Director of Public Prosecutions v Abela

[2021] VCC 580

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 20-00689

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

BRENDAN ABELA

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE JOHNS
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	11 May 2021
DATE OF SENTENCE:	11 May 2021
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Abela
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2021] VCC 580

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject: Criminal Law Sentence

Catchwords: Attempt to Pervert the Course of Justice – Bribe of money to Complainant to withdrawn statement – Relevant prior offences – Charge arising out of conduct already sentenced.

Sentence: 18 Months Imprisonment

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms K. Churchill	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr M. Page	Valos Black and Associates

HIS HONOUR: 

1Brendan Abela, over a two-day period in June 2015 you perverted the course of justice or attempted to pervert the course of justice by offering money to Ms Hood in order to persuade her to withdraw her own statement and/or to persuade her friends to withdraw their statements in relation to matters for which you were under investigation and ultimately pleaded guilty to.  Your aim in offering that money was to result in the charges against you being withdrawn.

2You pleaded guilty to the charge and, as I indicated to your counsel Mr Page, you pleaded at an early opportunity in the context of the resolution of your matters that were in this Court for some time, that resolution being that the substantial number of serious matters were no longer prosecuted. 

3You have admitted a criminal history that discloses relevant prior matters but also some subsequent matters and they are relevant in terms of assessing your prospects but also more particularly in your case assessing the issue of delay and the effects of delay and the issue of totality, which of course Mr Page has emphasised.

4The details of the offence are set out in full in the Summary of Prosecution opening, which is Exhibit A on this plea and forms part of these reasons.  On your behalf, Mr Page filed an Outline of Submissions, which he has adopted in his oral submissions, which I have made Exhibit 1 on the plea.  The matters contained therein are not contested.  Certainly, the ultimate submission is not taken issue with by the Prosecution.

5Having regard to the written plea, I accept the guilty plea in this matter carries with it a significant discount, in particular in relation to the facilitation of justice and during the COVID pandemic the trial lists in this court have blown out to a critical level and any plea of guilty in matters such as this that were in the trial list is significant.  It is also significant that you have saved the Court time but also saved the complainant from giving evidence by your guilty plea.

6I accept that totality is a significant consideration in your case.  It goes hand in hand with the issue of delay in the sense that in the period since the commission of the offence in June 2015 you have been subject to sentences of imprisonment on four occasions, including a sentence of imprisonment for the matters that were related to the charge before me, related in the sense that the charge before me arises out of your efforts to have statements that related to those charges withdrawn. 

7You were charged with this matter some two and a half years after the commission of the offence and you were of course in custody at that time. 

8It is significant that you are currently serving a sentence of 11 years with a nine-year non-parole period and I was told your earliest release on parole would be in 2028.  You have received other periods of imprisonment since this offence, as I have already noted, including a sentence of three years in 2018 for the offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

9It is also relevant, and I accept that, you have experienced some hardship in custody due to the nature of charges which have since been withdrawn.  You have of course also been in custody during the more restrictive and onerous period over the last 12 months due to the pandemic.

10Having regard to all of these matters I have referred to and also the matters expanded upon in Mr Page's outline of submissions, and considering the prosecution position, I sentence you on the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice to be imprisoned for a period of 18 months.  I think given the operation of the Sentencing Act I do not need to specify,  but for the purposes of clarity I will, that that is 18 months to be served concurrently with the sentence you are currently undergoing.

11MR PAGE:  I'm grateful, Your Honour.

12MS CHURCHILL:  As Your Honour pleases.

13HIS HONOUR:  Anything else I need to order or make note of?

14MR PAGE:  No, Your Honour.

15MS CHURCHILL:  Just a declaration pursuant to s.6AAA, Your Honour.

16HIS HONOUR:  Of course, 6AAA, thank you, Ms Churchill.  Had it not been for your plea of guilty in this matter I would have sentenced you to a period of three years with a non-parole period of two years. 

17All right, thank you, we will adjourn the court.

18MS CHURCHILL:  If Your Honour pleases.

19MR PAGE:  I'm grateful, Your Honour.

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