Allen v Bradley

[2010] QDC 84

[2010] QDC 84

DISTRICT COURT
APPELLATE JURISDICTION
JUDGE HARRISON
No 2881 of 2009

BOLTON JAY ALLEN	Appellant
and
MICHAEL LEE BRADLEY	Respondent
BRISBANE ..DATE 01/03/2010 JUDGMENT

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HIS HONOUR: In this matter the appellant Bolton Jay Allen was

Magistrate fixed the period of 12 months and why he applied	20
the non-eligibility date of eight months.
Attempts have been made by the respondent to find out what
happened in Court but, not surprisingly, the police
prosecutor, who would have done many matters that day, has no	30
particular recall of this case.
At the outset I clarified with Mr Allen, who represents
himself, whether or not he was seeking to appeal in relation
to the head sentence or whether his appeal related more	40
towards the non-eligibility period of eight months. He indicated that he did not take issue with the head sentence, but sought my intervention in relation to the eligibility period.
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convicted in the Magistrates Court at Caboolture on the 7th of which also appeared to have certain circumstances of aggravation.

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He was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment and the Magistrate
fixed the parole eligibility date at eight months.
Unfortunately, we do not have a transcript of those
proceedings. Therefore, it is unclear as to just why the

It has been argued on behalf of the respondent by generous. She has referred me to a number of decisions on appeal which would show that the appropriate range in a case 1-2 JUDGMENT 60

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like this could be somewhere between 12 months' imprisonment
at least up to about 15 months' imprisonment. The maximum
period of imprisonment for the offence under the legislation

is 18 months.

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Here it seems to me that the head sentence imposed by the Magistrate was at the bottom end of the range, but nonetheless open to him. So I do not proposed, as suggested by the respondent, to interfere with the head sentence.

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The real difficulty here is the whole issue of why the
Magistrate on a plea of guilty imposed a non-eligibility
period of in excess of one half of the sentence. On the
material available to me I do not believe that there is

anything to justify doing that.	30
I say that against the background of what is an atrocious
criminal history. You conceded that yourself to me this
morning, Mr Allen. There were alleged over a period of only
two and a half years five convictions of disqualified driving.	40
There were some years back before that. There are some
offences of dangerous driving and some offences of unlawful
use of a motor vehicle and it does appear as though, despite
what you say about how you found responsibility in recent
times, that you have to date have not had much regard to the	50

orders that have been imposed by the courts.
That history, in my opinion, would justify imposing an 1-3 JUDGMENT 60

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eligibility date at one half of the sentence and I repeat that
despite your very poor record there was nothing placed before

me to justify going any further than that.

So in the circumstances, I would uphold the appeal. The head	10
sentence of 12 months should stand and I order that you be eligible for parole after a period of six months.
...
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HIS HONOUR: I order that the parole release date in your case be six months from the date of the sentence.
...
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HIS HONOUR: And I order that the - time served, have we got the exact period?
...
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HIS HONOUR: In view of the discussions I've just had with Ms Byrne[sic] it's been established that you have now spent 172 days in custody in respect of this offence.
I declare that 172 days custody be taken into account, is that	50
the correct order?

MS PRICE: Yes, your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: Be taken into account. 1-4 JUDGMENT 60

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...

HIS HONOUR: The effect of all that, Mr Allen, is - do you

understand what's happened? You are now eligible to apply for	10
parole after six months from the date of the sentence. I have
already declared that the 172 days that you have already
served be taken into account. So that means that your
eligibility date will now be fast approaching and you can -
sorry.	20
...
HIS HONOUR: Did you hear what Ms Byrne[sic] just said? That
your parole release date will be the 7th of April this year.	30
APPELLANT: Yes, your Honour.
HIS HONOUR: So the head sentence stands, but the eight months
has been brought back to six months, that's the effect of	40
what's happened here today.
...

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