A 47-year-old man who made a teenager feel like a hostage when he locked her inside his house and told her to have sex with him has been sentenced.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Warren John Carter's criminal behaviour upon the vulnerable girl at his Ballarat North house in March would have been terrifying, a County Court judge said on Thursday.
"I regard the significant age gap, victim's young age, your knowledge of this and her vulnerability a considerable factor," Judge David Sexton told Carter.
"Your actions would have terrified her."
The 14-year-old girl and her 16-year-old friend attended Carter's house on March 13 and stayed into the night and early the following morning.
Carter became angry in the morning and demanded the girl have sex with him, dragging her into his bedroom and trying to pull down her pants.
He told the girl, "I need a f*** and you're not leaving this room until you have sex with me". The girl later made a statement to police saying she felt like a hostage.
The pair argued while in the bedroom before Carter swung a punch at the girl, picked up a screwdriver and lunged at her but did not make contact.
Carter then started to smash items in the room and barricaded the door to stop the teenage victims from leaving, locked the doors to the house and demanded both girls hand over their mobile phones.
He threatened to gut and shoot another man at the house.
"I regard both incidents of false imprisonment as serious examples of this offence," Judge Sexton said.
Police discovered a small number of images of the 14-year-old girl on Carter's mobile phone which were classified as child abuse material.
The judge acknowledged a neuropsychological assessment reported Carter felt remorse, regret and shame about his offending and he understood the victims would have been scared.
He took into account the victim impact statement in sentencing Carter.
Judge Sexton said the sentence must denounce Carter's offending, deter him from re-offending and deter others from serious conduct.
Carter was sentenced to three years and nine months' imprisonment with two years and eight months to serve before being eligible for parole.
He has served 267 days of his sentence through time spent on remand.
Carter pleaded guilty to two counts of false imprisonment and one count each of common law assault, threatening to inflict serious injury and possessing child abuse material.
