Director of Public Prosecutions v Andrews
[2016] VCC 1853
•1 December 2016
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA AT MELBOURNE CRIMINAL DIVISION | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
Case No. CR-16-01668
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| BRENTON DAVID ANDREWS |
---
JUDGE: | HER HONOUR JUDGE HOGAN | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 29 November 2016 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 1 December 2016 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Andrews | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2016] VCC 1853 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
---
Subject: SENTENCE
Catchwords: One charge of false imprisonment, one charge of intentionally causing injury and one summary charge of committing an indictable offence whilst on bail- TES 352 days’ imprisonment, together with CCO of 3 years.
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:
---
APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the DPP | Ms G Overend | Solicitor for the Director of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms A Smith | Doogue & O’Brien |
HER HONOUR:
1 Brenton David Andrews, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of false imprisonment which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, one charge of intentionally causing injury, which also carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, in addition to a summary charge of committing an indictable offence whilst on bail. You have consented to the summery charge being transferred to the County Court from the Magistrates’ Court and have pleaded guilty to it. That offence carries a maximum penalty of 3 months’ imprisonment.
2 The circumstances of the offending are described in the Summary of Prosecution Opening (Exhibit “A”). The lead up to the offending occurred very late on Christmas Night, 25 December 2015, and the actual offending occurred in the early hours of the morning of Boxing Day, 26 December 2015.
3 The offences were committed jointly with your co-accused, Dylan Ingram, and another unknown person. The victim was Matthew McPherson, who was a friend of yours. He, Ingram and yourself all knew each other. The victim arranged for you to drive your car and pick him up in Hoppers Crossing. You had already picked up your co-accused, Mr Ingram, who was sitting in the passenger seat. You then drove to your residence at 11 Wenden Court, Truganina. At your address was an unknown third offender and, also, people with whom you resided. However, the residents were mainly in their bedrooms and played no role in the offending conduct.
4 Your co-offender, Ingram, apparently had a grievance against the victim because he had crashed Ingram’s vehicle some time previously. Ingram had been released from prison on 23 November 2015 and had begun hassling the victim about payment for the car, which had been written off. Apparently, at the time of the crash, the victim had paid Ingram about $1,000, but Ingram was claiming that he required $8,000 cash immediately. The victim stated that he had been out of work for some time and Ingram told him he had better start thinking up ideas and, then, seized a baseball bat and struck the victim a couple of times to the face, asking him whether he would be getting cash that night. When the victim said he could not pay him that night, Ingram kept hitting him with the bat, connecting with his arms and body, causing a lot of pain. An unknown co-offender, who was present at your house, told the victim to kick his belongings over, so the victim dropped his iPhone, silver necklace and bum bag containing various cards. You took the phone and told the victim to unlock it with the phone PIN and the victim keyed in the PIN.
5 The unknown co-offender used the victim’s phone and debit card to download phone credit. You and the other two co-offenders were yelling at the victim demanding to know how he was going to get more cash for Ingram. The victim was bleeding from his face and the unknown co-offender told him to stand on a rug in the lounge so he did not get blood everywhere.
6 After 30 to 45 minutes at your residence, at approximately 2.00am, at Ingram’s suggestion, you drove the victim and Ingram a short distance to a Bank of Melbourne ATM at Wyndham Village. Your victim’s face was bleeding from the assault and the unknown co-offender put a cover on the back seat to prevent blood getting on to it. He directed the victim to sit on the cover and then disappeared back into the house. Ingram, who still had the baseball bat, sat in the back seat beside the victim. On arrival at the ATM, Ingram directed the victim to check the balance in his account, which was $60, and Ingram told him to withdraw $50 which he gave to Ingram.
7 The victim and Ingram were then driven by you for a further 15 to 20 minutes to an isolated area known as Cobbledicks Ford, a four wheel drive track at the back of Werribee. You and Ingram were silent in the car and your victim felt threatened and outnumbered. The vehicle came to a stop after you drove it over a creek in surrounding bushland. This is the conduct constituting Charge 1, false imprisonment.
8 At the Cobbledicks Ford area, Ingram telephoned another person called Gray who arrived and entered the vehicle. Gray and yourself and Ingram smoked cannabis and ice, while Ingram told Gray how the victim was going to pay him back some money. Gray was not implicated in the offending.
