DPP to appeal four-year jail term handed to toilet-block sex offender Hamzeh Bahrami
A four-year jail term for a sex offender who assaulted a 10-year-old in a toilet block sparked anger and vows for a law change. Now the DPP is appealing the sentence.
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A four-year prison sentence handed to a sex offender who abused a 10-year-old girl in a public toilet block is manifestly inadequate and needs to be overturned, the state’s top prosecutor will argue.
The Director of Public Prosecutions has launched an appeal in the Supreme Court against the prison sentence handed to Hamzeh Bahrami earlier this month.
Bahrami was sentenced to four years, nine months and 14 days with a non-parole period of three years for the abuse in a Blair Athol Park in 2019.
With time served he will be eligible for parole in less than two years.
The sentence caused outrage after Judge Paul Slattery allowed Bahrami to have a 40 per cent discount for the timing of his guilty plea, despite overwhelming evidence against him.
Judge Slattery labelled the offending “heinous” and “despicable”.
The discount is a discretion open to a judge and is used as an incentive for accused to avoid a lengthy and expensive trial if they admit their guilt.
However, in Bahrami’s case, Judge Slattery, despite voicing concerns about the size of the discount, reduced the sex offender’s sentence by three years.
In the wake of the sentence the state Opposition vowed to reduce any discount to only 25 per cent, an initiative quickly taken up by Attorney-General Vicki Chapman.
Ms Chapman criticised the judiciary for not using their discretion in applying the discount.
In a statement issued by Ms Chapman on Tuesday, she said the DPP would seek to have the sentence set aside.
Director of Public Prosecutions Martin Hinton QC said he would not comment on the pending appeal.
Bahrami was with his young daughter and niece at a Blair Athol playground on April 3, 2019.
He met the young victim, who had travelled to the park from her nearby home and was waiting for her mother to join her.
Bahrami lured the girl to a toilet block and abused her.
She managed to escape after kicking him and fleeing home, were her mother called the police.
Bahrami pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated indecent assault and one count of unlawful detention.
While awaiting sentence Bahrami was the recipient of reprisal attacks from other prisoners.
Opposition legal affairs spokesman Kyam Maher welcomed the appeal but said there needs to be a long-term solution to protecting children.
