A teenage boy avoided being sent to jail when the ACT Supreme Court sentenced him on Tuesday. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to child abuse.
The mother of a teenage boy who started sexually abusing his younger sister when he was 13 says their family “has been ripped in two” due to the abuse he inflicted.
The offender, who cannot be named for legal reasons due to his age, avoided jail when he was handed a two-year fully suspended sentence on Tuesday (18 November).
During his sentencing hearing last month, the ACT Supreme Court heard he accepted he abused his sister about once a month over a year, although he was not charged for most of these acts.
Justice Belinda Baker said the offender lived with his family in the 2020s when he committed three sex acts on his sister, who is several years younger than him, while he was 13.
Then, when he was 15, he forced her to perform sex acts on him on two occasions.
“Don’t tell anyone, otherwise I’ll be in big trouble,” he said after the first incident.
Before the second incident, he and a second teenager had been talking about incest over the social media app Snapchat.
He then filmed two videos of the second incident and sent them to this teenager. The next day, a third teenager went to a police station and reported that they had also received these videos via Snapchat.
Police went to the offender’s home, where he admitted sending the videos, but claimed he’d never done anything like that before.
The officers seized his phone and saw the second teenager appeared to encourage his behaviour.
The offender later admitted he’d lied and had assaulted his sister before because he was “curious” and “wanted to experiment”.
He was arrested and spent two nights in custody before being granted bail on conditions, including that he not return to his parents’ home and instead live with another family member.
Justice Baker said it was clear the offender knew his abuse was wrong, as he took steps to discourage his sister from reporting it.
She also said he originally wouldn’t apologise to his sister as “he saw himself as the person who was being punished” and he thought his offending was “not too bad”.
But he later said he would apologise and was now disgusted with his actions.
The offender pleaded guilty to two counts of incest and a single count of using a carriage service to transmit child abuse material.
He had previously pleaded guilty to another charge for an offence committed when he was 13, but as the age of criminal responsibility was increased to 14 in the ACT in July 2025, he was no longer criminally liable for that charge.
Justice Baker said the offender’s parents, who had been loving and supportive to him, gave a deeply impactful statement to the court, saying their daughter was still a happy child despite the abuse.
“She loves her brother and doesn’t really understand why she can’t see or talk to him,” the parents said.
The children’s mother spoke of the devastating effect the offending had on the whole family and how they were afraid of what would happen as her daughter got older and possibly started to comprehend what happened to her.
“Our family has been ripped in two,” she said.
“This is such a difficult thing to talk about and to share.”
Justice Baker said the offender was remorseful, noted his medical and mental health issues, and how forensic psychologist Ahu Kocak thought his risk of reoffending would increase if he were taken into custody.
When sparing him jail, she said his experience after his arrest had brought home the seriousness of his actions, but he would not be allowed to live with his sister for the foreseeable future.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
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