The sentence of the Court is 4 years imprisonment. Any time spent on remand is to be deducted. Given the contents of the pre-sentence report, I have considered and found it unnecessary to make a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Step 1 of the sentencing exercise requires the Court determine the category of offence with reference to harm and culpability. Under the UK Sentencing Guidelines on Assault by Penetration there are three categories of harm and culpability [27].
Having regard to my assessment of the case after carefully considering the evidence and the submissions of both Counsel, I have determined that the offence falls into Category 3 as to harm and Culpability A due to the abuse of the trust of the complainant as a close family member. In which case the appropriate starting point would be 4 years’ custody with a category range of 2-6 years’ custody [28].
Having regard to the age of the victim and the location of the offence (the abuse of trust have already been used to determine culpability and cannot be double counted), I adjust the sentence upwards by a year to take account of those aggravating factors. I also take account of the mitigating factors of no previous convictions recorded against the name of the defendant and previous good character, long employment history and a good presentence report, to reduce the sentence by one year so that the sentence is one of 4years imprisonment [29].
Is immediate custody warranted or can the sentence be suspended? Given the principles of sentencing earlier referred to and the seriousness of the offence, I have determined that it would not be appropriate to suspend the sentence [30].