral culpability is quite high, and which warrants the imposition of a term of imprisonment and non-parole period. However, your counsel submitted today that, in the light of the further material provided, a sentence less than that the subject of the sentence indication was appropriate.

1. I note that the charge of sexual penetration of a child under the age of 16 years is a 'standard sentence offence", where the standard sentence is one of 6 years' imprisonment. In sentencing you, a court is obliged to have regard to the fact that the standard sentence is one which, taking only objective factors into account, falls in the middle of the range of seriousness for a particular offence. I note that it is common ground that your offending falls in the middle of the range of seriousness for this type of offending. However, the law makes it clear that the standard sentence is merely a guidepost which does not affect the instinctive synthesis involved in the sentencing process.
2. You have pleaded guilty to four charges of sexual penetration. The first is a rolled-up charge comprising two incidents. The most serious of the charges, as agreed by the parties, is charge 4. You are to be sentenced as a serious sexual offender on charges 3 and 4.
3. The Victim Impact Statements show starkly the extent of the considerable harm your offending has caused the victim and her family. She and they have become hypervigilant. She has suffered severe psychological distress, social isolation, and her depression, anxiety and anger have caused confrontations within the family. She cannot go out alone.
4. However, I accept the matters relied upon by your counsel in mitigation: your good character, the utilitarian value of your plea of guilty, and your fulsome remorse for your offending. I accept Ms Lechner's conclusion that you are at low risk of re-offending, and therefore that your prospects of rehabilitation, particularly with psychological and/or psychiatric, as well as offence-specific treatment, are likely to be more than reasonable.
5. I have taken into account that in your case, the sentencing principles of denunciation, just punishment, general deterrence, and rehabilitation, carry considerable weight. I have taken into account that imprisonment will weigh heavily upon you because of your back pain and depression, and that your mental state is likely to deteriorate in prison.

1. Please stand. On charges 1 and 2 on the indictment, you are sentenced to an aggregate sentence of 2 years' imprisonment.
2. On charges 3 and 4 on the indictment, you are sentenced as a serious sex offender to an aggregate sentence of 3 years' imprisonment.
3. I direct that 18 months of the aggregate sentence imposed on charges 1 and 2 be served cumulatively upon the aggregate sentence imposed on charges 3 and 4. The total effective sentence is one of 4 years and 6 months with a non-parole period of 3 years.
4. I indicate under section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) that, but for your plea of guilty, I would have imposed a total effective sentence of 6 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 4 years' imprisonment.
5. I make the disposal order sought by the prosecution for the items involved in the offending.
6. As all 4 charges are deemed together to constitute a Class 1 offence, I declare that you are a registrable offender under the Sex Offenders Registration Act 2004, and your reporting obligations are for 15 years. I order that the declaration that you are a registrable offender be entered into the records of the court.
7. I will make a custody management note on the orders prepared today to note your physical and psychological issues requiring medication and, if necessary, psychological or psychiatric treatment.

[1] See s49B(3) of the Crimes Act 1958

[2] R v Verdins [2007] 16 BR 269.