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District Court 27 May 2026

R v Chapman

[2026] NSWDC 283

Other
CRIME SENTENCE 14 YEARS UNDER AUTHORITY INCEST

Citation: R v Chapman [2026] NSWDC 283
Court: District Court of New South Wales
Date: 27 May 2026
Judge(s): Bourke SC DCJ

Background

The offender is the maternal grandfather of the victim. Between July 2020 and August 2022, he made regular visits to the family home in Muswellbrook, where the victim lived with her mother and two brothers. During those visits, he committed repeated sexual offences against his granddaughter.

The offending began just before the victim turned 14 and continued after she turned 16. The offender used cannabis to incapacitate the victim, jammed the bedroom door shut during incidents, made threats of self-harm and violence to secure compliance, and bribed her with cash. He also directed her to record sexual incidents on video, threatening to harm or ruin her life if she refused.

The offender pleaded guilty to three principal offences and asked the court to take into account four additional offences on Form 1 documents (a procedural mechanism in NSW sentencing that allows an offender to have other admitted offences considered without being separately convicted of them). His pleas were entered at the earliest opportunity.

  • What sentences were appropriate for three offences of differing gravity involving the same victim across a prolonged period?
  • What discount applied for early guilty pleas?
  • Whether special circumstances existed to justify varying the standard ratio between the non-parole period and the head sentence.
  • How totality principles applied when sentencing for multiple offences with Form 1 matters.

Decision

Offence gravity and objective seriousness: The primary offence (sequence 19) was aggravated sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14, carrying a maximum of 20 years and a standard non-parole period of nine years. The aggravating circumstance was that the victim was under the authority of the offender. The conduct involved drugging the victim, physical coercion, threats, and ejaculation without a condom. The court treated this as a very serious example of the offence.

Incest offence (sequence 16): This charge related to sexual intercourse with the same victim after she had turned 16, when she remained in a family relationship of dependency and vulnerability relative to the offender. Two additional incest offences were taken into account on Form 1.

Recording intimate image (sequence 9): The offender directed the victim to record sexual acts on her phone, coercing her compliance through threats. This offence carried a maximum of three years imprisonment.

Guilty plea discount, special circumstances, and totality: A 25% discount was applied to each indicative sentence for the utilitarian value of the early guilty pleas. The court found special circumstances justifying a variation to the standard non-parole period ratio, based on the offender's first time in custody and his medical and intellectual issues. Applying totality principles, the court determined that at least a moderate degree of notional accumulation was required across the three sentences, particularly between sequences 19 and 16, to reflect the discrete and serious criminality of each. An aggregate sentence was imposed.

Orders Made

  • Aggregate head sentence of 8 years, 6 months imprisonment, commencing 3 May 2023 and expiring 2 November 2031.
  • Non-parole period of 5 years, 6 months, expiring 2 November 2028.
  • Indicative sentence for sequence 19 (with Form 1 matters): head sentence of 6 years, 9 months; non-parole period of 4 years, 4 months.
  • Indicative sentence for sequence 16 (with Form 1 matters): head sentence of 3 years, 9 months.
  • Indicative sentence for sequence 9: 12 months.
  • The offender was placed on the Child Protection Offenders Register and notified of his obligations under the Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000.

Key Takeaways

  • The District Court applied a 25% guilty plea discount across all three offences, consistent with the offender having entered pleas at the earliest opportunity, reflecting the utilitarian value of those pleas under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999.
  • Where multiple serious offences are committed against a single victim across distinct occasions, totality principles still require at least a moderate degree of notional accumulation to ensure the aggregate sentence reflects the discrete criminality of each offence.
  • Special circumstances warranting a reduction in the proportion of the sentence served before parole eligibility were established on two grounds: the offender's first time in custody, and the presence of identified medical and intellectual issues.
  • Coercive conduct directed at a child victim, including threats of self-harm, threats of violence, and deliberate intoxication, formed part of the factual foundation for the court's assessment of objective seriousness across the principal and Form 1 offences.
  • An aggregate sentencing approach was taken under the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999, with the court required to nominate indicative individual sentences before arriving at the single combined term.

Legislation and Cases Referenced

Legislation
- Crimes Act 1900
- Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999
- Child Protection (Offenders Registration) Act 2000

Cases
- Baker v R [2022] NSWCCA 195
- Commonwealth DPP v De La Rosa [2010] NSWCCA 194
- Lane v R [2025] NSWCCA 113
- RG v R [2025] NSWCCA 36