By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A 20-YEAR-OLD man has accepted a community corrections order after pleading guilty to raping a teenage girl in a Cranbourne North park.
Dale Mawer, who was 18 at the time, and his then 16-year-old victim had been walking together in the park near a party on the night of 7 February, 2015.
In sentencing, Judge Mark Dean of the Victorian County Court said both had drank “substantial quantities” at the party and were “heavily intoxicated”.
The girl’s friends discovered the pair in the park after hearing the girl crying out, Judge Dean said.
Mawer dressed and left the scene, the court heard.
Judge Dean said he accepted the traumatic impact on the girl and her mother, as well as the distress to Mawer’s family.
“This is a tragic case,” he told Mawer.
“Much harm has been caused to the victim and to her family, and to those close to you and your family.
“Alcohol abuse and the objectification of women played an all too common role in these events.”
Mawer was to be punished, though also considered as a young first offender, the judge said.
“Rape is an extremely serious offence.
“Vulnerable young women must be protected from this kind of offending by the courts.”
The court heard that Mawer was a talented sportsman, a former TAC Cup footballer for Sandringham Dragons, and a graduate of the Hallam Sports Academy with good character references.
He had no psychological illness but required treatment for alcohol abuse.
Judge Dean accepted Mawer was “deeply remorseful” and had good prospects for rehabilitation.
Prosecutors accepted that the sentence’s purpose could be fulfilled by a community corrections order, the judge noted.
Mawer’s corrections order includes alcohol-abuse rehab, a sexual offenders’ program, 150 hours of unpaid work and supervision.
He will be named on the state’s sexual offenders register for 15 years.
