Director of Public Prosecutions v Ahon

[2023] VCC 1634

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

 Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 22-02119

THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

THOMAS AHON

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE WILMOTH
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATES OF HEARING:	23, 24, 25, 28, 31 August 2023
DATE OF SENTENCE:	5 September 2023
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Ahon
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2023] VCC 1634

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject: Criminal law - sentence

Catchwords: pleaded guilty – one charge criminal damage – one summary charge committing indictable offence while on bail -  casual relationship with complainant – damage to bedroom wall -  violent behaviour in intimate relationship to be deplored -    childhood dysfunction -  drug and alcohol problem -  engaging in counselling – specific deterrence reduced -  general deterrence. 

Sentence:  26 days  pre sentence detention  - with conviction fine $500

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr T Danos	DPP
For the Accused	Mr M. Man	Marco Man Lawyers

HER HONOUR:

1Thomas Ahon you have pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal damage and one summary charge of committing an indictable offence while on bail. 

2This occurred on 10 April 2022 in the house where your girlfriend at the time lived.

Background

3The background to the offending is that you had been in a casual relationship with Claire Warren for some months.  There were frequent breakups and reconciliations between you apparently largely due to Ms Warren's use of methamphetamine.

4Ms Warren lived in a share house with two other occupants and as there was no storage space available to her, she stored a number of items in her bedroom.  This included equipment for her car which was being repaired.

5About a week before the incident on 10 April she ended the relationship as she considered your behaviour to be controlling.  Your position is that your opposition to her drug use was in the context of your own issues with drugs, and she perceived this as judgemental and controlling. 

6On 10 April she sent you a message asking if a frisbee she had ordered for her dog had been delivered to your address.  You spoke to her on the phone saying you wanted to see her and to spend the night with her.  She told you she did not want to see you.

7In her statement made later that night she said you told her you would kick the door down.  She thought this was a bluff on your part and she did not believe you would come to her home.

The offending

8You did go to her home and you knocked on the door.  The complainant opened the door because you had threatened to kick it down.  You forced your way past her and into her bedroom.  She followed you and tried to make small talk.  You handed her a drink which you had brought with you and told her aggressively, 'Just fucking drink it you fuckhead'. 

9You then punched a wall right beside the complainant's head three or four times with your right hand resulting in holes in the wall.  That is the charge of criminal damage.

10The complainant told you that you were scaring her dog.  She left the house and once on the street she called Triple 0 and told the operator what you had done in the house.

11While you were still on the phone, the police arrived and spoke with her.  She said you were still in the house.  As she and the police approached the front door you walked out, immediately walking past the police who tried to talk to you.  You ignored their directions to stop and continued to walk towards a rideshare car waiting near the front of the property.

12Around this time a fire broke out in the house and the fire department attended.  As a result of the damage to the premises the quantum of damage to the wall that you punched has not been able to be assessed.  However, it is reasonable to conclude that the plaster and paint repairs to the wall would have been modest and that accordingly the offence is at a low level of seriousness.

13It was conceded by Mr Marsh on your behalf that despite this the offending occurred in the complainant's bedroom where she was entitled to have felt safe, that there was a display of violence and aggression which would have made her fearful, and that any violent behaviour in an intimate relationship is to be deplored.

14You were interviewed later that evening during which you told police that you had gone to the complainant's home to talk about working things out between you.  You admitted having punched the wall and injured your hand.  You said that after briefly looking for the complainant inside the house you left. 
You admitted being under the influence of alcohol at the time but not drugs. 

Matters in mitigation

15Once remanded, you spent 26 days in custody.  16 of them in isolation due to COVID-19. 

16You were released on bail with strict conditions and you have kept them assiduously.

17Your plea of guilty to this charge was indicated early, consistent with your admission.  For that you are entitled to a discount on your sentence as having utilitarian value to the system of criminal justice. 

18There is still some backlog of cases resulting from the pandemic and so a plea of guilty is recognised as being helpful to reduce that backlog. 

19You are now aged 33 and you are in a committed relationship.  You are from a hardworking and law-abiding family where you are the youngest of four children.  Your parents both work as social welfare professionals with long experience in that field.

20You began using stimulant drugs aged 18 and used methamphetamine from the age of 27 for six months, with alcohol and cocaine use being significantly problematic as well.

21In view of that background, it is perhaps not surprising that this is not the first time that you have exhibited violence and aggression leading to a criminal conviction. 

22In 2016 you were convicted of recklessly causing serious injury after a street fight, during which you punched a man who turned out to be a police officer.  You were placed on a Community Correction Order, but you breached that resulting in further convictions for criminal damage and intentionally causing injury, along with other offences. 

23While I must admit to having difficulties in interpreting your criminal record,
Mr Marsh has summarised it, I am sure accurately, as representing two occasions each of interpersonal assault and property damage.

24It appears that that is the extent of your prior history.  What seems to be common to all your offending is a tendency towards anger and aggression.

25Mr Marsh has submitted that the experience of this recent offending has brought about a change in your approach so that you have made what I might call quite startling headway towards your rehabilitation.

26It seems that your short time in prison, your first experience of it, was an opportunity to reflect and abstain from drugs.  It was a condition of bail that you engage in counselling, which you have done. 

27You have attended over 50 drug and alcohol counselling sessions with
Nick Garofalo, whose helpful report has been provided.  He describes your anger in the past as having its origins in a degree of childhood dysfunction owing to family circumstances resulting in a damaged sense of self. From this you developed a maladaptive pattern of repressing your anger that you experienced as perceived hurt and injustice, feeling, for example, that you did not fit in at school. Mr Garofalo considers you have now become a functioning member of society for the first time, being highly regarded in your employment and a respected member of your family and amongst peers.

28Your parents and two siblings and others have written references for you, describing your progress since this offending, in abstaining from alcohol and drugs, in persisting with counselling and performing at a high level in your employment.

29Since your release on bail, you have been working and you are now employed in a senior role in an organisation providing opportunities for indigenous and other communities in the construction industry.  More specifically you are managing a materials depot and compound for road infrastructure. 

30There are three letters provided to the court from those who have employed you or worked with you and each writer holds you in high regard.  Mr Marsh submitted that this background, together with your counselling progress and your family support are powerful factors which mitigate against you spending more time in prison. 

31Because of your previous history there is an obvious objective need for specific deterrence.  Your positive response to the time spent on remand indicates that your motivation to change was well based, and that  the part to be played by specific deterrence incentives in you can be reduced.

32Even the short time in custody is appropriate recognition of the need for general deterrence in regard to this type of offending. 

33The maximum penalty for criminal damage is 10 years imprisonment and for committing an indictable offence while on bail it is 30 penalty units or three months imprisonment. 

34Would you stand now please Mr Ahon.  I sentence you to 26 days imprisonment for the charge of criminal damage which will be reckoned as already served. 
I shall cause that to be noted on the court record.

35For the summary offence you are fined $500.  There will be convictions recorded in both cases.  If you had pleaded not guilty to these charges, I would have sentenced you to a total effective sentence of three months' imprisonment.

36HER HONOUR:  Mr Man is there is anything I've neglected or omitted?

37MR MAN:  Nothing further.

38HER HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  Mr Danos?

39MR DANOS:  No.

40HER HONOUR:  I did receive this morning the amended summary of the opening that took account of the various amendments made orally at the last hearing.

41MR DANOS:  I think it reflects those matters that we discussed in court
Your Honour, and now it can stand as the opening on the plea.

42HER HONOUR:  Thank you.

43MR DANOS:  If Your Honour please.

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