Sam Johns (A Pseudonym) V the Queen

Summary of Judgment

Sam Johns (a Pseudonym) v The Queen

[2016] VSCA 97

10 May 2016

The Court of Appeal today allowed an appeal against a sentence imposed uponthe appellantfor six convictions of rape and one conviction of intentionally causing injury. The appellant had pleaded not guilty to the charges. The charges arose out of the appellant’s conduct towards a woman who was his wife at the time of the first four charges, but who had separated from himby the time of the last three charges of rape.

On 19 June 2015, the County Court sentenced the appellant to a total effective sentence of 13 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10 years. The appeal was based on the ground that the individual sentences on each charge, the total effective sentence and the non-parole period were manifestly excessive. The appellant pointed to differences in the length of sentences imposed on charges which involved similar conduct, and to a delay of four and a half years between a complaint being made to police and the date he was sentenced. The appellant claimed that he had been rehabilitated during this period of delay, noting that he had remarried and had a child. He had no prior or subsequent convictions and was involved in the Church of Latter Day Saints.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal. The Court accepted that there were some anomalies in the lengths of sentences and cumulation ordered for a number of charges, and that the sentencing judge’s reasons did not disclose why he had sentenced in this way.

In resentencing the appellant, the Court of Appeal described his treatment of the victim as abhorrent, stating that he treated her as property rather than as an equal worthy of his respect, and that this could not be tolerated. The Court described the serious circumstances of the appellant’s offending; for instance, in the most serious offence, he used handcuffs to restrain the victim, and left her cuffed to a futon for 45 minutes after anally raping her. The appellant was resentenced to 11 years and 3 months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 8 years.

NOTE: This summary is necessarily incomplete. It is not intended as a substitute for the Court’s reasons or to be used in any later consideration of the Court’s reasons. The only authoritative pronouncement of the Court’s reasons and conclusions is that contained in the published reasons for judgment.