Binse v The Queen

[2016] VSCA 145

SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA

COURT OF APPEAL

S APCR 2014 0121

CHRISTOPHER DEAN BINSE

V

THE QUEEN

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JUDGES:	WHELAN, BEACH and McLEISH JJA
WHERE HELD:	MELBOURNE
DATE OF HEARING:	31 May 2016
DATE OF JUDGMENT:	22 June 2016
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2016] VSCA 145
JUDGMENT APPEALED FROM:	[2014] VSC 253 (T Forrest J)

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CRIMINAL LAW — Sentence — Multiple charges— Applicant sentenced to 14 years 2 months’ imprisonment in respect of one charge of armed robbery — Total effective sentence of 18 years and 2 months with non-parole period of 14 years 2 months — Whether sentence on charge of armed robbery manifestly excessive — Whether total effective sentence and non-parole period inconsistent with totality — Armed robbery in worst category — Extensive criminal history of armed robbery and firearm offences — Application of Verdins principles — Psychological damage relating to extensive incarceration and onerous conditions of imprisonment — Insufficient connection demonstrated between mental condition and offending conduct to lead to application of Verdins principles beyond that which sentencing judge accepted — Appropriate weight given to utility of ‘late’ guilty plea — Sentence imposed not wholly outside range — Cumulation of sentences for associated offences particularly moderate — Appeal dismissed.

CRIMINAL LAW — Sentence — Application to add ground — Whether sentencing judge correctly adhered to Sentencing Act 1991 ss 14–16 — Adjusting sentence upwards, rather than addressing totality by order for cumulation and concurrency — DPP v Grabovac [1998] 1 VR 664 — Approach adopted in accordance with appellant’s submissions on plea — Intervention could not alter practical outcome — Application to introduce new ground refused.

CRIMINAL LAW — Sentence — Application to add ground — New evidence — Earlier diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder — Whether evidence had potential to significantly alter application of Verdins principles concerning general deterrence and specific deterrence — No miscarriage of justice — Application to introduce new ground refused.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Appellant	Mr G Hughan	Stary Norton Halphen
For the Respondent	Mr C Boyce SC	Solicitor for Public Prosecutions

WHELAN JA
BEACH JA
McLEISH JA:

1. The appellant, Christopher Binse, is now 47 years old.  He has spent almost all his adult life in prison, often in harsh conditions.  The comparatively brief periods of time which he has spent in the community have been characterised by serious offending, often involving firearms.

1. On 28 September 2011 the appellant was released from prison.  He had not been granted parole.  Between January 2012 and May 2012 he committed a series of offences, to which he subsequently pleaded guilty.  According to the appellant, this offending was motivated by, or closely related to, a violent feud involving himself and another former prisoner, to whom the sentencing judge referred as Prisoner X.  According to the appellant, this feud had resulted in a violent assault upon him in prison in 2006, another violent assault upon him after he had been released in October 2011, the shooting of an associate of his in November 2011, and…