R v Bussey [2021] NSWDC 832

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Bussey [2021] NSWDC 832 Hearing dates: Monday 29 March 2021 Date of orders: Monday 29 March 2021 Decision date: 29 March 2021 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Tupman DCJ Decision: (1) Offender convicted of both offences. (2) Commonwealth Offence: Sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 18 months. (3) NSW State Offence: Sentenced to a non-parole period of 3 years and 3 months with parole thereafter of 2 years giving rise to an overall term of imprisonment of 5 years. (4) Form 1 offence taken into account on the state offence. Catchwords: CRIME — Child sex offences — Child abuse material — Using carriage service to transmit child pornography material — Procuring or grooming child for unlawful sexual activity — Two substantive offences — One Form 1 offence — Commonwealth Offence with maximum penalty of 15 years¬ — NSW State offence with maximum penalty of 15 years — Early Plea of guilty — More charges before the District Court than necessary due to EAPG Scheme — Offender was about 57 at time of offending — Offending discovered during covert online police investigation — Police used fictitious identity of a mother and child to engage the offender online — Offender believed mother and child were real people — Offender believed the fictitious child was 8 years old — Offender expressed explicit intentions to engage in sex acts with 8-year-old child — offender travelled to Sydney by train to meet the fictitious woman and child to engage in sexual contact with the child — Offender was in possession of over 4000 child pornography images — Objective seriousness of offending is around middle of the range — Offender has psychiatric issues — Static 99R assessment provides average risk of re-offending — Small criminal record — No history of similar offending — Good prospects of rehabilitation if he accepts counselling and treatment. Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW): ss 66(E)(B)(2), 91(H)(2); Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth): s 474.19(1). Category: Sentence Parties: Regina (The Crown) Cyril Bussey (The Offender) Representation: Counsel: Mr. B. Queenan (The Crown) Ms. R. Suters (The Offender)