A teenage girl has described how the happiness was "sucked out of my body and my life" when her adult manager at a Canberra fast food store took her to his bedroom for sex.
"For two months after the incident, I suffered in silence from the shame and embarrassment," she said in a victim impact statement read to the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Despite the girl writing that she had lost a part of herself that she would never get back, perpetrator Bradley Bartell will not lose his liberty.
The 21-year-old offender escaped time behind bars as he was sentenced to a wholly suspended jail term of 12 months, with an associated 18-month good behaviour order.
In sentencing, Justice John Burns said Bartell was 20 when he began training as a shift manager and supervising the victim at their workplace in February last year.
During that same month, Bartell began communicating with the then-15-year-old victim on Facebook and Snapchat, sending increasingly sexual messages as time went by.
Justice Burns said that on March 10 last year, Bartell picked the girl up and took her to his home, where she ignored his requests to "cuddle" in bed.
Bartell eventually took her back to her place, but over the next few days he repeatedly asked the victim to come over again and encouraged her to "sneak out" if necessary to make this happen.
On one occasion when the girl was at his home in March 2020, he undressed her and engaged in three forms of unprotected sex with her.
Justice Burns said Bartell had then impressed upon the girl that what had happened must remain secret.
The girl later reported the incident to police, however, and Bartell quickly made "full admissions" about his conduct and the fact he knew it was illegal.
Bartell, who is studying sport science at university, ultimately pleaded guilty to a "rolled-up" charge of engaging in sexual intercourse with a child.
Justice Burns said on Tuesday that the fact the victim had almost reached the age of consent at the time in question did not mitigate the offence.
"There is a very real power imbalance between a 20-year-old male and a 15-year-old female, particularly in circumstances where the male is employed to supervise the female in a workplace," he said.
The judge also noted that the victim would likely "feel the impacts of this offence for some time".
Earlier on Tuesday, the girl had said in a victim impact statement read to the court on her behalf that she had struggled to sleep after the incident, knowing that Bartell was aware of where she lived.
She said she had felt unsafe in her workplace and would not wish what had happened to her on anyone.
"I find it hard learning to trust boys again ... and there are days where I don't want to be touched," the girl said.
Justice Burns said in sentencing that Bartell had told the author of a pre-sentence report that he knew his actions were wrong.
"As an adult, responsibility rested with you," the judge told the 21-year-old.
"Of course, you have nobody to blame for this but yourself."
Justice Burns ultimately found it was unlikely that Bartell would reoffend in a similar way, saying the 21-year-old appeared to have good prospects for rehabilitation.
In light of that, he handed down the suspended sentence and Bartell was free to walk out of court, having arrived facing the prospect of up to 14 years behind bars.
