John Wonnacott

The Crown applied to vacate a Justice of the Peace's release order for the accused, Justin Sleeper, and sought his detention pending disposition of charges.

The application was based on new evidence of the accused's non-compliance with prior release conditions and alleged errors in law by the Justice of the Peace regarding the secondary and tertiary grounds for detention.

The court found the new evidence sufficient to vacate the release order and ordered the accused's detention, also concluding that the Justice of the Peace erred in assessing the tertiary grounds, particularly concerning the gravity of the offences involving drugs, firearms, and explosives.

The accused was convicted by a jury of multiple historical sexual assaults and an indecent assault committed against three young female family members over extended periods when they were children or teenagers.

The offences involved repeated abuse of trust by an uncle and included acts of sexual touching, sexual intercourse, exposure, and grooming behaviour occurring in family homes over many years.

The court considered the severe psychological and social impact on the victims, the abuse of trust, the young age of the victims, and the offender’s prior sexual assault conviction as significant aggravating factors.

Emphasizing denunciation and deterrence in sentencing for sexual offences against children, the court imposed a substantial penitentiary sentence along with several ancillary orders.