Director of Public Prosecutions v Alexander
[2025] VCC 1325
•11 September 2025
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
GENERAL LIST
Case No. CR-25-00189
Indictment No. Q1171937
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| PAT ALEXANDER |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE DOYLE | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 10 June 2025 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 11 September 2025 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Alexander | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2025] VCC 1325 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:CRIMINAL LAW - Sentence
Catchwords: Guilty plea – Theft - Aggravated burglary – Attempted armed robbery – Causing injury intentionally – Injury involved a weapon – Unplanned and opportunistic offending – Prior criminal history – Alcohol and drug issues – Guarded view of prospects of rehabilitation.
Legislation Cited: Crimes Act 1958; Sentencing Act 1991; Mental Health Act2014.
Cases Cited:R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 269.
Sentence: Total effective sentence of 36 months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 24 months.
6AAA: 4 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 3 years.
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms E. Allen | Solicitor for the Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr E. Young | Slink and Keating Solicitors |
HIS HONOUR:
1Pat Alexander, you have pleaded guilty to two charges of theft, one charge of aggravated burglary, one charge of attempted armed robbery and one charge of causing injury intentionally. The maximum penalties for the offences are as follows:
(a) theft – 10 years' imprisonment;
(b) aggravated burglary – 25 years' imprisonment;
(c) attempted armed robbery – 20 years' imprisonment; and
(d) intentionally causing injury – 10 years' imprisonment.
2The circumstances of your offending are set out in the Crown opening which was tendered as an exhibit on the plea. You were 27 years old at the time of the offending which arises from two incidents.
Incident One – Myer Southland Shopping Centre
3On 5 July 2024 between 3.00 pm and 3.21 pm, you attended the Myer store at Westfield Southland Shopping Centre in Cheltenham. You went to the men's clothing section on level three and you stole the following items:
(a) a Tommy Hilfiger medium black bag valued at $149.
(b) a Tommy Hilfiger small black bag valued at $69.96;
(c) two Tommy Hilfiger red and blue jackets valued at $449 each.
4This offending was captured on CCTV footage which was later viewed by Loss Prevention Officers. Having reviewed the footage they gave a description which fitted you.
Incident Two – Revo Fitness
5On 6 August 2024 at about 12.15 pm, at that time Ignatius Morrison and Callum McDougall arrived at Revo Fitness which is in the Kingston Central Plaza at 288 Centre Dandenong Road, Moorabbin. Mr Morrison parked outside the front of a shop, Tasman Butchers, which was about five car spaces from the entrance to Revo Fitness. Mr McDougall was in the car with him.
6After parking the car, the two of them saw you and another unknown male behaving strangely out the front of the gym.
7You were wearing a black puffer jacket, long dark pants and a navy hoodie under the jacket and sporting a mullet style haircut.
8Mr Morrison and Mr McDougall entered the gym and put their property in pigeonholes at the rear of the gym. Mr Morrison realised he had forgotten his lifting belt, and he went back to his vehicle while Mr McDougall remained inside the gym.
9Outside you approached Mr Morrison and told him that you knew him. Mr Morrison denied that he knew you and went back into the gym using his key fob to access the members only area. You loitered at the members gate and when another member exited you entered the member only area and followed Mr Morrison through the gym towards the pigeonhole area. That entry which is the basis of Charge 2, an aggravated burglary based on an intent to steal at the time of entry and where others were present.
10At the pigeonhole lockers, you stole Mr Morrison's vape from a locker and you were seen looking around for other items. Mr Morrison saw you and told Revo Fitness staff member James Bade that he did not know you and you had followed him into the gym.
11Mr Bade asked you if you were a member and you said 'I’m just getting keys from my mate'. Mr Bade asked you to leave. You wandered slowly through the gym making your way back to the entrance of the gym with Mr Bade following you.
12As you and Mr Bade approached the front desk you became aggressive and said words to the effect of 'don’t cross me, don’t step out of line, don’t try anything stupid.'
