A MALE witch who hypnotised two 15-year-old girls and then prostituted and abused them has lost his bid to vary his supervision order.
Robin Angus Fletcher, 58, wanted to be allowed to complete a rehabilitation-related workbook with verbal answers only and a recording of his answers also sent to his lawyer because he is vision impaired.
His lawyer Alan Marshall told Victoria’s Court of Appeal Fletcher was prone to giving long answers, and he feared a transcriber would not summarise these correctly.
“It is his concern that if someone fills in the booklet but doesn’t regard the full context he may be disadvantaged at a later stage,” Mr Marshall told the court.
David Grace QC, for Corrections Victoria, said there were concerns with how these audio recordings could be distributed or used.
Corrections had offered to provide Fletcher with a transcriber and he could review the answers in his workbook before it was submitted.
“That ought to suffice,” Mr Grace said.
Fletcher was jailed in 1998 for offences including hypnotising two 15-year-old girls who he prostituted and abused.
He remains under the control of a supervision order until June next year.
Justice Phillip Priest said varying Fletcher’s supervision order like that fell outside of his powers because it related to Corrections processes rather than Fletcher’s rehabilitation.
“It’s not Mabo or ‘the vibe’ I’ve got to have some power to do it,” Justice Priest said.
“I’m not trivialising his concerns ... but the fact remains I just can’t impose conditions because I think it is a good idea.” The judge also said there was no evidence to suggest a transcriber could not faithfully record Fletcher’s answers.
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