Director of Public Prosecutions v Ahamed
[2025] VCC 1003
•15 July 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 24-01787
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| DOMENIC AHAMED |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE MOGLIA |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | 23 May 2025, 15 July 2025 |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 15 July 2025 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Ahamed |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 1003 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject: CRIMINAL LAW - SENTENCING
Catchwords: Guilty plea – attempted armed robbery – armed robbery – obtaining property by deception – obtaining financial advantage by deception – intellectual disability – impulsive and unsophisticated offending – prior history – moderately serious offending – guarded to reasonable rehabilitation prospects – specific deterrence – just punishment
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1958 (Vic); Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)
Cases Cited: Bugmy v R (2013) 302 ALR 192; Verdins v R (2007) 16 VR 269
Sentence:Total effective sentence 15 months and a Community Correction
Order for 18 months
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | C. Wong | Office of Public Prosecutions |
For the Accused | M. Deighton | Melinda Walker |
HIS HONOUR:
Domenic Ahamed, you have pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery (Charges 1 and 2), armed robbery (Charge 3), obtaining property by deception (Charge 4), attempting to obtain property by deception (Charge 5), obtaining financial advantage by deception (Charge 6) all occurring on 18 April 2024.
You have also pleaded guilty to dealing with property suspected to be proceeds of crime, summary Charge 13 on 1 May 2024.
Summary of offending
The agreed basis for your guilty pleas is set out in the prosecution opening dated 19 May 2025.
In summary, at about 8.44 pm on 18 April 2024, you boarded a train at Flinders Street station.
A few minutes later, you tried to engage Mayur Chudasama by yelling at him, 'Hey pink shirt', but he ignored you.
You then demanded ‘the Wi-Fi password’ and money from him saying he could call police if he wanted, because they were already after you.
You then pulled a taser from your pocket, pointed it at him and activated it, causing it to spark.
While he was on the phone to police, you threatened to hurt him if he did not give you money (Charge 1 - attempted armed robbery).
You then moved down the carriage and sat opposite Tharusa Naveen, threatening him to give you his shoes or you would taser him. While you made the taser spark towards him, you asked if it looked like you were joking (Charge 2 - attempted armed robbery).
A few minutes later the train stopped at Richmond Station and you got off.
You walked along the platform to where Claire Strachan was sitting alone on a seat. You approached her with the taser in your hand, leaned into the booth where she was and grabbed her handbag from next to her. She saw you holding what she thought was a knife. You then left the station with her handbag, which contained her wallet, keys, water bottle and other personal items. I find that you were holding the taser, not a knife. Nevertheless, it is still a weapon (Charge 3 - armed robbery).
About half an hour later you used Ms Strachan’s debit card to purchase goods valued at $132.64 from the IGA supermarket at Cremorne (Charge 4 – obtain property by deception).
Over the following hour, you unsuccessfully attempted to buy further items valued at $36 from the same supermarket, items valued at $598 from Lube Southbank and items valued at $54.95 at 7-Eleven South Melbourne (Charge 5 – attempting to obtain property by deception).
You also made an online transfer for $199.99, to hire a Neuron e-scooter using the same card details (Charge 6 – obtain financial advantage by deception).
On 1 May 2024 when police arrested you, they located on you various identity and other cards belonging to other people along with a gold and silver brooch (Charge 13 – deal property suspected of being proceeds of crime).
On 2 May 2024, the next day, police executed a search warrant on your home, locating more ID cards and a passport belonging to other persons (Charge 13 – deal property suspected of being proceeds of crime). They also found Ms Strahan’s driver’s licence.
Ms Strahan provided a victim impact statement (Exhibit A). She spoke of being intimidated at the time and terrified that you would use your weapon on her. She became scared to leave her home and move around the city as was normal for her, for fear of being attacked again. She has had to engage in counselling in order to get back to normal, she has lost sleep and has had nightmares because of what you did. None of this should have occurred to her.
Procedural history
After your arrest on 1 May 2024, they interviewed you at Werribee. You mostly made no comment to their questions, but told them the various IDs found belonged to your friends, which I do not accept.
You were remanded in custody where you have since been working in the kitchen and engaging in several courses.
You conducted a contested committal during which Ms Strahan was required to come to court and be cross-examined by your counsel. You then sought a sentence indication in this court, but ultimately pleaded guilty prior to any such hearing occurring.
Whilst not coming at the earliest stage, I find that your plea has significant utilitarian value. It has greater value than it would have had if your plea came after a sentence indication and I have reduced your sentence accordingly.
I also accept that your plea constitutes an expression of remorse. It also represents your acceptance of responsibility, your willingness to facilitate the course of justice and it saves the community the cost and inconvenience of a trial.
Personal circumstances
You were only 21 at the time of the offending and you are now 23.
Your parents separated when you were only about five or six and you have not had contact with your father since.
Your mother raised you and your younger brother in Werribee. She re-partnered when you were about 10 and she and the new partner had further children.
Your step-father abused alcohol and was violent against you all. I accept that this disrupted your ability to develop emotionally and socially in a supportive home environment. The effects of this are often seen to be long-term.
Child Protection removed you and your siblings from the family home when you were around 14. When you were 16, you returned to live with your mother, who then had moved to Warrnambool where you completed school to Year 9.
You then started an apprenticeship in diesel mechanics, before transferring to panel beating, of which you had completed two years at the time of these offences. You went on to work in various jobs, including furniture removals, car washing and at a pizza shop.
This shows me that you can achieve goals when you are supported and you can contribute positively to the community when you try.
When not working or in custody, you receive the disability support pension.
You first tasted alcohol when you were about 10 and then, during your teenage years, progressed to try and use a range of other harder drugs in varying amounts and regularity.
