Child Exploitation Offenders and Sentencing :
Sexual Predators or Social Misfits?
Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act 1988
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This is the main piece of legislation governing the
sentencing of offenders in South Australia.
It is not a code, and floats on a substantial sea of
common law which exists in relation to sentencing.
Sentencing Options
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There is a range of options available to a Court
when dealing with a person who is guilty of an
offence:
 Immediate
imprisonment;
 Suspended sentence of imprisonment;
 Fine;
 Good behaviour bond;
 Community service;
 Imposition of conviction;
 Discharge without conviction/penalty
Maximum Sentences
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Every offence creating provision specifies the
maximum sentence which may be imposed for an
offence.
It is rare for the Court to impose the maximum
penalty.
The maximum penalty is to be imposed in cases
involving the worst category of offending for that
offence
Veen v The Queen (No 2) (1987) 164 CLR 465
Sentencing Remarks
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Whenever an offender is sentenced, the Judge or
Magistrate must provide reasons justifying the
sentence imposed.
Sentencing remarks will generally contain a brief
description of the offending and set out the matters
considered by the Judge in arriving at sentence
The sentencing remarks should be read aloud in
Court, and the offender must be in a position to
understand those remarks.
Police v Frank (2007) 98 SASR 547
Aims of Sentencing: “An Art not a Science”
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There are generally considered to be four aims of
sentencing.
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Rehabilitation;
Deterrence;
Prevention of further offending;
Retribution.
The amount of weight to give to each particular
aim will depend on the nature of the case in
question.
Effect on the Victim
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The effect of the offending on victims is also an
important consideration.
The role of victims in the criminal process is steadily
increasing, and there are frequently new proposals
to accord victims an expanded role in that process,
particularly at sentencing.
Sentencing Act, s 10(1)(d) & (e)
CEM Offenders: What Themes Emerge?
Potential Sexual Predator or Social Misfit?
Judge’s attitude
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Anthony Power, a former judge's associate who pleaded guilty to downloading thousands of child pornography images.
Picture: Greg Higgs Source: AdelaideNow The SA District Court, however, has questioned the fairness of "sacrificing" the
former judge's associate by imposing an immediate jail term.
Judge Paul Cuthbertson yesterday said evidence tendered in court suggested Power's crimes arose from conflict between his
social awkwardness, homosexual urges and Lutheran faith.
"He did not know how to cope with or bring out, in a lawful manner, his sexual urges," he said. "It must be a terrible thing to
have a sexual desire that you cannot lawfully fulfil.
"For him, it was illegal, in the sense it was against all his religious beliefs.“ That stance was strongly opposed by prosecutor
Domenico Petraccaro. "Anthony Power is not here because he's clumsy with relationships, he's here because he has engaged in
illegal filming of people and the downloading of child pornography," he said. "With respect, he can lawfully fulfil (his sexual
desires) ... he can legally enter a homosexual relationship. "You cannot turn fervent religious beliefs into an excuse for this
conduct.“ Power, 28, of Wynn Vale, admitted indecently filming boys and men in the shower of his home, in the toilets of his
church and at Stockport while serving as a youth leader. He also downloaded 4403 images and 610 videos of child
pornography - 3917 of which featured children aged less than 14 years. Power worked as a District Court judicial associate
before his arrest, and since has surrendered his licence to practice law. Mr Petraccaro said no penalty, save immediate jail,
was appropriate. "It's not an excuse that he was struggling with homosexuality," he said. "He was not so socially inept that he
could not go to university, get a degree and get a job as a judge's associate."It might explain the way he has conducted
himself, but it does not excuse it."
Judge Cuthbertson asked if the law "doesn't allow for some human weakness in people". "He's very clumsily seeking out
partners or friends he might experiment with," he said.
"That's not being put forward as an excuse, but as an explanation. Is he to be sacrificed on the altar of general deterrence?"
Judge’s attitude
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Anthony Kurt Power, 28, of Wynn Vale, pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in indecent
filming including images of minors and two counts of possessing child porn between July 2009
and March 2010.
The former solicitor filmed the children in his home toilet, at church and at youth church camp,
and collected more than 4300 images of child porn. About 3900 pictures were of children
under 14, and 1600 images, including some depicting minors, were explicit.
In the South Australian District Court on Thursday, Power was sentenced to 15 months in jail
with a non-parole period of four months.
Judge Paul Cuthbertson said Power had experienced turmoil about expressing his gay urges,
which he believed to be sinful. This, combined with his social backwardness, led to voyeurism.
"In my view, this has stunted your development as a sexual being," he said.
"Child porn was a poor substitute for an as-yet ill-defined sexuality that was repressed."
Power's repression, based on a conservative interpretation of scripture, led him to engage
surreptitiously in activities he thought would be less "blameworthy in the eyes of God", the
judge said.T he judge said Power's actions were a gross breach of the trust placed in him as a
youth group leader and friend. Power was arrested after two young men discovered cameras
in the toilet at a party at Power's Wynn Vale home in March last year. Power told police he
was relieved to be caught because he'd found he could not stop his behaviour. The judge took
into account Power's social ineptitude, remorse, and good prospects of rehabilitation in
sentencing him.
Mark Bridger:
Williams J: R v Bridger
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While I am satisfied that the seriousness of your offending is exceptionally high, I must
nonetheless consider whether a substantial minimum term, in excess of a starting point of 30
years, would be sufficient to reflect the gravity of these offences.
For the last four weeks, the court has listened to compelling evidence of your guilt, evidence
which has also demonstrated that you are a pathological and glib liar. There is no doubt in my
mind that you are a paedophile who has for some time harboured sexual and morbid
fantasies about young girls, storing on your laptop not only images of pre‐pubescent and
pubescent girls, but foul pornography of the gross sexual abuse of young children.
What prompted you on Monday 1st October to live out one of those fantasies is a matter for
speculation but it may have been the combination of the ending of one sexual relationship and
your drinking. Whatever, you set out to find a little girl to abuse. I am not sure you targeted
April specifically – it was probably fortuitous that she can be seen on some of the images,
which you stored on your laptop, of her older sister – but you were on the prowl for a young
girl. April would not have been afraid of you partly because you have some charm and she
may well have seen you about the estate and probably because you let her know your son
was a friend of her brother (just as you had tried to charm her sister, [redacted]* into allowing
you to be her Facebook friend by mentioning your links to her parents). And so it was that
innocently and trustingly, April got into your land rover smiling and happy. What followed is
known only to you but this much is certain – you abducted her for a sexual purpose and then
murdered her and disposed of her body to hide the evidence of your sexual abuse of her