Director of Public Prosecutions v Anderson (a pseudonym)

[2025] VCC 492

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

Not Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

          MORRIS ANDERSON (a pseudonym)

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JUDGE:	Karapanagiotidis
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	13 March 2025
DATE OF SENTENCE:	13 March 2025
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Anderson (a pseudonym)
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2025] VCC 492

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:                   CRIMINAL LAW – sentencing.

Catchwords:            going equipped to steal – Drug and Alcohol Treatment Court – plea of

guilty – Verdins – Bugmy

Legislation Cited: s18ZN(1),18ZL(1A) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic).

Cases Cited:            Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37; R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102.

Sentence:                Adjourned undertaking for a period of 6 months, with conviction.

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms R. Fleming	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr E. Day	Victoria Legal Aid

HER HONOUR: 

1You have entered a plea of guilty to one charge of going equipped to steal, the maximum penalty is two years' imprisonment.  We have heard a summary today that you agree to, that on 2 December 2024 you were spoken to by police, they conducted a search of your backpack and located the various items that underpin the charge.  You were placed under arrest, transported to the police station and you were interviewed by the police. The full circumstances of your offending were marked as Exhibit A on the plea hearing.

2In respect of this charge, I take into account - and I assess its gravity and I do accept the submissions that have ultimately been made on your behalf, that this is at the lower end of this type of offending, it is not suggested or asserted that it was in connection with any further criminal activity, and you do not have any other further accompanying charges. 

3I take into account also, Mr Anderson[1], your plea of guilty which entitles you to a significant discount in sentencing.

[1] A pseudonym.

4I take into account your personal circumstances and your background as outlined in the report of Ms Cidoni.  I am not going to go through that in any degree of detail aside from noting quite clearly, Mr Anderson, that your background really was a fractured one.  Children growing up are entitled to a number of things, stability, support, and you very sadly lacked a great deal of that. 

5You reported to Ms Cidoni for example that you know, you were in foster care for a number of years and experienced some 20-30 care placements, and it seems that you have had to contend with and deal with a number of issues including your parents battling their own addiction issues and also the grief that you have suffered.  So I take all those matters into account.

6You have got a relevant and extensive prior criminal history, which you admit.  It is reflective, I accept, largely of your history and also your exposure to drug use from a young age and your entrenched drug addiction over the years. 

7Your counsel, Mr Day, submits that Bugmy principles apply and I am not going to go through the full detail of what that means, aside from it is a recognition Mr Anderson that you are not to be judged in the same way in a broad sense that somebody who has had all the advantages in life and has not suffered from the hardships and disadvantages that you have.  You are not to be judged the same and it is a recognition of that[2].

[2]Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37.

8I also take into account the vulnerabilities that Ms Cidoni identifies in her report and I accept to a degree, though not so much with moral culpability, that the Verdins principles have some application, calling for some sensible moderation of specific and general deterrence[3].

[3]R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102.

9You were placed on a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Order on 11 September 2024, so this offending does constitute a breach of it. The custodial component is 31 months.  I have reviewed you on this order now several times, and having been in that position, having done that I am able to offer some reflections.  You have presented as motivated, you have engaged, you have presented with insight, Mr Anderson, and in other words, it has appeared that on this order you really are trying and you are working well with the team.  W This is significant, when viewed against your background of struggles and hardships.

10Now what I propose to do is taking into account all those matters, I have to also consider a range of other factors including specific, general deterrence, community protection, just punishment, denunciation.  What I propose to do is I consider that the submission made on your behalf is an appropriate one.  I am going to place you on an adjourned undertaking with conviction and I do that because of the nature of the offence.  You are not to be punished for your prior history, but you do have a prior history, so I will convict you.  I will place you on a - if you can stand now please.

11So I am going to convict you, place you on an adjourned undertaking to be of good behaviour for a period of six months. 

12That is going to be generated in a moment and we will ask you to sign that.  The commitment on your part, you do not have to come back to court on this.  It is simply that you are of good behaviour for that period, as of today.  Does that make sense?

13All right, in relation to the breaching matter. 

14Pursuant to s18ZN(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) (‘the Act’), being satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of a failure to comply with a condition, I must therefore take action and I propose to, as submitted by both counsel and pursuant to s18ZL(1A) of the Act, confirm the treatment and supervision part of the order, or in other words, confirm the order. So I am going to take no further action. Your order is confirmed.

15All right, thank you, you can take a seat.

16Counsel, aside from this is there anything further?

17PROSECUTION:  Nothing further, Your Honour.