13At this time Mr Morrison and Mr McDougall walked to the front of the gym to assist Mr Bade. After you left the gym, you proceeded to Mr Morrison's vehicle which you tried to open at the front driver's side before you walked down the driver's side of the vehicle looking through the windows.
14Mr Morrison approached you and said 'hey, what are you doing, get the fuck away from my car'. You then approached Mr Morrison and grabbed the collar of his shirt.
15You said to him 'give me your keys or I will stab you in the head'. You then produced a kitchen knife and took two swings towards Mr Morrison's head. One of these swings connected with his temple causing a laceration which began to bleed immediately. It is this incident that is the basis of Charge 4, attempted armed robbery, and Charge 5, intentionally causing injury. A photograph of Mr Morrison's injury was tendered. I was also told that the wound required three stitches.
16Mr McDougall was outside and attempted to intervene and punched you to the jaw. Mr Morrison and Mr McDougall then retreated into the gym. Mr Bade locked the main entrance and another member called Triple 0.
17Police were called to Revo Fitness at about 1.09 pm and they spoke to Mr Morrison, Mr McDougall and Mr Bade. A fingerprint was obtained from the scene which was later matched to you.
18CCTV footage was reviewed which showed your various movements throughout the offending.
19The footage shows you and Mr Morrison at the gate to the gym. It shows Mr Bade calling you to come back after you had entered the gym, and it shows you ignoring his direction and making your way to the rear of the gym. It also shows Mr Bade run towards the rear of the gym before escorting you back towards the exit at the front of the gym. The footage shows Mr Morrison exit the gym after which a loud noise can be heard which is followed by Mr Morrison, Mr McDougall and Mr Bade re-entering the gym with Mr Morrison holding his head.
20You were arrested on 14 August 2024 at around 8.05 am at your father's address in Beaumaris. You asked police if you could take a jacket with you to the police station and you selected a Tommy Hilfiger red and blue jacket which is one of the jackets you had stolen from Myer Southland. You were interviewed and you made no comment.
21Mr Morrison made a Victim Impact Statement. The impact on him of your offending has been substantial. He said that the offending and being slashed by the knife in broad daylight outside the gym he regularly attended has changed him in ways he never imagined. He has been in a state of emotional distress since the incident. He is over vigilant in public spaces and when he is walking at night. He no longer feels safe even in familiar places.
22He has suffered from nightmares. He was unable to return to work for a couple of months and was made redundant. His job was his only source of income and part of his identity. He says losing that job created a ripple effect from which he is still trying to recover.
23He said he feels disconnected, uninspired and overwhelmed. He has struggled to find stable work which has made it unfeasible for him to continue his studies.
24He says that Mr McDougall who is his best friend and who witnessed the attack has also been impacted as were other patrons nearby.
25He said the crime was not just violent it was deeply violating, and it has left lasting scars on him, not just on his body but on every part of his life.
26You pleaded guilty to the charges in this case at a committal mention hearing. This was the earliest opportunity at which you could have pleaded guilty. Your guilty plea has substantial utilitarian value. You have spared the police, the Court and the prosecution the use of the resources required to run a trial. Furthermore, you have spared the witnesses, in particular Mr Morrison and Mr McDougall, the experience of giving evidence and having to relive these events. This would have further traumatised them no doubt.
27I accept your guilty plea is indicative of some remorse for the offending and I also accept it shows a willingness to facilitate the course of justice.
28Charges 4 and 5, attempted armed robbery and intentionally cause injury, are the most serious of the offences in this case although the aggravated burglary has a higher maximum penalty. You assaulted an innocent member of the public with a knife and demanded his car as he was just going about his daily activities. When he did not comply, you slashed his forehead/temple area with a knife causing a cut deep enough to require three stiches. This is not a low-level example of intentionally causing injury, in my opinion. It involved a weapon; and the injury was not minor. The effect on Mr Morrison of your conduct had been substantial. People in the community must be able to engage in their daily activities without fearing they will be assaulted with weapons and their motor vehicles stolen. For this reason, general deterrence is a significant sentencing purpose for this offending.
