A PENOLA man convicted of blackmailing and raping a 14-year-old girl has been given a suspended sentence by a judge who described the offending as “gross” and “nothing short of vile”.
Brenton James Ross, 21, appeared in the Mount Gambier District Court on charges of possessing and disseminating child exploitation material and two charges of rape.
Ross started communicating with the victim on Snapchat and had requested and received nude photographs from the underage girl.
He screenshot and saved the images of the victim onto his phone.
In January 2017, Ross sent two pictures of the victim to her older sibling in an attempt to blackmail her.
Ross then sent threatening messages to the victim and arrived at her house uninvited, where she unwillingly met with him after he threatened to disseminate the images further.
The court heard when the victim had told Ross she did not feel comfortable with the situation, he told her “too bad” and said he would force her to engage in sexual acts with him “if you do not want them nudes around”.
The court heard Ross took the victim to a cemetery where he engaged in intercourse without her consent on two occasions.
Rumors of the offending reached the victim’s older sibling and when asked about the incident the girl admitted Ross had raped her.
Ross’ lawyer said he was “extremely remorseful” for his actions and “wished he could take it back”.
Counsel for the defence tendered psychological reports to the court which found Ross was on the lower end of intellectual competency and had difficulty understanding complex and social cues.
The prosecution rejected the notion, labelling the offending as premeditated and planned and saying Ross’ use of blackmail “demonstrates some sophistication on his part”.
“He clearly had no difficulty in articulating his intentions to the victim,” the prosecution said.
A victim impact statement read by the prosecution said the offending had increased her anxiety and depression and she suffered shock and nightmares.
“My life was very normal,” the statement said.
“My trust in people has changed.
“My confidence is not good.”
Judge Gordon Barrett described the offending as “nothing short of vile”, questioning Ross’ regret given he had not sought to apologise for the blackmail and rapes.
He also questioned one of the psychological interviews tendered to the court.
“In his interview with Dr Branson, he was not even sure if he was doing harm,” Judge Barrett said.
“Blackmail 14 year old girls and rape them?
“You do harm.
“This was a serious course of criminal conduct.
“In my view, you knew perfectly well what you were doing.”
Ross was sentenced to five years imprisonment, which was discounted by 30pc for his early guilty plea to three years and six months with a two year non-parole period.
Judge Barrett took Ross’ age, lack of prior history and mental capacity into consideration when suspending the sentence, conceding there was “some hesitation” in doing so.
He also considered Ross’ vulnerability in the prison system as outlined by the psychological reports.
Ross was made to enter a $1000, three year good behaviour bond, with two years to be spent under the supervision of a community corrections order.
He was also ordered to undertake 300 hours of community service.
