Director of Public Prosecutions v Anderton
[2023] VCC 1841
•10 October 2023
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Suitable for Publication | |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR 23-00347
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| SARA ANDERTON |
---
JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE CHETTLE | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 9 July 2023 and 4 October 2023 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 10 October 2023 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Anderton | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2023] VCC 1841 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
Subject:CRIMINAL LAW SENTENCE
Catchwords: Sentencing – aggravated burglary, common law assault, damaging property - plea of guilty
Legislation Cited: Mental Health Act 2004, s6AAA Sentencing Act 1991
Cases Cited:R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 62
Sentence:Imprisonment, total effective sentence 250 days
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr D. Cordy | Ms K. Parnham, Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Mr D. Hannan | Ms T. Tringali, Gallant Law |
HIS HONOUR:
1 Sara Anderton, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of aggravated burglary, one charge of common law assault and two charges of damaging property. In addition to pleaded guilty to two related summary offences of unlawful assault.
2 The facts of your offending are set out in Exhibit A, the prosecution plea opening.
3 I was informed by your counsel that I could treat that document as an agreed statement of fact. I incorporate it into these reasons for sentence and sentence you on the basis of the facts set out therein.
4
Very briefly stated, on 2 November 2022 you went to a service station in
High Street, Golden Square. Whilst at the counter, you turned and punched Kalin Evans to the head as he waited in the line behind you, and that is related to summary assault charge.
5 You then chased him around the store, knocking over store displays before he got away outside. The damage caused in that chase is part of the damaging property charge, Charge 3.
6
You went back to the counter and jumped it, attacking the attendant,
Amy Parker. Ms Parker tried to lock herself in the adjoining office but you forced your way in before she could do so. And this constitutes your aggravated burglary offence.
7 You pulled Parker to the ground and punched her about six times to the head. When she stood up you punched her to the face. She ran away in a terrified state. She sustained a black eye, bruising and swelling to the fact and this constitutes Charge 2, the common assault charge.
8
You then damaged a computer with a pair of scissors, which is part of
Charge 3, before leaving the shop and approaching a vehicle at the petrol bowser. You scratched the bonnet of Jodi Pianta's motor vehicle. That is Charge 4, damaging property and caused Pianta fear and distress. That is the related summary assault offence. You then left.
9 Your actions are all depicted on Exhibit C, the CCTV footage of your crimes. You have admitted a criminal history both in Victoria and from Queensland. You have driving offences and theft prior offences.
10 In 2015, you were convicted at the Bendigo Magistrates' Court of recklessly causing injury and sentenced to a community corrections order.
11 Court orders in the past have mandated psychiatric treatment and drug treatment for you.
12 On 17 August 2021, you were sentenced to a community corrections order in Bendigo Magistrates' Court for offences including assault, theft and recklessly causing injury. You were on that community corrections order when you offended in November last year.
13 In Queensland in October 2016, you were sentenced to imprisonment for offences of attempted robbery, threatening violence and pretending to be armed.
14 Your victim, Amy Parker, filed a victim impact statement, Exhibit B. Her life has changed as a result of your crimes. She no longer feels safe. She struggles to leave her home and has difficulty sleeping. She says she has had to live with what happened every single day and I take the contents of the victim impact statement into account in sentencing you.
15 You surrendered yourself to police on 11 November last year. You made full admissions when interviewed and have been in custody since that day.
16 On 28 July 2023, you were before the Bendigo Magistrates' Court for offences committed before November last year. You were sentence to three months' imprisonment for offences of burglary, intentionally damaging property, thefts, assaults and recklessly causing injury, committing offences on bail and other summary offences.
17 That three months sentence has been served while you have been on remand for this offending and as I calculated it, you have 243 days of pre-sentence detention on these offences available to you but have actually been in custody continuously for now for 11 months.
18 You are now 38 years of age, being born in New Zealand in July 1985.
19 Your early history is unclear. You have lived a transitory lifestyle in Australia but call Melbourne home. Your counsel submitted that you instruct that you had a terrible childhood that was filled with domestic violence with your father, in particular, being violent.
20 You did not finish high school and your mental health issues started to deteriorate during your mid-teens.
21 You have two children, a 10-year-old son, who is in the care of your parents and a four-year-old daughter, who is in the care of the father's family. You have had no contact with your children for months and apparently are motivated to try and be a mother to those children upon your release.
22 You have a long and substantial psychiatric history, dating back to July 2005. You have a number of diagnoses, which I will turn to later.
23 You have had longstanding drug and alcohol abuse problems, using methylamphetamine, heroin, marijuana, and alcohol.
24
In custody you have completed programs to try and deal with your methylamphetamine addiction. Whilst in custody you engaged with the
Better Health Network to help you transition from custody. They are prepared to support you while you are in custody and within the community and try to gain you employment.
25 You have also sought the assistance of the Restart Program and they will support you with your alcohol and drug abuse issues and hopefully help you find some housing.
