Jacob Heatlie Johnston: Branxholm man, 21, sentenced for bestiality offences

A young Tasmanian man who abused two goats in the state’s North-East will remain in the community. A judge said a “fair and just society” would not lock up someone so disadvantaged in life.

Jacob Heatlie Johnston has pleaded guilty to two counts of bestiality. Picture: Alex Treacy

A young man who sexually assaulted two goats in Tasmania’s North-East last year lives in a dilapidated caravan in his dad’s yard, lost what few friends he had, and was fired from his job, a court has heard.

Branxholm man Jacob Heatlie Johnston, 21, previously pleaded guilty in Launceston Supreme Court to two counts of bestiality, committed against two separate goats on June 10 and November 3 last year.

The June 2 attack – committed against a beloved pet goat its owners considered as family – saw Johnston lead the animal from Tin Timbers Cafe and Art Gallery – to a Centenary Park amenities block before abusing it for a protracted period of time.

Justice Robert Pearce told the court holiday-makers at the nearby Branxholm Campground could hear the goat bleating for “up to two hours”.

Five months later, when he abused the second goat, he left DNA evidence of his foul crime, thus linking him also to the first assault, the court heard.

Launceston Magistrates Court. Picture: Katie Hall

Justice Pearce said there had been a “moral outrage” in response to the crimes, with widespread calls on social media to imprison Johnston, but that a “fair and just society” would not send “a young man in his circumstances” to prison.

Johnston, assessed as being of “extremely low intelligence consistent with having a mild intellectual disability,” had been the subject of “significant deprivation and hardship” in his short life, Justice Pearce said.

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So poor were his social skills that he spent “a good deal of his time” living in the bush, where he built himself a shack and spending his days woodcutting and fishing.

Johnston began using cannabis extensively by the age of 12, but fell into “bad company” at age 18, leading to the abuse of alcohol and methamphetamine.

It was submitted the defendant’s crimes were “spontaneous” and drug-fuelled – meth in particular drives people to exhibit “unusual sexual behaviours,” Justice Pearce noted – but he concluded Johnston may nevertheless have an underlying paraphilic disorder.

Justice Pearce said Johnston had been “shamed and humiliated” by the offending.

He had been fired from his wood cutting job, what few friends he maintained had abandoned him, and Johnston now lives in a “dilapidated caravan” in his father’s yard.

The opprobrium generated by Johnston’s actions “may well last for the rest of his life,” Justice Pearce said.

He agreed that the offending was “morally repugnant,” but there was a “dire need for engagement with therapeutic services in the community,” rather than the corrupting influence of prison.

Justice Pearce placed Johnston on a two-year community corrections order, ordered he compensate the goats’ owners for veterinary bills, and placed him on the sex offenders registry for five years.