Callum Clissold sentenced over Torquay sexual assault

A judge has told a sexual assault victim he hopes she’ll heal from the experience, while the man who assaulted her avoided a jail sentence.

Callum Clissold.

A Torquay man who took advantage of a woman’s intoxication to sexually assault her has avoided jail.

Callum Clissold, 32, was sentenced in the County Court at Geelong on Friday, having pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault earlier this year.

Clissold met the woman through a Facebook page for singles in 2021, and in June the pair were at his home Torquay, where they drank alcohol and ordered a pizza.

At around 8.30 to 9pm, the woman recalled sitting on the floor, fully clothed, however the next thing she remembered was waking up in Clissold’s bed, partially undressed and with a sore vagina.

In his interview, he admitted to touching the woman but believed it to be consensual, the court heard.

In sentencing Clissold, Judge Gregory Lyon found Clissold’s cognitive function on the night was “impaired” by his own drinking and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Clissold had been diagnosed as having ASD in two psychological reports, which Judge Lyon referred to in his remarks.

The court heard Clissold had poor critical thinking skills and may have misread social cues, leading to a “lapse of judgment”.

The court heard Clissold also had limited social skills and self-control due a lack of mental health treatment in his upbringing, and parents who were emotionally neglectful.

One of the reports concluded that Clissold would be vulnerable in prison and at risk of

developing a “major mental illness” due to his inability to adapt, the court heard.

Judge Lyon found a non-custodial sentence was “both open and appropriate” and placed Clissold on a 20-month community corrections order (CCO) with 150 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Lyon said the sentence had been the subject of “anxious consideration” over a period of months and the court heard Clissold’s actions had left a “profound trauma” upon the victim.

“It is apparent (the victim) is going to take a long time to heal,” Judge Lyon said.

Judge Lyon found Clissold to be “a doubtful, if not unreliable historian” who had provided contradictory accounts of his life to his lawyer and assessing psychologists.

The court heard Clissold gave a “long, rambling” and “hard to follow” answers during his police interview, and displayed a lack of insight into his offending, at times denying and at others accepting his guilt.

However, Judge Lyon found Clissold’s prospects of rehabilitation to be “reasonable”, noting he had been assessed as a low-risk of reoffending.

After delivering his sentence, Judge Lyon addressed Clissold’s victim, explaining he had to take a number of factors into account and wishing her a “happy and fulfilling life”.

“The criminal justice process is a difficult process for the victims of sexual assault,” he said, noting it doesn’t always produce results victims “feel are appropriate”.

“I’m not asking for any form of forgiveness for the sentence I’ve imposed... I hope you are able to move forward going into the future,” he said.

Originally published as Callum Clissold sentenced over Torquay sexual assault