Jarrad Raymond Earle, 19, avoids jail after getting 13-year-old drunk and having sex with her

A Bunbury teenager has narrowly avoided jail after getting a 13-year-old girl drunk and having sex with her at Wellington Forest during a secret overnight camping trip. Jarrad Raymond Earle, 19, appeared in Bunbury District Court last week where he received at two year suspended imprisonment order for five counts of the sexual penetration of a child between 13 and 16 years of age. In May 2022, Earle and the victim began communicating via Snapchat and had arranged to go camping that weekend with their two friends. Police say the victim and her friend, both young teenagers, did not have parental permission to go on the trip but had instead told their families they were having a sleepover at one another’s houses. On May 28, Earle and his friend picked up the two girls, drove out to Wellington Dam and set up their camp. The two friends then left the campsite to go for a walk, leaving Earle and the victim alone. The pair began to hug and kiss, before moving into Earle’s swag where he touched the girl’s breasts and digitally penetrated her - before the two friends returned and the pair stopped what they were doing. Later that evening, they both returned to the swag where they undressed and began kissing, the offender telling the girl he wanted to have sex with her to which she responded “okay”. The pair then had unprotected sex, went to bed and - the following morning - woke up and had sex again. That afternoon, the girls were dropped home with their mother concerned after discovering they had been lying about their whereabouts. The victim later disclosed the incident to her older sister, who then told her mother who then informed the police. Pre-sentence reports revealed that Earle was under the influence of alcohol at the time of offending. Court heard he had “approximately 12 cans” of alcohol of the night of the incident, and had also bought and supplied alcohol to the victim. It was submitted that he showed little concern for victim but that the offending had a “detrimental impact” on his own mental health. “Mr Earle initially appeared to lack insight with regards to the victim empathy... he has maintained the belief that the sexual conduct was consensual,” the report stated. “Upon prompting and being asked to consider the matter from the perspective of a 13-year-old he demonstrated insight to the impact upon the victim.” Defence counsel told the court the offending behaviour was an act of “naivety”with Earle thinking the victim was 16 years old. Defence submitted that Earle was a “respectful” man who ran his own business as a subcontractor, had been a “top student” and had no prior criminal record. It was further submitted that Earle is now on a mental health plan, in which he attends psychological counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy. Judge Nicholas Egan sentenced Earle to 2-year suspended imprisonment term, along with a lifetime violence restraining order to protect the victim. He said while no coercion was used during the offending, Earle took “no steps” to ascertain the victim’s age, and still chose to supply her with alcohol. “Your victim could not legally consent as a child of that age is not able to understand and assess fully the meaning and consequences of sexual activity,” he said. “I do consider the supply of alcohol... to be significant as that would inevitably have impacted her inhibitions or hesitancy... to provide factual, as opposed to legal consent.”