Tasmania’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has lost an appeal to have a teenage rapist sent to prison.
The Supreme Court’s Court of Criminal Appeal last month ruled that home detention was an appropriate punishment given delays in the court system.
The DPP had argued the sentence handed down in October 2024 was “manifestly inadequate”, saying the seriousness of the crime demanded jail time.
The now 18-year-old offender was ordered to serve 15 months of home detention and complete 105 hours of community service.
A three-judge appeal court unanimously rejected the challenge, finding the sentence was within the trial judge’s discretion despite the severity of the offence.
The young man, who cannot be named, was 15 when he raped a female friend of the same age at his home in February 2022.
By the time he was sentenced in October 2024, he had turned 18, meaning any custodial sentence would have been served in an adult prison rather than youth detention.
Justice Michael Brett noted that this delay effectively removed a key sentencing option of youth detention.
“The consequence of the delay, therefore, is that by the time the sentence was imposed, an effective and appropriate sentencing option had, as a matter of practical reality, been removed from those available to his Honour,” he wrote.
Justice Brett also stressed the need for flexibility when sentencing young offenders.
“The need for such flexibility, in my view, increases the younger the age of the offender,” he said.
Justice Helen Wood added that the sentence was “an individualised outcome” and should not be taken as a precedent for future cases.
The court heard the teenager has complied with his home detention order and community service since sentencing and has not reoffended.
