A Penola man who was convicted of raping and blackmailing a 14-year-old girl, and then handed a suspended sentence by the judge, has had the suspended sentence set aside and will now spend at least the next 3 years and 8 months in prison.
Brenton James Ross was 20 when he started communication with the victim. He and the victim shared naked photos of themselves, before Ross used these to blackmail the victim into having sex with him on two occasions.
In July of this year, Judge Barratt sentenced Ross to 3 years and 6 months, but decided to suspend the sentence based on the defendant's alleged intellectual disability, young age, and lack of previous offending. Since the case was made public here on Limestone Coast Community News, many young women and girls came forward and presented evidence that he had been harassing and abusing them with sexual intent over social media for some time, information that was passed on to Police.
In September it was announced that the Director of Public Prosecutions would be appealing the sentence, arguing that the sentence was too lenient and that given the offences against the 14-year-old victim were some of the most serious of their kind, the sentence should not have been suspended. It was also argued whether Ross did actually have an intellectual disability, or if he was just "immature".
The offending occurred between December 2016 and May 2017, with text message records show that Ross said "I can easily send them nudes all around town", with the victim responding "Your threating my by saying that ok and please don’t (sic)" He replied "All I wanna do is **** u a few times and I won’t send the nudes around (sic)".
At another point Ross said "We will **** as many times as I want to." The victim told him she felt uncomfortable, and he replied "Too bad." The victim begged Ross to delete the photos, but he continued to threaten to "send them around town" unless she agreed to have sex with him.
The first count involved Ross coming to her house and demanding that she get in the car. She refused, and his threats continued. He drove her to a nearby cemetery, and when she refused to remove her clothing, he forcibly did it himself before raping her. The second rape happened two months later, again at the cemetery. On both occasions, the victim told Ross that she did not want to have sex with him.
The matter was reported to police after the victims sister was made aware of the situation.
The sentence handed down this morning in the Supreme Court of South Australia of 4 years and 7 months with a non-parole period of 3 years and 8 months will begin today.
Brenton James Ross was 20 when he started communication with the victim. He and the victim shared naked photos of themselves, before Ross used these to blackmail the victim into having sex with him on two occasions.
In July of this year, Judge Barratt sentenced Ross to 3 years and 6 months, but decided to suspend the sentence based on the defendant's alleged intellectual disability, young age, and lack of previous offending. Since the case was made public here on Limestone Coast Community News, many young women and girls came forward and presented evidence that he had been harassing and abusing them with sexual intent over social media for some time, information that was passed on to Police.
In September it was announced that the Director of Public Prosecutions would be appealing the sentence, arguing that the sentence was too lenient and that given the offences against the 14-year-old victim were some of the most serious of their kind, the sentence should not have been suspended. It was also argued whether Ross did actually have an intellectual disability, or if he was just "immature".
The offending occurred between December 2016 and May 2017, with text message records show that Ross said "I can easily send them nudes all around town", with the victim responding "Your threating my by saying that ok and please don’t (sic)" He replied "All I wanna do is **** u a few times and I won’t send the nudes around (sic)".
At another point Ross said "We will **** as many times as I want to." The victim told him she felt uncomfortable, and he replied "Too bad." The victim begged Ross to delete the photos, but he continued to threaten to "send them around town" unless she agreed to have sex with him.
The first count involved Ross coming to her house and demanding that she get in the car. She refused, and his threats continued. He drove her to a nearby cemetery, and when she refused to remove her clothing, he forcibly did it himself before raping her. The second rape happened two months later, again at the cemetery. On both occasions, the victim told Ross that she did not want to have sex with him.
The matter was reported to police after the victims sister was made aware of the situation.
The sentence handed down this morning in the Supreme Court of South Australia of 4 years and 7 months with a non-parole period of 3 years and 8 months will begin today.
Comments
Post a Comment