Thomas Earle sentenced in ACT Supreme Court, avoids time in jail

Emily Campbell-Ross, who has given permission to be named, was raped by her close friend, Thomas Earle, 26, in 2021.

"The women of the ACT were just told that if the right to their own body is removed, community service is a justified punishment," Ms Campbell-Ross said.

"The men of the ACT were just told that they can rape a woman and never see the inside of a prison cell."

On Friday, the ACT Supreme Court sentenced Earle to a three-year term of imprisonment to be served in the community, rather than in jail.

Ms Campbell-Ross labelled Earle's punishment for raping her as "a slap on the wrist".

"The justice system has shown us that once again, they will always protect a white man," she said in a statement.

"I get the life sentence, and Thomas merely gets a slap on the wrist."

After what she described as "anxious consideration", Chief Justice Lucy McCallum sentenced Earle to a three-year intensive correction order with 300 hours of community service and mandatory counselling.

In February, a jury found Earle guilty of raping Ms Campbell-Ross, who was a close friend at the time.

He was found guilty of one count of sexual intercourse without consent and one count of committing an act of indecency without consent.

He was found not guilty of two other counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

Earle had been staying the night at the victim's home on December 29, 2021 when the crimes occurred.

They had previously dated for about a month before deciding to be friends.

On the night in question, Ms Campbell-Ross invited Earle over for dinner and they smoked marijuana, drank alcohol and shared "jungle juice", also known as amyl nitrate. They then watched a movie in the lounge room and she went to bed while Earle stayed up.

Ms Campbell-Ross later awoke about 2am to find him spooning her and touching her genitals. This was the subject of the first act of indecency charge which the jury found Earle guilty of.

However, the 26-year-old was acquitted of digitally and orally raping her. Jurors did find him guilty of then penile-vaginally raping Ms Campbell-Ross.

In sentencing, Chief Justice McCallum found, for the indecency charge, Earle knew the victim did not consent because she was asleep at the time.

However, for the rape she said the man had "honestly, but mistakenly, believed" the sex was consensual.

"Finding himself capable [of getting an erection] on this occasion the offender did not turn his mind to the need to ascertain consent," Chief Justice McCallum said.

"He proceeded in a selfish way.

"The result is tragic indeed."

READ ALSO:

While the Chief Justice acknowledged Ms Campbell-Ross suffered "severe mental distress" and was "absolutely devastated", she said Earle was "very unlikely to reoffend".

"Outside the present offending, the offender is a person of good character with strong pro-social influences," she said.

Ms Campbell-Ross previously read an impact statement to the court where she described feeling "like I have been murdered, but my body has been left alive".

"My soul, my spirit, all the little things that make up [me], have been crushed," the victim said.

"I want justice for him assaulting my body, sure. But what I really want is justice for him assaulting my spirit."

Earle had written a letter to the court ahead of his sentence hand-down on Friday.

"I see now that I should have communicated better ... in the future I will be much more wary," part of the letter read.

"I do not find any joy or satisfaction [in] the hurting of anyone."

Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said the letter revealed "genuine regret for the harm his conduct has caused".

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: