Law on Sexual Intercourse with a Child Under 10 in NSW

It’s reported that Anthony Sampieri has pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with a child under 10-years-of-age.

His matter was listed for sentence at the Downing Centre Sydney District Court this year, but has now been delayed to 30 January 2020 for sentence due to his health- suffering from cancer in the liver, he has had an adverse reaction to chemotherapy and was transported to the Prince of Wales Hospital.

At the time of the attack against the girl, Sampieri was already a convicted rapist and on parole after he sexually assaulted a 60-year-old woman in October 2012.

Prior to the attack against the 7-year-old-girl, Sampieri was also making numerous sexually explicit phone calls to women. Notwithstanding the fact that one person reported it to police, Sampieri remained in the community.

What followed then resulted in a Senior Constable being charged for allegedly neglecting his duties for a failure to investigate.

The sexual assault of a 7-year-old-girl

It is reported that in November 2018, Sampieri, during his parole, grabbed and took a 7-year-old girl into a Sydney dance studio bathroom where he locked the door, and then punched her after his request to her to touch his genitals was refused.

It’s reported that he then commenced raping her before holding a knife, tying a cord around the girl’s neck and dragging her to the male toilets.

Sampieri then began video recording his sexual assault, lasting about 40 minutes.

In the male toilets, Sampieri continued to hold grip of the cord around the girl’s neck before committing further sexual assaults on her.

Following this, he placed toilet paper into the girl’s mouth, binding her hands in the bathroom.

When people entered the bathroom, Sampieri demanded the girl to stay quiet, threatening to cut her neck if she didn’t.

The situation in the bathroom resulted in a fight between Sampieri who was carrying a knife and a good Samaritan, Nicola “Nick” Gilio.

While Gilio was stabbed in the abdomen with a slashed back neck, he managed to put Sampieri in a headlock while another man came to assist and knocked Sampieri out.

The 7-year-old girl fell victim to this ordeal following the conclusion of her jazz ballet class.

She walked away from her mother to go to the female toilet just after 6:30pm.

To the girl’s surprise, Sampieri was already inside for the purposes of viewing porn on his phone.

After entering the toilet, Sampieri saw and took hold of her before then throwing a punch at her face as she resisted.

The girl was subsequently taken to Randwick Children’s Hospital. The girl suffered a swollen cheek, lesions to her mouth, bruises and abrasions to her neck, bruises to her chest and further abrasions to her limbs and back.

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Law on Sexual Intercourse with a Child Under 10 in NSW

In NSW, having sexual intercourse with a child aged under 10 is a serious crime which section 66A Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) prescribes a maximum sentence penalty of life imprisonment.

Section 66C also prescribes maximum penalties for the crime of sexual intercourse with a child aged less than 16 in NSW.

Life imprisonment will mean that the offender will have to spend the rest of his/her natural life in full time custody.

A judge does not have to impose a life sentence in every case, and in fact  it’s rarely imposed because the maximum is usually reserved for the most serious offenders of this kind of offence.

When the Judge determining a sentence for this offence decides not to impose a life imprisonment penalty to an offender, the Judge will be mindful of the standard non-parole period which applies to an offence of having sexual intercourse with a child under 10.

For this offence, there is a 15-years standard non-parole period which represents the minimum period of Full time jail required to be spent before being eligible for release on parole if the case is estimated to be at the middle-of-the-range of objective seriousness for cases of this kind.

The standard non-parole period is not strictly applied, and is meant to be used by the sentencing Judge as a guide to help come to an appropriate penalty.

Some of the defences to sexual intercourse with a child under 10 includes, a medical purpose; mistaken identity or where any one of the essential elements of the crime is not proven by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt.

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