9 Ingram got out of the vehicle with the baseball bat and went around to the side of the car where the victim was seated and screamed at him to “get the fuck out of the car”. The victim got out of the car and Ingram struck him twice to the shoulder with the bat. The victim estimates that, in combination with the earlier strikes with the bat back at your house, he was hit a total of 10 times. This is the conduct constituting Charge 2, intentionally causing injury. Whilst the prosecution concedes that Ingram was the one who actually performed the assault with the baseball bat, you have pleaded guilty to the charge on the basis that you were acting in concert with Ingram and, also, with the unknown co-offender back at your house.
10 Your victim managed to run away towards the creek and hid behind a tree. Yourself, Ingram and Gray went to the creek looking for him, but after a while you, Ingram and Gray all left the scene. The victim walked for about 20 minutes, before knocking on a couple of house doors and one occupant enabled him to use a phone to call his mother. She collected him from Cobbledicks and took him to Werribee Police Station to report the matter. The victim had a bloody and swollen face and was taken to Werribee Mercy Hospital. There he was diagnosed with a swollen right infraorbital area extending towards the right cheekbone and a 1 centimetre wound to the infraorbital area. A CT scan also showed two subtle fractures in the anterior wall of the right maxillary sinus extending to the infraorbital canal and the victim’s left forearm was swollen and bruised.
11 At the time of offending, you were on bail for a number of driving offences committed on 19 October 2015. This forms the basis of the summary charge of committing an indictable offence whilst on bail. It is also an aggravating feature of your offending that you had been placed on a Community Corrections Order by Sunshine Magistrates’ Court on 10 August 2015.
12 You were arrested on 7 January 2016 and in a record of interview claimed that your victim had wanted to buy “some gear” (meaning drugs) and that was why you had come to pick him up to “maybe hook him up with some”. You gave a sanitised version of events to police endeavouring to distance yourself from any criminal wrongdoing. For example, you claimed that, after you drove the victim to your home, he and the others were in the lounge room and the victim looked fine, he did not look injured and, later, you got asked to drive him home, and you had a smoke of ice on the way. You stated that people went their separate ways and you did not see anything, at all, happen.
13 You also claimed that the victim had wanted to get into the car. Also, he had asked you to stop off at the ATM to give you some money to pay for some ice which you had purchased, but stated that, as you had not paid anything for it, you did not want his money. You represented to police that every time the victim got into the car he was not forced in and he was chatting with the person in the back, whom you declined to name as Ingram. However, you inadvertently used his first name when speaking to police. You claimed that, outside the car, Ingram and the victim had been just talking between themselves and they got a bit heated and the victim got scared and “bolted off”.
14 You gave far from a full and frank account to police, claiming that the victim had been mingling with others back at your house, drinking and smoking and catching up and you were making sure that things were not too noisy as it was Christmas Night and, later on, when the victim had bolted, Ingram had told you that he was just a dickhead, trying to dodge paying him money, that he had owed him some years back.
15 You claimed to have seen the victim and Ingram as you looked in the rear vision mirror of your car at Cobbledicks Ford and they were resting on the boot, just talking, neither had anything in their hands and the victim just bolted off. You even maintained that the victim had been sitting on a wheel brace in the car, which he could have used if he felt that he had been in danger.
16 The account which you gave to police was, essentially, that you had been driving the victim home when he asked you to stop off at the ATM and then you decided to park in order to smoke ice amongst yourselves and you were just listening to music while the victim and Ingram were engaged in a conversation. This was a far cry from what happened on that night. You even denied that you had driven all the way to Cobbledicks Ford or that a second car had arrived there, driven by, Gray (who, as I have stated, was not implicated in these offences).
17 When police told you that Gray had admitted that his vehicle had been left at Cobbledicks Ford and the baseball bat with blood stains on it was found in the passenger seat foot well, you claimed you knew nothing about it. You presented yourself as having been some sort of peacemaker, who made sure that people did not get hurt, and claimed that the conversation between Ingram and the victim did not get so heated that they ended up hitting each other and there was not even a punch thrown and it looked under control. You were unable to explain why the victim had turned up at the police station with blood all over his face, claiming that he looked fine when you had last seen him. “Honestly a hundred per cent fine” and “he got in the car willingly both times” and to say that he had been assaulted in your presence at your house was “ridiculous”.[1] You claimed to be shocked by the allegations and stated that if the victim had been injured or hurt in any way, you would have taken him straight to the hospital.
[1]Page 1, Record of Interview
18 In spite of your professed ignorance of any criminal behaviour toward your victim, you, in fact, indicated a willingness to enter pleas of guilty to the subject charges on the morning of the committal, and no evidence was required to be given. In the circumstances, particularly given that you had earlier faced a kidnapping charge with which the prosecution did not proceed, the prosecution acknowledges that your plea of guilty was an early one, for which you should be given credit.
