- Child rapist back on street
- By Liam Houlihan
- Herald and Weekly Times
- 02/08/2004 Make a Comment
- Contributed by: admin ( 100 articles in 2004 )
A CONFESSED pedophile will not spend one day in jail despite admitting he raped a seven-year-old girl.
The man, who cannot be named, was arrested on three child sex charges after his victim's mother wore a wire to catch his confession.
But despite a recorded confession and guilty plea to all charges, a judge let him back on the streets.
The 27-year-old man told a County Court judge recently that he had fondled, kissed and digitally penetrated a seven-year-old girl in three separate incidents last year.
The judge convicted him on all three charges but released him on a suspended prison sentence with 200 hours of community service and told him to get counselling.
The victim's family is devastated by what they see as a travesty of justice and an insult to their girl.
"To catch him, my sister had to sleep in the same bed with the man she knew interfered with her daughter," the victim's aunt said.
"She now feels she's done all this for nothing. He got off. He basically walked away. My sister can never trust another person and you would never know how much my niece will be affected.
"The judge said it was opportunistic. Like it was a moment of madness that just happened. But it was more than once and to go a little bit further the second and third time -- that's predatory. That is a pattern of behaviour. And now he is free out there."
The case has prompted child advocacy groups and crime victims groups to call for mandatory sentences for convicted pedophiles.
Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston called the sentence obscene. "What is wrong with these judges? That pedophile will be puffed up now because he faced the court and won, because he beat the system. And now some other poor child out there will pay for it," Ms Johnston said.
"I appeal to the Attorney-General on behalf of all Victorian children to pass the necessary laws so convicted child sex offenders cannot avoid jail."
But Attorney-General Rob Hulls said he would not push for those changes.
"Mandatory minimum terms are mandatory sentencing by stealth. Victoria is opposed to mandatory sentencing because it makes politicians judge, juror and executioner," he said.
"In Victoria we have an independent judiciary.
"We also have a Director of Public Prosecutions who can appeal against any decision."
Shadow Attorney-General Andrew McIntosh went further.
"I would be calling on the DPP to review this penalty, which seems to be inordinately light," Mr McIntosh said.
The family of the victim are confused why the legal system has treated the pedophile with kid gloves throughout the process.
"When he pleaded guilty at the Magistrates Court there was no bail conditions," the aunt said. "The date was set (for sentencing) and when he failed to show up the first time a warrant was issued for his arrest. But when the police finally found him they didn't arrest him. They said 'We found him. He is going to show up for court.' So the whole process was a bit weird."
"We spoke to someone in the Department (of Justice) about our disappointment and they said, 'If we were to throw every single pedophile in jail our jails would be full'."
The man, who cannot be named, was arrested on three child sex charges after his victim's mother wore a wire to catch his confession.
But despite a recorded confession and guilty plea to all charges, a judge let him back on the streets.
The 27-year-old man told a County Court judge recently that he had fondled, kissed and digitally penetrated a seven-year-old girl in three separate incidents last year.
The judge convicted him on all three charges but released him on a suspended prison sentence with 200 hours of community service and told him to get counselling.
The victim's family is devastated by what they see as a travesty of justice and an insult to their girl.
"To catch him, my sister had to sleep in the same bed with the man she knew interfered with her daughter," the victim's aunt said.
"She now feels she's done all this for nothing. He got off. He basically walked away. My sister can never trust another person and you would never know how much my niece will be affected.
"The judge said it was opportunistic. Like it was a moment of madness that just happened. But it was more than once and to go a little bit further the second and third time -- that's predatory. That is a pattern of behaviour. And now he is free out there."
The case has prompted child advocacy groups and crime victims groups to call for mandatory sentences for convicted pedophiles.
Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston called the sentence obscene. "What is wrong with these judges? That pedophile will be puffed up now because he faced the court and won, because he beat the system. And now some other poor child out there will pay for it," Ms Johnston said.
"I appeal to the Attorney-General on behalf of all Victorian children to pass the necessary laws so convicted child sex offenders cannot avoid jail."
But Attorney-General Rob Hulls said he would not push for those changes.
"Mandatory minimum terms are mandatory sentencing by stealth. Victoria is opposed to mandatory sentencing because it makes politicians judge, juror and executioner," he said.
"In Victoria we have an independent judiciary.
"We also have a Director of Public Prosecutions who can appeal against any decision."
Shadow Attorney-General Andrew McIntosh went further.
"I would be calling on the DPP to review this penalty, which seems to be inordinately light," Mr McIntosh said.
The family of the victim are confused why the legal system has treated the pedophile with kid gloves throughout the process.
"When he pleaded guilty at the Magistrates Court there was no bail conditions," the aunt said. "The date was set (for sentencing) and when he failed to show up the first time a warrant was issued for his arrest. But when the police finally found him they didn't arrest him. They said 'We found him. He is going to show up for court.' So the whole process was a bit weird."
"We spoke to someone in the Department (of Justice) about our disappointment and they said, 'If we were to throw every single pedophile in jail our jails would be full'."
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