26 In custody you have been receiving mental health review and treatment from Forensicare and I refer to Exhibit 2. Your discharge plan involves treatment from St Vincent's upon your release.
27 Forensicare diagnosis in Exhibit 2, includes schizoaffective disorder, schizoaffective disorder manic type, schizo disorder depressive type, schizophrenia, bipolar effective disorder, brief psychotic disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, stress reaction, mental disorder, substance disorder and with a history of self-harm.
28 A psychiatric report from Dr Hemlata Ranga, Exhibit 3, makes it clear that you are significantly ill and were so at the time of your offending. Dr Ranga reports that you were alert, orientated, superficially cooperative but guarded and paranoid. You presented with thought disorder. Some responses were irrelevant and you were often circumstantial and tangential in your thoughts. You were often repetitive when describing your history and you were preoccupied about being stalked by Ivan Milat and other men.
29 When Dr Ranga enquired about remorse for your actions you said that you had been – she does not feel that it was your fault. She mentioned that she had to defend herself as the hate was rising and she was homeless, in a bad way and was angry at the people at the petrol pump for not helping you.
30
She continues, you have been treated at Bendigo Hospital in October 2005,
La Trobe Regional Hospital in 2013 and at Werribee Mercy Hospital. You have had multiple psychiatric admissions from July 2005 till October 2021 and your last admission was in October 2021 for a week.
31 As age has and with time progressed your illness has become prolonged and severe. You have received the diagnoses to which I referred before.
32 Dr Ranga continued, 'When I enquired about her psychiatric symptoms, she was very guarded and evasive. She does not want to talk about it'. You informed Dr Ranga that the voices will often tell her to go and hurt someone, such as a passer by walking beside me. You told Dr Ranga of your drug addictions and she concluded that you were experiencing psychotic symptoms, including delusions of persecution, paranoia, thought disorder, intense anger, heightened arousal, and emotional state of mind leading up to the index offences.
33 The interview which I have read, indicates that you were suffering from delusional beliefs at the time you spoke to the police.
34 In answering the questions to which she was asked, Dr Ranga replied,
'Ms Anderton was experiencing psychotic symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia at the time of her offending. She was paranoid, had delusional beliefs that she was being stalked and was agitated, emotionally aroused and angry. She was experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations and did not have insight into her psychotic symptoms. Her psychotic symptoms impaired her judgment and ability to make appropriate decisions.
Due to the severity of her illness, it will be difficult for her to cope in the strict prison environment. It will put her in an increased risk of vulnerability from other prisoners due to the nature of her symptoms. Due to her symptoms, she would also struggle to comply with the strict conditions of the community-based order'.
35 You will need treatment under the Mental Health Act 2004 because of your lack of insight, high risk of relapse. If you become non-compliant with your medication your risk of relapse and reoffending will be significant.
36 Finally, Dr Ranga concluded,
'She will need stable accommodation to facilitate linking her with the local mental health service. Without stable accommodation her risk of
non-compliance with treatment, risk of relapse of her illness and risk of offending will be significant'.
37 Exhibit 5 is a reference from Better Health Network, outlining some of the supports available to you.
38 Exhibit 6, a letter from Restart outlines the transitional assistance being provided to you in custody.
39 You represent a difficult sentencing exercise. You are clearly a danger to the community yet are unwell. I adjourned your plea so that I could obtain further material.
40 I have received the further material from the Better Health Network, Exhibit 7. That organisation will assist you with mental health issues and finding employment. It will also support temporary housing for you.
41 I received a helpful extended pre-sentence report from Corrections, Exhibit 8. Significantly, it outlined a number of incidents in custody where you have been the subject of inflicting violence on others. At p3 of the report, the author of the Corrections report outlines those incidents on pp3 to 4.
42 The report concludes that you represent a high risk of general reoffending, based largely on your psychiatric condition and states as follows. It is the opinion of the writer that whilst employment and education is an important aspect of Ms Anderton to have a long-term goal, it is not of the highest priority, as indicated by our Rest Referral Program at this stage.
43 Instead, Ms Anderton's prioritised needs should include stable accommodation, compliance with her medication and engaging in psychotherapy. This is aimed at reducing her risk to herself and to others, as well as relapse prevention via drug and alcohol services.
44 The author outlines your various psychiatric conditions and came to the following conclusion.
'Ms Anderton's mental health issues are significant and continue to dominate her life. Despite being the subject of consistent psychotherapy treatment whilst in custody, Ms Anderton has been involved in six prison incidents during her period on remand and has placed herself and others at the risk of injury.
'During the assessment, Ms Anderton denied any incidents, other than the self-harm incident. Ms Anderton's time in custody raises serious concerns regarding her unpredictability and propensity to use violence and the risk that this poses to the public, staff, and herself.
'Despite many people working with and for Ms Anderton, her transiency continues, living place to place, associating with antisocial peers, and lapsing into drug and alcohol use.