You have a four-year-old son with an ex-partner and have had ongoing contact with him, although not while you are on remand. If you place a high value on this contact and work hard at being a good dad, I find this to be a source of motivation for you as you rebuild your life in the community.
In March 2024, you reported to the psychologist having remained drug free for a few months since your previous release and that is a good achievement, but this offending then occurred about a month later.
You have a relevant criminal history including for robbery and assaults, for which you have served a little over six months in gaol in 2023. Prior to that, in the Children's Court, you were placed on three successive youth supervision orders for similar offending, including breaches.
Neuropsychologist Ms Amy Dluzniak assessed you in her report dated 14 March 2024 (Exhibit 1). She reviewed a wide range of material from various experts and support agencies over the years. You have attracted a number of possible diagnoses over those years, but in recent times, no mental health conditions have been confirmed. You are not on any current medication at the time of her assessment.
Ms Dluzniak conducted various tests on which you mostly performed in the borderline intellectual range. She confirmed, however, that you had a mild intellectual disability. I accept the degree of your disability is in the mild to borderline range. It is a permanent condition, it is nothing to be ashamed of, it is not your fault. Although its day to day effect on you is likely to change according to your supports and ability to develop living skills.
She found that you do not have an acquired brain injury.
Based on this report, I accept that you struggle sometimes to understand abstract concepts. You have exhibited marked concreteness in your thinking and a limited ability to think consequentially. You find adapting to new situations difficult and you are inclined to resort to ineffective concrete and maladaptive problem solving or coping strategies in difficult situations. I find this is likely to have contributed to your offending in this case.
While on remand, you have engaged with Donna Everette from the ACSO Restart Program which will support you, prior to and following your release (Exhibit 2).
Your NDIS worker, Danielle Keith, provided an NDIS progress report dated 7 July 2025 (Exhibit 3). In it, she confirmed you have supports in place until November this year, when it will be reviewed for support to you, in a post-release support plan addressing housing, transport, daily living skills and employment pathways. I find these supports to be significant, tailored and helpful.
Sentencing issues
The maximum penalty for Charges 1 and 2 (attempted armed robbery) is 20 years imprisonment. For Charge 3 (armed robbery) it is 25 years. For Charges 4 and 6, it is 10 years each. For Charge 5 it is five years. For the summary offence it is two years.
Objectively, the gravity of your offending is moderately serious. You had a weapon and used it to threaten people. You did so on or near public transport, where people were commuting home, where they should have been safe.
You committed a number of offences in a row, making each subsequent offence more serious in context. Charge 3 was an escalation in seriousness. You then proceeded to use the cards you stole from the third victim to commit further offences, which compounds the effect you had on her. You were on bail at the time, which makes them all worse.
I accept, however, that each incident was short lived, you did not cause any physical injuries and your offending was unsophisticated.
Your upbringing, I find, failed to equip you with a proper basis for building a prosocial life and I accept that the principles in the case of Bugmy[1] apply generally to a moderate degree, consistent with the degree of dysfunction and hardship in your early years. I also accept that your moral culpability is lessened due to your disability and that this has an effect on the weight to be given to deterrence in sentencing you, in accordance with the case of Verdins.[2]
[1]Bugmy v R (2013) 302 ALR 192.
[2]Verdins v R (2007) 16 VR 269.
While there is no direct evidence of hardship in custody, I am prepared to accept that life inside prison, an adult prison, is more difficult because of your vulnerabilities. There is no basis for reducing your sentence however, because of any serious risk of it causing a substantial deterioration in your condition.
The violence in your offending and its repetition over the years, however, require some weight to be given to specific deterrence and just punishment, with community protection in mind.
Your criminal history is relevant and every subsequent offence calls on the court to impose orders that may well intrude further into your life, in order to protect the community from what you have done.
I have had regard to the totality principle and in light of the timespan of the offences and the commonalities between them, I will order significant concurrency, proportionate to your overall conduct.
I find your prospects for rehabilitation to be guarded to reasonable. Much, I find, will depend on your level of supports and your ability to engage properly with them, on a week-to-week basis after you are released. I note in this respect, that you were on bail at the time of the offending.
The prosecutor submitted that your sentence should include time in custody, and I accept that. However, it was also agreed that you could be released on a community correction order if found suitable, especially if appropriate supports could be put in place.
Your counsel submitted a combination sentence would best meet these needs.
I have received a Corrections assessment dated 4 July 2025 and related Overview Report and Justice Plan dated 1 July 2025 (Exhibit B). They indicate that you are suitable for such an order with those conditions. Accordingly, I sentence you as follows.
On Charge 1, attempted armed robbery, 11 months combined with a CCO.
On Charge 2, attempted armed robbery, 11 months combined with a CCO.
On Charge 3, armed robbery, 13 months combined with a CCO.
On Charge 4, obtaining property by deception, noting it is a rolled up count, a Community Correction Order.
On Charge 5, attempted obtaining property by deception, a rolled up count, a Community Correction Order.
On Charge 6, obtaining financial advantage by deception, a Community Correction Order.
On Summary Charge 13, possessing proceeds of crime that are reasonably suspected to be so, a Community Correction Order.
One month of the sentence on Charge 1, and one month of the sentence on Charge 2 are to be served cumulatively upon each other and the sentence on Charge 3.
The single Community Correction Order is with conviction and for eighteen months, with conditions that you attend supervision, engage with assessment and treatment for drug abuse and offending behaviour programs. And you must comply with the justice plan.
The total effective sentence is fifteen months in prison, to be followed immediately by a Community Correction Order.
I declare that you have served 440 days (from 1 May last year to today) and direct that this be reckoned as a period already served under this sentence.
In accordance with s6AAA of the Sentencing Act, but for your guilty plea, I would have imposed 3 years and 6 months and fixed a non-parole period of 2 years.
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