New legislation would ban paedophiles from serving their prison sentences on home detention
Convicted paedophiles will be banned from serving prison sentences on home detention under new legislation to be introduced in state parliament by the Opposition.
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A victim of child sex abuse and advocates of survivors want laws reformed to close loopholes that allow paedophiles to be sentenced to home detention.
The Opposition will on Tuesday introduce legislation that would ban convicted paedophiles from serving jail terms at home.
The proposed legislation was prompted by concerns that paedophile Vivian Frederick Deboo may be sentenced to home detention after this month pleading guilty to multiple counts of indecent assault and gross indecency against two boys in the 1990s.
Deboo, 74, of Pasadena, is currently on bail and will be sentenced in the District Court in the coming weeks.
His lawyer has indicated she will be asking the court to sentence her client to home detention – a move opposed by prosecutors.
A man known as ‘B’, who along with his brother was abused by Deboo in the 1990s, has called on parliament to set aside the “political football” and reform sentencing laws in relation to paedophiles.
However, he has warned against rushing through legislation, fearing it could result in some loopholes remaining.
“We support rapid changes to making home detention unavailable to paedophiles, but we also fully support this overhaul being done carefully and with consultation,” he said.
“If parliament rushes through legislation that means my abuser has to go to jail, of course I would support that - but I wouldn’t want to risk there still being a loophole that means the next survivor misses out.”
‘B’ said a bipartisan approach would best serve survivors and ensure no further reform was needed.
He said he was also pleased the State Government was moving to reform sentencing laws.
“For 30 years, my brother and I felt like we were the ones on trial, that no one wanted to listen to our story or pursue it, so what’s happening on this issue, right now, is incredible,” he said.
“If we can be the spark that helps ignite legislative reform in this state to put paedophiles away, that is powerful stuff for a survivor of child sex abuse.
“But I’m not a fan of political football on any day of the week, so I would encourage both sides of politics to aggressively pursue well-thought-out, thorough legislative change to get tough on paedophiles.”
Founder of child protection foundation Bravehearts, Hetty Johnston said she was “really pleased” with the proposed legislation.
She said special circumstances, such as age and illness, should not be grounds for granting home detention for paedophiles.
“These are people who have sought to destroy human lives, and destroy all their prospects for any kind of full and happy life,” she said.
“I don’t care how old they are – They didn't care how old the children were.
“Home detention is a soft option - it feels like the naughty corner, not jail.”
However, the State Government has described the Opposition’s move to introduce the legislation as “absolutely laughable”, saying Labor was responsible for introducing lax laws while in power in the first place.
In 2016, the then-Labor Government introduced laws that gave SA courts the option of ordering “low risk” offenders to serve any term of imprisonment on home detention rather than in jail.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Kyam Maher said the proposed amendments would tighten current legislation.
“There are already a number of classes of people, including those for murder, for terrorism acts (and) we’re putting into that part as well child sex offences so that people convicted of those offences are not eligible for court-ordered home detention,” he said.
“At the moment, serious sexual offenders, that would include some of the offences that Mr Deboo has committed, can only get court-ordered home detention if special reasons exist – We think there shouldn’t be even that slightest gap.”
Special reasons include age and illness.
Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas said Labor hoped the legislation would receive bipartisan support to block any chance Mr Deboo, and any convicted paedophiles, from being able to access court-ordered home detention.
“The fact that Mr Deboo has open to him a very small possibility of getting access to court-ordered home detention is in our view completely unsatisfactory,” he said.
“No parent in (the Pasadena) community, indeed no parent in any community throughout the state, should go to bed at night concerned about the fact that a convicted, notorious repeat offender paedophile is living next door to them.”
Mr Malinauskas denied the announcement was a backflip on its own 2016 amendments.
“I think parliament always has the right intention but has to be able to contemplate new circumstances that present themselves,” he said.
Attorney-General Vickie Chapman said the move was “absolutely laughable” but conceded “sentencing law is a mess”.
“We understand there are deficiencies with Labor’s sentencing laws and we are working our way through those,” she said.
“I can’t say we’re going to support a bill that we haven’t seen.
“If the law requires legislative reform … we are up to fixing it and prepared to do that.”
Ms Chapman said the government was already reviewing sentencing laws, including in relation to penalty discounts.
Greens MLC Mark Parnell said he would “look at the detail” of the proposal.
“We’ll give it full consideration, but the most important thing is you’ve got to keep the community safe,” he said.
“For these serious offences, home detention is not going to be an appropriate option in most cases, but I don’t think politicians are the best people to make that decision.
“The sentencing discretion is best left to the courts.”
SA Best MLC Connie Bonaros said her party supported the mooted legislation.
“Generally speaking, SA-BEST overwhelmingly supports Labor’s plans to introduce legislation to eliminate the possibility of court-ordered home detention for paedophiles,” she said.
“But any such laws need to be conscious of the fact there will always be exceptions to the full definition of the law – like young people who get swept up with the emotion of young love and not both of legal consent.”