Unfortunately,',
the author concluded,
'given the conditions of the community corrections order are not equipped to deal with Ms Anderton's level of complexities, as such, Ms Anderton has been found unsuitable for a community corrections order'.
45 In that regard, that author echoes what Dr Ranga indicated in her report.
46 I received a letter from Forensicare, dated 4 October 2023, that indicated as follows.
'Forensicare mental health staff at the Dame Phyllis Frost Unit, advise that Ms Anderton is compliant with treatment and does not meet the criteria for compulsory treatment under the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022'.
47
That is unfortunate because there were options under those provisions that
I could have exercised.
'She has managed on a voluntary basis with the Inner West Area Mental Health Service and an appointment has been arranged at the
Royal Melbourne Hospital on 5 October. Clearly, that date will have to be altered.
'Short term accommodation is being organised at Essendon. Women's Housing will be in contact with her to assist the extended accommodation and exploring options for long term private rental'.
48 Finally, Exhibit 10, another Forensicare letter sets out the supports that have been put in place for you. This is the letter from Brenda Loy. The supports that have been put in place include NDIS support coordination services, NDIS support work, forensic case coordination services, post release transition support, crisis accommodation in Essendon, behavioural support practitioner in place for you and area mental health services engaged.
49 Your counsel submitted that you could be immediately released from custody and that given the Verdins[1] considerations that are clearly enlivened in your case, what would otherwise be a longer term of imprisonment should be reduced. I accept that submission.
[1] R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 62
50 I take into account your pleas of guilty. Although not entered at an early stage you have spared your victim the need to give evidence and the community, the time and expense of a criminal trial.
51 The value of that plea is greater because of the effect COVID-19 has had upon our justice system. You have facilitated the course of justice and are entitled to a greater reduction in sentence as a result.
52 I take into account your cooperation with the police and the admissions you made in your record of interview. That interview, however, also clearly demonstrates the mental health issues that plague you.
53 Your prospects of rehabilitation are grim. You need to comply with your medication requirements and avoid illicit drugs.
54 Hopefully, the steps being implemented to assist you will find you stable housing and promote your compliance with your medication. I suspect, however, that you will continue to be plagued by your psychiatric illness.
55 But for the mitigatory features to which I have referred, the court would have imposed a significant term of imprisonment for your offending.
56 You brazenly and callously assaulted three members of the public, all strangers to you. You wreaked havoc like a bull in a China shop, damaging property, inside and outside the service station. You committed a low-level aggravated burglary to attack Ms Parker. You injured her violently and you have a history of violence.
57 However, you are simply not a suitable vehicle for general deterrence and denunciation. Your counsel and the learned prosecutor both agree that because all your offending occurred in one violent outburst and aggregate sentence of imprisonment was appropriate in your case.
58
On all charges you are convicted, both on the indictable and the
two related summary offences, and you are sentenced to be imprisoned for
250 days.
59 I declare that 243 days of that, not including today, have already been served by way of pre-sentence detention. That should see you released in the next week. In that time steps can be taken to hopefully find some way to accommodate you and manage you.
60 I indicate pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act that but for your pleas of guilty I would have imposed an effective term of imprisonment of 30 months with a non-parole period of 18 months.
61 Any orders required, gentlemen? I can't hear you Mr Cordy.
62 MR CORDY: No. No, Your Honour.
63 HIS HONOUR: All right.
64 MR CORDY: Did you want to just tell the court again and tell me again what the PSD was that Your Honour calculated?
65 HIS HONOUR: Two forty-three.
66 MR CORDY: Can I just indicate, Your Honour, I've got a concern with that figure. The figure, as I understood it, as at last – sorry, yes, last Wednesday, was 250 minus 90 because of the 90 days that she was sentenced to by the learned magistrate for the other matters.
67
HIS HONOUR: I thought it was the other way around, Mr Cordy. It was
250 plus the 90. Because she's been in for 11 months, which is 333 days.
68 MR CORDY: All right. I may be mistaken there, Your Honour and if that's the case – yes.
69
HIS HONOUR: I went through this with my associate. She's been in for
11 months. It was – she'll be released in – my intention is that she be released within a week.
70 MR CORDY: Yes.
71 HIS HONOUR: So, it was unclear and – but when you work it out that she's been in since November last year, you take three months off, you find that that it's 243 days plus 90.
72 MR CORDY: Yes.
73 HIS HONOUR: All right. Mr Hannah, are you happy with that?
74 MR HANNAH: Yes, Your Honour. So long as - it's obvious what your intention is. If there's a problem with that or the authorities have a problem, well, we'll come back.
75 HIS HONOUR: You can come back if it's not but I believe I'm right and I had considered just the issue that Mr Cordy raised.
76 MR HANNAH: Thank you.
77 MR CORDY: Thank you, Your Honour (indistinct).
78 HIS HONOUR: Thank you for your attendance, gentlemen. Ms Anderton, do you understand the sentence I've imposed? All right. I'll terminate the links and I will now adjourn until 10 o'clock.
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