R v Flax [2014] NSWDC 268

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: R v Flax [2014] NSWDC 268 Decision date: 05 November 2014 Jurisdiction: Criminal Before: Cogswell SC DCJ Decision: For the offence of sexual intercourse with a child under 10, a sentence of 5 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 2 years Catchwords: CRIMINAL LAW - particular offence - offences against the person - sexual intercourse with a child under 10 - performed fellatio on the child - grandfather-like relationship - sentence - relevant factors - plea of guilty despite vehement denial of offence - plea to protect family - sentenced on basis of agreed facts - plea entered relatively late - 10% discount - gravity of offence - extremely serious offence - relevance of standard non-parole period - significant breach of trust - below the middle of the range but not towards the bottom of the range - spontaneous and isolated offence -nature and circumstances of offender - no prior criminality - good character taken into account in mitigation - 66 years of age - sick and disabled partner - hardship to third party not such that it would warrant a non-custodial sentence - low risk for recidivism - special circumstances for adjusting ratio between head sentence and non-parole period - age of offender - first time in custody - first offence Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1900 (NSW), s 66A Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW), s 21A(5A) Cases Cited: Dipangkear v R [2010] NSWCCA 156 Meissner v The Queen (1995) 184 CLR 132 R v Edwards (1996) 90 ACrimR 510 R v Fisher (1989) 40 ACrimR 442 R v Wirth (1976) 14 SASR 291 Category: Sentence Parties: Regina (Crown) Michael Flax (offender) Representation: Counsel: J Fitzgerald (offender)