19 It was submitted by your counsel that your pleas of guilty are remorseful ones, given that, between the date of offending and the date of committal you had been remanded in custody and had substantial time for reflection on your behaviour. Further, amongst a number of references tendered to the Court was one from your parents dated 24 November 2016. They have visited you fortnightly in the time that you have been in custody and state, “Brenton is remorseful for his wrong, for his wrongdoings and the time he has spent in gaol has given him time to realise what he has done wrong.”
20 In the circumstances, I am satisfied that, by the time you indicated a willingness to enter the pleas of guilty, you had developed some remorse for your behaviour. In addition, such pleas have spared your victim having to relive the trauma of this horrible night by giving evidence, and have saved the time and expense of a trial. Thus, you are entitled to a high discount upon the sentence which, otherwise, would have been imposed.
21 You are presently aged 29 years, having been born on 10 October 1987. With the exception of one appearance before a court in 2013 for driving offences, for which you were placed on a good behaviour bond for period of 12 months without conviction, your only prior history of criminal convictions relates to one appearance at Sunshine Magistrates’ Court on 10 August 2015. This was for trafficking in methylamphetamine, possessing prohibited and controlled weapons, dealing with property suspected of being stolen and retaining stolen goods and failing to answer bail. On that occasion, a total of 19 days’ imprisonment was ordered on the trafficking charge, which was time reckoned as already served under the sentence because you had been on remand for this period of time and, otherwise, you were convicted of the offences and ordered to undertake a Community Correction Order for a period of 12 months with conditions of unpaid community work, supervision and drug and mental health rehabilitation and treatment.
22 The material before the Court satisfies me that you grew up in a loving home and were a polite, dutiful and diligent young man who, after completing Year 12, successfully undertook an apprenticeship as a motor mechanic and remained in solid employment for six years. According to a reference from your former employer, Mr John Agosta, of JW Automotive Repairs and Autogas, you were a valuable asset to the business, able to manage business and work unsupervised, as well as liaising with customers, whilst having full security access to all aspects of the business. He described you as a well-mannered, trustworthy and reliable employee, but stated that in the last six months of your employment, you had begun to mix with questionable peers and this impacted upon your behaviour and work performance so that, ultimately, your employment was terminated in November 2012.
23 Other references from family members confirm that you were a decent, loving and generous-spirited, family oriented person until you and your girlfriend of six years from high school were introduced to drugs. Unhappily, this resulted in a disastrous deterioration in your lifestyle, such that you lost the home that you had worked hard to purchase, along with your relationship and your job.
24 I am satisfied that, at the time of committing these offences, you were in the grip of a serious ice addiction. Your ice use had apparently begun as a recreational habit with your de facto partner on weekends, but had steadily crept up to daily use of one half a gram to one gram. Just two months before the offending, your long term partner, Ms Reynolds, was hospitalised and gave birth to your daughter, Sienna, who was six weeks premature. Sienna remained in hospital for the first three weeks of her life and, for the first two weeks, you were spending two or three hours per day at the hospital. Unfortunately, as the hospital was in the Werribee area where you had been accessing ice, your drug habit continued to increase. The Department of Human Services was notified of the drug use of Sienna’s mother and yourself and you were then prevented from seeing your daughter, which you found very distressing. Your drug use, which was already extremely problematic, spiralled out of control. At all relevant time, since the intervention of the Department, Sienna has been in the care of her maternal great grandmother, Jackie Blaxill, living in Werribee.
25 I should make it plain that the mere fact of being an ice abuser or addict is not necessarily, of itself, mitigatory. Unhappily, drug-induced anti-social, cowardly behaviour of a violent nature, like that to which you have pleaded guilty, is all too common. It costs our community a fortune when people are foolish enough and selfish enough to take ice. It takes a toll on people, personally, as you know. It fractures relationships with people to whom they are closest. It ruins their work prospects. They invariably commit further crimes, which have an adverse effect on other members of the community. They create a great burden on our hospitals and community health centres and drug rehabilitation centres. They place a burden on the load of police officers who have to detect crimes and bring the offenders to justice. They place a burden on the entire community by adding to the numbers in our prison system. It costs the community about a hundred and twenty thousand dollars to keep a person in custody for a year.
