R v Barake [2020] NSWDC 937

R v Barake [2020] NSWDC 937

The offender's conduct was persistent, calculated, deceptive and predatory towards multiple vulnerable children through social media and telephone communications, with sexualised messages, requests for images, provision of phone credits and possession of child abuse material. Fitness to plead could not be revisited after guilty verdicts. Having considered the objective seriousness of the offences, the statutory requirements for State and Commonwealth sentencing, totality, concurrency and accumulation, and the offender's schizophrenia and rehabilitation needs, no sentence other than imprisonment was appropriate. Special circumstances justified adjustment of the State non-parole period and...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
09 April 2020
Procedural Posture
Criminal Sentencing for State and Commonwealth Offences / Sentence After Jury Trial and Guilty Verdicts
Outcome
Convicted on all counts and sentenced to an overall effective head sentence of 6 years imprisonment with an overall effective non-parole period of 4 years.
Legal Topics
['use Carriage Service to Groom a Child' 'incite Child Under 16 to Commit Act of Indecency' 'use Carriage Service to Send Indecent Material to a Child' 'possess Child Abuse Material' 'state and Commonwealth Sentencing Regimes' 'fitness to Plead Post Verdict' 'mental Illness and Special Circumstances' 'non Parole Periods' 'aggregate Sentences']
['criminal Law' 'sentencing'] ['use Carriage Service to Groom a Child' 'incite Child Under 16 to Commit Act of Indecency' 'use Carriage Service to Send Indecent Material to a Child' 'possess Child Abuse Material' 'state and Commonwealth Sentencing Regimes' 'fitness to Plead Post Verdict' 'mental Illness and Special Circumstances' 'non Parole Periods' 'aggregate Sentences']

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Procedural Posture

Criminal Sentencing for State and Commonwealth Offences / Sentence After Jury Trial and Guilty Verdicts

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether any issue of fitness to plead could be considered after jury verdicts of guilty.' 'Whether sentences of imprisonment were required for the State and Commonwealth offences.' 'How to structure sentences for combined State and Commonwealth offences, including concurrency, accumulation and non-parole periods.' "Whether the offender's mental illness warranted reduction in general deterrence or a finding of special circumstances." 'Assessment of the objective seriousness of grooming, incitement, indecent material and child abuse material offences.']

Ratio Decidendi

The offender's conduct was persistent, calculated, deceptive and predatory towards multiple vulnerable children through social media and telephone communications, with sexualised messages, requests for images, provision of phone credits and possession of child abuse material. Fitness to plead could not be revisited after guilty verdicts. Having considered the objective seriousness of the offences, the statutory requirements for State and Commonwealth sentencing, totality, concurrency and accumulation, and the offender's schizophrenia and rehabilitation needs, no sentence other than imprisonment was appropriate. Special circumstances justified adjustment of the State non-parole period and...

Court Disposition

Convicted on all counts and sentenced to an overall effective head sentence of 6 years imprisonment with an overall effective non-parole period of 4 years.

Orders

  • ['Non-publication orders confirmed with respect to the identity of or any material that may tend to identify each or any of the complainants/victims and/or any other young persons referred to in the judgment.' 'For State offences Counts 3, 5, 7 and 8, aggregate term of 2 years imprisonment commencing 27 January 2019...