29The aggravated burglary in my opinion falls well into the lower end of the range for that type of offence. This was a commercial premises that was open, although only to members. Your intent at the time of entry was to steal rather than assault. The entry itself was not forceful; you just walked in; and you were detected almost immediately.
30The serious aspect of the theft of the VAPE was that you stole it from Mr Morisson's private locker inside the gym of which he was a member. Your conduct inside the gym escalated to aggression when you were asked to leave, which culminated in the most serious charges, namely Charges 4 and 5 occurring outside. Had the incident ended when you left the gym these charges would have been dealt with summarily, in my opinion.
31The thefts from Myer are lower-level theft offences. That said you have prior convictions for this type of conduct and a prison sentence with some cumulation is warranted for that dishonesty offending, including the aggravated burglary and the theft of the VAPE.
32Overall, the offending was brazen and lawless but unplanned and opportunistic. It is consistent offending with disinhibition from drug abuse.
Prior convictions
33You have a significant criminal history. In your most recent appearance before the Magistrates' Court on 21 February 2024, you were convicted of unlawful assault, assault with a weapon, threat to inflict serious injury, theft from a shop, committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, possessing a controlled weapon without excuse (two offences) and a series of possession of drug offences. You were sentenced to a period of imprisonment of eight months together with a community correction order which involved rehabilitation conditions including for drug use and mental health. You were released from that sentence in early July of 2024 because you had served a significant period of pre-sentence detention. The first incident at Myer Southland Shopping Centre must have occurred within days of your release, and the second incident occurred not so much after.
34I was told you also committed other offences after your release which are listed for a guilty plea in the Magistrates' Court next week.
35You have convictions for theft, burglary, damaging property and drug offences in April 2023 for which you received a prison sentence, and in February 2023 for a series of dishonesty offences and offences relating to controlled weapons and dangerous articles you were also sentenced to a period of imprisonment. Your prior convictions go back to 2016, and they are constant since 2018. You have received periods of imprisonment on multiple occasions, and you have also received community correction orders.
36You are not to be punished again for your prior convictions, but they demonstrate your recidivism and are relevant to the need for community protection, specific deterrence, the assessment of your moral culpability and of your prospects of rehabilitation. In my opinion, they are also relevant to whether I should impose another community correction order which is the disposition sought by your counsel, Mr Young. The community correction order in February 2024 never got off the ground at all because you reoffended so soon after you were released from prison.
37You are a 27-year-old man of Aboriginal background. You were born in Victoria. Your parents separated when you were 10 years old. From the age of 12 you lived with your father. You left home at the age of 15 to live with your partner. You have a good relationship with your parents and your half-brother and half-sister.
38You finished Year 10 at high school and then you started a pre-apprenticeship in plumbing. You left that apprenticeship after approximately six months due to your drug use and because you lost your driver's licence.
39You began drinking alcohol at the age of 13 and you commenced cannabis use at the age of 12. Since the age of 16 you have used a variety of illegal drugs including MDMA, cocaine, heroin, GHB, and methylamphetamine. Your counsel, Mr Young, submitted that your entire adult life has been marred by your problematic use of drugs.
40You say that since you were 16 years old you have used methamphetamine very regularly and that you have used it intravenously since your partner died approximately three years ago.
41You describe a situation where you partner died of a drug overdose in circumstances where you had been on the phone to her over about eight hours. You carry grief and trauma from that loss. You never received psychological treatment or support for that.
42Your counsel relied on the psychological report of Ms Cokorilo. Her findings are that your symptoms are consistent with a major depressive disorder, a generalised anxiety disorder and a substance use disorder.
43Ms Cokorilo refers to you being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2023 and you told her that you had been prescribed the antipsychotic medication Olanzapine whilst in prison
44Since you were remanded in August 2024 you have been prescribed Olanzapine and the antidepressant Avanza, and you are also on a methadone program.
45Your counsel Mr Young initially submitted that the Verdins[1] principles apply to reduce moral culpability, moderate general and specific deterrence, and because you will experience imprisonment as more onerous than someone without your mental health issues[2].
