morality or self-control that restrains others from acts of criminal violence. This must mean that he poses a risk into the future.
113 Further, there is nothing to suggest that the offender is capable of any true empathy for others such that his dangerousness might be restrained. His lack of empathy can be readily discerned in his disturbingly callous disposal of Charlise's body, from his intention that her body would not be found such that her grandparents and mother would be left in ignorance of her fate, from his cowardly strategy of blaming Ms Mutten for his crime, and from his lack of any insight into or contrition for his crime.
114 The fact that the offender was at conditional liberty at the time of the commission of this offence, and his earlier failures to observe community-based sentencing orders, suggests that the offender may be incapable of observing the criminal law, and the community likely remains at risk from him. Whilst it is impossible to make a prediction of the offender's future conduct many years into that future, what can be said is that there is a risk of offending.
- Deterrence
115 Having regard to the breaches of sentencing orders, including Commonwealth parole, specific deterrence has a significant role to play in the sentence to be imposed upon the offender. Although the murder of children is fortunately relatively unusual, it is such a grave crime that general deterrence must also play a significant role in the determination of the penalty.
- Recognition of Harm
116 The victim impact statements give some hint of the terrible damage done by this crime. The harm done by the murder of Charlise is in the violent death of a child, but also in the very great damage caused to others. I accept that the harm done to Mr and Mrs Mutten and to Kallista Mutten is an aspect of the harm done to the community by this crime and it will be taken into account when determining sentence. Murder is an offence that encompasses the violent destruction of a human life, but also extends to the irreversible damage done to that person's family, loved ones, and community. In Charlise's case, her community includes her school and schoolmates, with children who knew her also touched by her death.
