I knew there would be another day that I would come to learn of a case that would outrage me as much as the Jackson Williams case did and I would not be able to stay silent about it. I knew there would be another lenient sentence where yet again our so-called Justice System got it very dangerously wrong.

 

This time his name is Tyler Sullivan. He was 20 years old and at the ripe young age of 20, he groomed his victim under the guise of being 14 through online chatting, travelled across Melbourne in an Uber, crept into her home, and raped her whilst her mum and sister slept. SHE was TWELVE.

 

 And he knew she was 12!!

 

Sadly, we are learning that yet again, a ridiculous amount of leniency was given to the offender and Judge Richard Maidment sentenced him to only 12 months imprisonment.  The maximum sentence for this crime in Victoria is 15 years.  The judge accepted that this paedophile has mental health issues, you know anxiety, depression... all the usual tactics that the defence use and plays on and the Judge feeds right into it but it is the words below that made my blood boil. This is one of the reasons Sullivan was offered such a lenient sentence.

 

“his slight and childlike appearance is likely to be seen as attractive to sexual predators that you may encounter in a prison environment”.  

 

It’s hard to fathom that we live in a State where the possible safety risk of a sexual offender is taken into consideration. Sullivan himself, is a sexual predator and needs to be sentenced appropriately for the crime he committed. This was not a minor crime.  Sullivan sexually assaulted a 12-year-old child and our System believes 12 months in jail to be sufficient enough punishment!?   This gives me zero confidence in the System designed to protect the citizens of Victoria from these monsters who walk amongst us.

 

You don’t have to be a parent to feel the kind of emotions that I felt when I came to learn of this, being a mum of 3 daughters myself, this story not only hurts my heart but angers me right to my very core. Just imagine if it was your daughter.  Your innocent, beautiful little girl who now must somehow navigate life and her way through this trauma.  Her mother spoke on A Current Affair and is rightly so, infuriated with the outcome. “I was livid, It took every ounce of me to keep my cool in that courtroom. All I want is justice. My daughter has got to live with this for the rest of her life. I want him to get the maximum penalty. I think any less than that is actually letting my daughter down. He’s destroyed her life”  

 

Sullivan is now 22 and the system had tried to suppress his name. It’s only because of A Current Affair that we are learning his name. Tyler Sullivan does not deserve his anonymity and the women of Victoria need to know his face and name because in 12 months' time, a convicted rapist will be back walking amongst us and Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston believes he is likely to offend again… “I don’t believe someone who is such a serious committed offender can ever change that behaviour”.

 

              My purpose for this petition is simple and straightforward. 

         THE OPP MUST APPEAL THIS SENTENCE. 

 

Please show your support by signing and sharing this petition and stand in solidarity with this young lady. Let's show her that we are outraged for her, show her we will not and do not accept the judge's decision. We need to make noise about this. If the change does not happen now, then when? How many other victims does our system have to fail before the change is made?