[1]R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 269
[2] Supplementary written submissions were filed on in which counsel accepted there no basis to enliven Verdins principles after receipt of a Forensicare Report.
46His submission was based on Ms Cokorilo's opinion that your:
… underlying, untreated, psychopathology not only perpetuates [your] perceived reliance on illicit drugs and limits [your] insight and health seeking behaviours, and it also exerts an independent effect on [your] behaviour, emotions and cognitions. [She further said that] While substance use undoubtedly contributes to [your] risks it is conceptualised as a maladaptive coping strategy for unmanaged psychopathology rather than the primary driver of [the] offending.
47The prosecution disputed the application of the Verdins principles in respect of moral culpability and moderation of general and specific deterrence and submitted that your drug use was clearly a substantial causal factor in your offending. The prosecution further submitted that Verdins principle 5 does not apply because the evidence does not support such a conclusion and in fact the period of imprisonment since you were remanded has benefited you in that it has been an enforced abstinence from drugs. Ms Cokorilo said in her report you are currently in good health and your condition has stabilised and that you deny any issues in custody.
48Given the dispute in relation to your psychiatric condition and the uncertainties relating to your mental health, I ordered a Forensicare psychiatric report. The report I received is dated 22 August 2025 and the author is Dr Gideon Dubow, who is a consultant psychiatrist with the Victorian Institute of Mental Health.
49He said you are currently in the Ravenhall Correctional Centre mainstream unit. Before you were remanded in custody in relation to these matters, you were living with your father in Beaumaris. You have lived with him on and off for about five years. You have been unemployed and on Centrelink for around two years.
50You told him you were doing 'okay' in prison. You said you continued to hear voices. You said you had heard voices since the age of 18. Dr Dubow asked you if you had ever sought help for these voices when you were in the community and you said that you had not, as you were 'not good with appointments'. You said you had never seen a doctor or a psychiatrist, or any other health professional in relation to a psychiatric matter other than drug use, and that you have never been admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
51Dr Dubow confirmed that you are currently being treated with 10 milligrams of Olanzapine (antipsychotic) and 45 milligrams of mirtazapine (antidepressant) and you are receiving 40 milligrams a day of methadone.
52You are seeing either a psychiatric nurse or a psychiatrist monthly. You also attend a methadone clinic which monitors the administration of your methadone.
53Dr Dubow said that at interview you were coherent and easily understood. You are not thought disordered. You were insightful into your mental health condition, and you wished to receive treatment to better understand it.
54Dr Dubow said that during terms of imprisonment you have consistently been assessed as experiencing symptoms of psychosis and at times you have been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
55He said that, despite a possible diagnosis of schizophrenia, you have never been admitted to psychiatric hospitals.
56Regarding diagnosis, he said that you have not always been noted to be psychotic at times in prison, even whilst abstinent from drugs. You have often been diagnosed with schizophrenia and at all recent times you have been treated with an antipsychotic.
57He says it is reasonably concluded that you should be diagnosed with schizophrenia. The enduring nature of your psychotic symptoms, even after cessation of drug use for some time, makes a schizophrenia diagnosis more likely. You also meet the criteria for a substance abuse or substance dependent diagnosis.
58In respect of a realistic connection between your psychiatric condition and the offending, he said there are some features which are out of keeping with crimes correlated with psychosis. He says the evidence suggests that some of your acts in or around June required some thought and planning in the moment, less likely to have been present in someone profoundly psychotic. Moreover, he says that the criminal acts in this case are not out of keeping with your past criminal behaviour. He could not conclude there was a realistic connection between the psychiatric condition and the offence. Dr Dubow further concluded that your substance use has contributed directly to a pattern of offending, and it seems probable having regard to your acquisitive offending in the past, that this offending was motivated by the need to obtain money to fund your drug use. He therefore says that your offending was more likely driven by ordinary criminogenic factors, including unemployment, poverty, lack of access to money and a prosocial network. Substance use would reinforce these factors and your disposition to offend.
