Sourced record
Suspended every day of an 18-month sentence for the repeated rape of an 18-year-old woman.
On 6 October 2026, Justice Andrew Muller sentenced a teenager for the repeated rape of an 18-year-old woman, and then suspended the jail term in full. The teenager pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. He was convicted and sentenced to 18 months' jail, fully suspended for a good behaviour order. The Canberra Times reported that the sentence will be served in the community, rather than behind bars. He was 16, nearly 17, when he did it. He is now 18. He cannot be named because of his age. Region Canberra reported what the court was sentencing. They met at a house party in Canberra in mid-2025. She had just turned 18. They walked to a nearby green belt and kissed. He then got on top of her and forcefully and violently raped her numerous times over about 20 minutes. She was crying and said, "Please stop, I don't want this." He stopped her from using her phone. The Canberra Times reported that Muller said those unanswered calls denied her "a prospective means of assistance," that the teenager had walked her "away from her friends and the relative safety of the group environment at the party," and that he "used considerable force in pursuit of his own sexual gratification" where she "had little capacity to defend herself." Muller said the circumstances were humiliating and degrading, and that they involved significant physical force. She told the court she can no longer call her body her own. She said that night her life was stolen and would forever be changed. He suspended the sentence anyway. The Canberra Times reported that, in determining the sentence, Justice Muller accepted the teenager's prior lack of sexual experience and "limited insight into societal norms in Australia" reduced his moral culpability. The crime he was sentencing was rape. He treated limited insight into Australia's norms as a reason that rape was less the offender's moral fault. She was crying and telling him to stop, and that limited insight still counted as mitigation. The teenager was born in South Asia and moved to Australia at the start of 2025, about six months before the rape. Muller said the prospects of rehabilitation were "significantly improved" if the teenager remained in the community with close supervision. Region Canberra reported that he took into account the teenager's young age, a low risk of reoffending, the lack of prior sexual experience, a restricted opportunity for social development because he had only recently moved to Australia, and the need to promote his rehabilitation. The teenager told a report author the woman was "exaggerating stuff" and that he "didn't force her." Muller said he had "some troubling concerns about the level of insight." He said: "I have no doubt he feels sorry, but whether he feels sorry because of the impact these charges have had in his own life, or whether he feels sorry because he realises what he did was wrong ... is a little unclear." Region Canberra reported that Muller noted this same teenager had punched another student at school last year and had photographed a fellow student who was using the toilet. Asked about that photograph, he laughed and said it was a joke. Drew Pavlou wrote the next day: "I don't understand. This is sickening."
This summary states what the linked public record says.
Teen avoids jail for repeatedly raping young woman near house party
Office: Resident Judge of Australian Capital Territory
Officeholder: Andrew Muller
Filed under Australian Capital Territory, Australia .