The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions will consider appealing against a controversial sentence handed to a teenage boy who pinned down and raped a young woman he met at a Canberra house party.
Warning: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault.
The teenager, who was 16 at the time of the rape, pleaded guilty in the ACT Children's Court to sexual intercourse without consent.
The now-18-year-old avoided jail time and instead received an 18-month suspended sentence upon entering a good behaviour order.
In sentencing last week, ACT Supreme Court Justice Andrew Muller accepted the teenager's "prior lack of sexual experience and inevitably limited insight into societal norms in Australia … are factors mitigating his moral culpability".
The teenager had moved to Canberra from Bhutan in February 2025, six months before the assault occurred.
He cannot be named because he was a minor at the time of the offence.
He has spent one night in custody since the offending in August 2025.
Petition to remove judge from position
The sentence has sparked fierce public backlash from parts of the Canberra community.
A petition calling for the removal of Justice Muller had on Wednesday received 4,000 signatures.
Petition organiser Joanne Matthews said she wanted the justice system to reconsider the sentence.
"They are supposed to reflect what society wants, and this is not what society wants,"
she said.
Ms Matthews, a Canberra resident, said she was disappointed the court considered the teen's short time in Australia to be a mitigating factor.
"Does this give permission for anyone coming in to say, 'Well, I'm ignorant of the law, I can commit these horrendous crimes and that's OK'?" she said.
Justice Andrew Muller handed the offender an 18-month suspended sentence. (Supplied: ACT government)
A separate petition sponsored by Canberra Liberals MLA Peter Cain was launched on Tuesday calling for a public inquiry into the ACT's sentencing framework for sexual violence.
"The community needs assurance that sentencing outcomes are justified, assessments of reoffending risk are rigorous, and mitigating factors do not diminish victims' entitlement to justice or community safety," the petition, which has received 170 signatures, said.
The office of ACT Attorney-General Tara Cheyne declined to comment on the case, saying any decision about an appeal was a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
An ACT government spokesperson said the territory's legislative framework was designed to safeguard the independence of the DPP.
"Under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1990, the attorney-general may issue directions or guidelines to the director only on matters of a general nature and cannot direct how the DPP should act in a specific case,"
the spokesperson said.
'Unclear' what offender is sorry for: judge
During sentencing, the court heard the teen and his 18-year-old victim had met at a party in Holt where they kissed before he asked her to go for a walk a few houses away.
He then pinned her down, ripped her clothes, and repeatedly sexually assaulted her.
The victim, who also cannot be named, said she "just froze" and told the offender, "please stop, I don't want this".
She estimated the offending lasted for 20 minutes.
The victim told the court she wanted to run away but was scared the offender would hurt her.
Justice Muller said he acknowledged "troubling concerns" about the teen's insights.
"I have no doubt he feels sorry," he said.
"But whether he feels sorry because of the impact these charges have had in his own life, or whether he feels sorry because he realises what he did was wrong and recognises the abhorrence with which the community regards his wrongful behaviour, is a little unclear,"
he said.
The offender, who is currently completing year 12, had previously been issued a restraining order for punching another student at school and had admitted to photographing another student using the toilet.
Speaking broadly about sentencing in sexual assault cases, ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Juliette Ford said the lifelong impact a crime had on victims was not always understood.
The commissioner said victims generally reported incidents "because they have faith in the criminal justice process and because they don't want what happened to them to happen to someone else."
"It is very important, then, that the outcomes do properly reflect the impact of the harm caused to them," he said.