Director of Public Prosecutions v Acevedo
[2018] VCC 1092
•16 July 2018
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-17-01143
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| DANIELA ACEVEDO |
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JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE DAVIS | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 9 July 2018 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 16 July 2018 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Acevedo | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2018] VCC 1092 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW
Catchwords: Assisting an offender – remorse – lack of relevant priors
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1958 (Vic)
Sentence: Community Corrections Order for a period of 12 months.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Mr D. Porceddu | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr G. Barns | Valos Black & Associates |
HER HONOUR:
1 Daniela Acevedo, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of assisting an offender contrary to s.325 of the Crimes Act1958 (Vic). The maximum penalty for this offence is five years’ imprisonment.
2 The details of your offending are set out in full in the summary of prosecution opening which was tendered on the plea and I sentence you on the basis of the facts contained in that document. I summarise them briefly as follows.
3 At the time of offending, your boyfriend, Khaled Moustafa (Moustafa), was storing large quantities of 1,4 Butanediol in Lygon Street Carlton. When this was discovered by police on 13 June 2016, he organised to move large amounts of 1,4 Butanediol from other storage locations on 14 June 2016. He was arrested while leaving one self-storage facility.
4 While in custody, Moustafa made arrangements with you by telephone to move 5 tonnes of 1,4 Butanediol to a storage facility at Tullamarine. You were present on 29 June 2016 with a male called Akrem Jabir when he attended National Storage in Tullamarine and leased some storage space, Unit 54. You remained present while a number of drums were unloaded. On 1 and 4 August 2016, you drove to the storage unit but could not get access through the front security gate. On 25 August 2016, you attended the same storage unit and paid cash for another month’s lease. From telephone conversations you had with Moustafa, which were recorded by police, it is clear that on that day you counted 31 barrels of 1,4 Butanediol in that unit.
5 Later that evening, a search warrant was executed at Unit 54 of National Storage and the 31 barrels of 1,4 Butanediol amounting to over 5.1 tonnes were seized. Police raided your home early the next morning. You were arrested and interviewed. You made partial admissions to the offending, that is, that you paid cash to rent the storage unit, and may have on one occasion entered the storage unit and saw maybe ten barrels, but that you did not count them.
6 You were bailed on 7 June 2017 for a surety of $200,000. After negotiations between your counsel and the prosecution, you were arraigned on 17 April 2018 on the current charge.
7 Your personal circumstances are set out in the psychological report of David Warmington dated 5 July 2018, who has seen you on nine occasions since 30 September 2017. You are 29 years old. You were born in Colombia and came to Australia with your family as a child. You completed Year 12 in Brisbane. You married at the age of 18 and lived with your husband in Brisbane. The marriage lasted six years. You deferred your university studies in order to work in managerial roles in your mother’s retail businesses. You met Moustafa in 2015 and moved to Melbourne to be with him in 2016. You completed a Bachelor of Business at the Queensland University of Technology in 2017 as an external student.
8 Since your arrest, you have done casual cleaning work and received financial support from your mother. You plan to move back to Brisbane to work as a manager in hospitality.
9 You told Mr Warmington that Moustafa told you he ran a cleaning company, and that because you loved him, you did as he asked you, even though the secrecy around the storage visits did not make sense to you. You recognised that your involvement was very foolish and that you felt very remorseful. You were traumatised by the police raid on your home, by spending four days in the watch-house sharing a cell with three others, and by the 18 days you spent in prison before being bailed on a surety. You suffer from a post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the police raid and subsequent days spent in prison before being bailed.
10 Mr Warmington considered that that your offending was a one-off error of judgment and that you are highly unlikely to reoffend. Your counsel submitted that your role in the overall scheme of offending was limited, and that although misguided, was driven by love and loyalty. Your naivety was demonstrated by the fact that you twice had trouble accessing the storage facility. No Verdins[1] submissions were made. Your counsel relied on the fact that you are well educated, have family support and good job prospects, and are very unlikely to reoffend.
[1]R v Verdins (2007) 16 VR 269 (‘Verdins’)
11 It was common ground that your offending is serious and that the principal sentencing considerations are those of denunciation, general and specific deterrence. Given your level of education, work history, family support, lack of relevant priors, the very limited assistance given by you to Moustafa, and the fact that your offending occurred in the context of your being in a romantic relationship with him and acting at his direction, albeit, misguidedly, it was also common ground that the appropriate disposition is the imposition of a community corrections order.
12 You were assessed by Corrections Victoria on 9 July 2018 as being suitable to undertake a community corrections order with the recommended conditions being those of supervision, community work and treatment and rehabilitation. The report considered that you are at medium risk of reoffending.
13 I accept the matters put in mitigation on your behalf. Given the context of the offending, its limited nature, your level of education, work history, family support and lack of relevant priors, I consider that all the relevant sentencing principles can be satisfied by the imposition of a community corrections order.
14 Would you please stand, Ms Acevedo.
15 On the charge of assisting an offender contrary to s.325 of the Crimes Act 1958, you are convicted and sentenced to a 12 month community corrections order, with the following conditions: You are to perform 150 hours of unpaid community work, and you are to undergo psychological treatment.
16 In addition to the conditions that I have specifically imposed, you must also abide by the terms that apply to all community corrections orders. These are: That you must not commit any other offences during the period of the order being enforced - that is, one year from today - for which you could be imprisoned, even if a court would not choose to impose imprisonment. You must report to and receive visits from a Community Corrections officer. You must report to the Community Corrections Centre at Carlton within two clear working days, which will be 18 July 2018. You must not leave Victoria without first getting permission from a Community Corrections officer, and you must inform the Community Corrections Office of any change of address, where you live or work within 48 hours of that occurring. Finally, you must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of Community Corrections officers. Do you understand all the conditions I have imposed and the general terms that apply?
17 OFFENDER: Yes.
18 HER HONOUR: Before you consent to the making of such an order, you must understand that contravening any condition attached to the community corrections order, except for a contravention of a direction of the Secretary, is itself an offence punishable by three months’ imprisonment. Contravention of a community corrections order also carries with it the prospect that you will be brought back before me and resentenced for the original offending. Do you consent in these circumstances to the imposition of the community corrections order?
19 OFFENDER: YES.
20 HER HONOUR: No doubt you have had the opportunity to discuss those her? All right. In that case, we have another matter so we will call the next matter. Thank you, Ms Acevedo, you are free to go.
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