OPINION

CONTENT WARNING: The following article contains a description of sexual assault.

Douglas Steele, the James Cook University (JCU) staff member who admitted to raping a 20-year-old indigenous student in 2015, will be released from jail tomorrow, having served just 17 weeks behind bars for the rape.

Seventeen weeks! Apparently that’s the going rate for raping a defenceless and vulnerable young woman in Queensland.

On the night of the assault, Steele entered a bedroom under the pretence of helping a barely conscious indigenous student. But once alone with his victim, he raped her.

He was charged in October of that same year, but was permitted to continue working at JCU and — unbelievably — was later promoted to Academic Adviser to indigenous students in the JCU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Centre.

Steele pleaded guilty to the rape in September last year but was permitted to continue working in the role for another four months while he awaited sentencing. He was allowed to voluntarily resign immediately prior to sentencing in January this year.

Worse, he was supplied with a glowing character reference written by a senior staff member from the university, to assist at sentencing. It claimed that the rape was “out of character”.

After receiving the character reference, the judge awarded Steele a two-year prison sentence to be suspended to just four months. That prison sentence ends on Tuesday and Steele will be released back into the community having completed his full 17 week sentence in the Townsville Corrections Centre.

But as Steele now prepares for his imminent re-entry into society having “repaid his debt” to the community, a number of questions remain unanswered.

For example, why did senior management allow Steele to continue working with indigenous students when they knew he had pleaded guilty to raping one?

And when it comes to the courts, is 17 weeks behind bars really a just punishment for raping a highly vulnerable student?

More to the point, how can the courts ever expect victims of other perpetrators to come forward and go through the harrowing ordeal of describing and reliving their rapes if this is all the justice they can expect to receive?

Frankly, 17 weeks is nowhere near long enough for rape. Especially the rape of a defenceless and powerless student by a person in a position of trust and authority.

I have condiments in my fridge that have been in there for longer than Steele was in prison. And most of us are probably still using the same tube of toothpaste that we were using when he went away.

This isn’t justice. This is a joke.

Even more staggering, in Queensland one in eight convicted rapists will be given a suspended sentence or some other lenient punishment — such as a community service notice — meaning they won’t spend a single night in jail. Often this is because it is their “first offence” or because the judge has been told the rape was “out of character”.

Imagine what that is like for the victim. To go through the harrowing and humiliating ordeal of invasive rape-kits, lengthy police interviews and cross examination, only to find out that even though a jury of peers has found the rapist guilty beyond all reasonable doubt, he will now be allowed to effectively walk straight out of the court, scot-free with just a suspended sentence.

It gets worse.

In NSW one in seven convicted rapists will walk out of jail with a suspended sentence or some lesser penalty such as a “bond without conviction”.

And in Victoria one in five will.

One in five. Really let that sink in.

Because what is the point of even asking rape victims to take their rapists to court if there is a 20 per cent chance that even if the person is found guilty, they will be let off with nothing more than a mild slap on the wrist?

In fact in Victoria, even paedophiles are getting off easy and the average jail time that convicted child molesters are receiving is actually decreasing. In 2014, those found guilty of persistently sexually abusing a child under 16 were given an average sentence of five and a half years, down from eight and a half years in 2011-12.

Try and wrap your mind around this: If a rapist were to carjack a vehicle in Victoria and drive it to NSW where he then raped a woman, the carjacking would be considered the far more serious offence. (The carjacking would carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, where as the rape would carry a maximum penalty of just 14 years.)

The whole situation is absurd.

James Cook University has ordered a review of their culture which is currently being conducted by former Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick. This is to be commended.

But perhaps it’s time we also ordered a review of our broken justice system and of the woefully lenient sentences metered out to the offenders in such cases as these.

If you or someone you know has been impacted by sexual assault, support is available by contacting 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 and asking to speak to a trauma counsellor.

Nina Funnell is a freelance writer. Know more? Contact ninafunnell@gmail.com