The mother of a 13-year-old sexual abuse victim is "absolutely disappointed" his abuser's jail sentence will not be appealed, a sexual abuse advocate has said.
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Beyond Abuse chief executive Steve Fisher has been supporting the family as the matter has been before the courts, and Rachel Lee Reily was jailed by Justice Tamara Jago on June 1.
Justice Jago sentenced Reily to two years' prison, suspended the latter half for two years, and ordered Reily be eligible for parole after six months in jail.
Now we have just have to wait and see how the new bill goes in parliament.
- Steve Fisher
Mr Fisher said at the time the sentence was "disgraceful", and that the victim's mother was "distraught".
"What [Reily] has done to this child has given him a life sentence of psychological injury, of damage, of not being able to get on with his life," Mr Fisher said.
"For someone to effectively get a one-year sentence with a six-month non-parole period when they have given a child a life sentence is absolutely disgraceful."
Shortly after, the victim's mother wrote to Daryl Coates, the Director of Public Prosecutions, asking them to appeal the sentence, but Mr Coates has declined to do so.
The correspondence between them has been seen by Australian Community Media.
In the letter, the woman said she believed the sentence was manifestly inadequate, did not reflect the severity of the offending, did not reflect the harm caused to her son, sent the wrong message to the community and was based on gender prejudice and not evidence.
She also said she believed the sentence was outside sentencing guidelines and was inconsistent with sentences for similar offences in Tasmania.
In reply, Mr Coates said he "cannot appeal simply because I think the sentence of the judge is low".
"The law is that a Crown appeal should be rare and only in cases where there is clear, appealable error," Mr Coates said.
"I have considered the sentence for this case, taking into account other similar cases and bearing in mind that no two cases are identical.
"I do not think the sentence of two years' imprisonment with 12 months suspended is manifestly inadequate."
Mr Coates said he did not accept Justice Jago discriminated on the basis of gender, and that she took into account certain mitigatory circumstances, which must be taken into account on sentencing.
"A sentence of two years' imprisonment, albeit with 12 months suspended, is not an insubstantial sentence," he said.
"There are no prospects of success on appeal, therefore I will not appeal."
Mr Fisher said it was timely that the Liberal state government was seeking mandatory minimum sentences for child sex abusers.
"[The victim's mother] is absolutely disappointed. She's a bit crushed," he said.
"As much as we don't agree with the DPP's decision, it is just another case of why we need mandatory minimum sentencing in Tasmania.
"[The sentence] was so out of line with community expectation. It's an incredible situation that's come up and now we have just have to wait and see how the new bill goes in parliament.
"This is absolutely inadequate, and the family are not happy."
Attorney General Elise Archer said she would table the legislation in parliament on Tuesday, which would guarantee at least two years in prison for child sex abuse offences.
- Four years' imprisonment for the crime of rape where a victim is under 17 years at the time of the offence;
- Four years' imprisonment for the crime of persistent sexual abuse of a child or young person where at least one of the unlawful sexual acts is an offence of rape;
- Three years' imprisonment for the crime of persistent sexual abuse of a child or young person where there are circumstances of aggravation and none of the unlawful sexual acts is an offence of rape; and
- Two years' imprisonment for the crime of penetrative sexual abuse of a child or young person where there are circumstances of aggravation.
Mr Fisher said he believed the bill would move through the lower house easily, but he expected to need to lobby members of the legislative council for it to succeed.
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