59In custody, your mental health has responded to treatment. The voices you hear do not distress you and you described your mental health in positive terms. You did not present as distressed. You are productively engaged in a variety of rehabilitative activities, and you are coping well with the demands and restrictions of prison life.
60Short periods of imprisonment assist your mental health because you receive medication, and you remain abstinent from drugs. You probably benefit from having some structure in your life.
61He says prolonged imprisonment is seldom helpful to a person's mental health, but it is difficult to argue your mental health would be more significantly impacted than the average prisoner.
62He says your core psychiatric needs have been met by the psychiatric staff at the Ravenhall Corrections Centre.
63You have been treated by Dr Evrard Harris, a Forensicare psychiatrist in prison, and he recommends that you be referred to a State Area Mental Health Service when you are released, for treatment for schizophrenia. It is unlikely you will meet the criteria for compulsory referral under the Mental Health Act 2014 and therefore referral will need to be voluntary.
64It is suggested an appointment should be arranged for you, rather than putting the onus on you to make such an appointment when you are released. You may be eligible for NDIS support.
65Having regard to your constant offending since 2018, your entrenched drug and psychiatric problems, and because this offending took place very soon after you were released from prison, I can only take a guarded view of your prospects of rehabilitation. There is hope though, as referred to in the report of Dr Dubrow, you are keen to understand your mental health and whilst in prison, you do cope reasonably well. If you can remain drug free in the community, there is no reason why you could not lead a law-abiding life. That will be the challenge for you when you are ultimately released.
66Mr Young submitted that a combination sentence of imprisonment and a Community Correction Order was appropriate and would give you the best structure to rehabilitate. He emphasized that the time you have spent in custody in relation to this matter is by some margin the longest period you have spent in prison.
67The prosecution submitted that having regard to the need for general deterrence and specific deterrence and just punishment, and indeed community protection, the only appropriate decision in this case was a head sentence with a non-parole period. In the end, I agree with the prosecution submission. The principles emphasised by the prosecution all must be given proper meaning within the sentence that I impose.
68In my opinion, a Community Correction Order is not appropriate having regard to the fact that you offended very soon after your last release from custody, whilst you were supposed to be undertaking such an order. In the circumstances, I intend to impose a head sentence with a non-parole period.
69The totality principle is important in this case. There is overlap between the offending in Charges 4 and 5. It is the case that the force required for attempted armed robbery was your conduct with the knife. However, your conduct went beyond simply force and intentional injury has additional elements to it, the causing of an injury intentionally, and there does need to be a period of cumulation.
70In relation to the other offences some cumulation is appropriate. However, in ordering the periods of cumulation in this case I have kept in mind that the total effective sentence must be just and proportionate to the overall criminality of your offending.
71The non-parole period is the minimum period justice requires you to serve before becoming eligible for release on parole. It mitigates punishment in favour of rehabilitation, but it must be consistent with the objective gravity of the offending. I have allowed for a reasonably significant period of parole in your case if you are released at the expiration of the non-parole period.
72Having regard to all these matters, taking into account the need for general and specific deterrence, just punishment and community protection, but not losing sight of the need to facilitate your rehabilitation, the sentences that I impose are as follows.
73Charge 1, theft, four months' imprisonment.
74Charge 2, aggravated burglary, nine months.
75Charge 3, theft, three months' imprisonment.
76Charge 4 attempted armed robbery, 24 months.
77Charge 5, intentionally causing injury, 18 months.
78I order the following periods to be cumulative on the base sentence of Charge 4, and on each other. In respect of Charge 1, two months; in relation to Charge 3, three months; in relation to Charge 2 of theft, one month; and then in relation to Charge 5, intentionally causing injury, six months. Which makes a total effective sentence of 36 months.
79I fix a minimum non-parole period in this matter of 24 months.
80I allow 393 days to be deduced as pre-sentence detention on this matter.
81I indicate that but for your pleas of guilty, the overall sentence I would have imposed is four years with a minimum of three years.
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