26 There is no doubt that these are very serious offences. This was a truly dreadful ordeal for your victim. He suffered very painful facial injuries and it is fortunate, given that the fractures were so close to his eye, that they did not result in more serious consequences. When reading Mr McPherson’s victim impact statement made on 8 June 2016, it is clear that he has suffered psychologically from the breach of trust that you, a friend, committed by being involved in such frightening, menacing and brutal offending. He suffers levels of depression and anxiety and has trouble dealing with crowded places, his sleep is disturbed and he has moments of anger, as well as difficulty trusting people as he used to do. All of these are foreseeable and understandable consequences of the appalling behaviour of you and your co-accused.
27 In sentencing for such offences, the Court must denounce such conduct. It is plainly unacceptable that anyone should take the law into their own hands to endeavour to collect a debt of any sort. Although I accept that your role was a less than that of Ingram, who was clearly the instigator of the offending because he claimed he was owed money, you stood by with the other unknown offender at your home, adding support to Ingram in his intimidating menace to your hapless victim and callously saw him struck multiple times with the baseball bat, and then took possession of his mobile phone. You drove Ingram and your victim to the automatic teller machine in order to compel him to take money out to pay Ingram. Then, you drove to the remote locality in the bush, where it is very easy to understand why your victim fled at the first available opportunity after being beaten for a second time with the baseball bat by Ingram, while you just sat in the car and did nothing to help him. He must have been truly terrified hiding in the bush, as you, Ingram and Gray were looking for him. Such brutal, cowardly vigilante conduct in these terrifying circumstances requires the Court to send out a very clear message that those who are minded to behave in this way will be appropriately punished. Thus, it is necessary to emphasise general deterrence in sentencing you and, in all of the circumstances, there can be no sentence appropriate other than a custodial sentence of which there must be some immediate custodial component.
28 Your counsel and the prosecutor have conceded that parity should not apply with your co-accused, Ingram, who was sentenced by his Honour Judge Gamble on 26 July 2016 for the more serious charge of kidnapping, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment, in addition to the charge of intentionally causing injury and a charge of resisting emergency workers on duty, as well as one summary offence of possessing a controlled weapon (a machete). As I have stated, I am satisfied that, although you acted in concert with Ingram and the other unknown male, Ingram was the instigator of the offending and the one who wielded the weapon and his role was greater than yours. Although you were of similar age, he had a more serious criminal history than yourself. He had been convicted in the Melbourne County Court on 9 November 2015 for armed robbery and assault, for which he was given a sentence of nine months’ imprisonment (259 days of which had already been served) together with a Community Corrections Order. Subsequently, on 11 November 2015, he had been convicted at Sunshine Magistrates’ Court of contravening bail, possessing and trafficking in ecstasy, weapons offences, theft and driving offences. He was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment wholly suspended for a period of 18 months. In committing the offences on 26 January 2016, he breached the suspended sentence and, obviously, had already breached the Community Corrections Order given on 9 November 2015.
29 Your conduct is very serious, not only because an innocent person was injured, but because he was outnumbered in menacing circumstances in which a weapon was used and he was taken in the dark of night to an isolated location in terrifying circumstances which made his ordeal a nasty and protracted one, over a couple of hours. Further, as already mentioned, your criminal conduct is aggravated by the fact that you were on a Community Corrections Order at the time, as well as on bail for other offences which had been committed prior in time to this one. I make it plain that it is no part of my role to sentence you for that other earlier offending which, is the subject of a consolidation hearing in the Magistrates’ Court. Apparently, all matters were to have been heard in a plea hearing in October 2016, however your remand on custody for the subject offences resulted in it being subsequently listed for 16 January 2017.
30 Although I have stated, and your counsel has conceded, that an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate, there are significant matters in your favour. I accept that at the time of offending, you had descended rapidly into addiction to ice during a relatively short period and that your life had reached an all-time low with having lost access to your new born baby, the long-term relationship with your de facto partner and also your home which had been sold by the bank form which you had a mortgage. I have already mentioned your early and remorseful pleas of guilty. The other factor of significance is that you have now spent a total of 329 days in custody. You have managed to use this time to good rehabilitative effect. Not only have you abstained from taking drugs in custody, but you have submitted to urine screens in April, June and August this year, all of which have been analysed and produced a negative result for illicit drugs. (Exhibit 4) You have also attended a course on managing ice addiction for four hours each week over a six-week program, and a certificate to this effect was tendered as Exhibit 3. In addition, you have been working as a billet, cleaning the general areas of the prison where you have been held on remand. All of these matters provide some concrete evidence of what is said by a number of the people whose references have been tendered, namely, that you are determined to try to turn your life around, particularly because you want to be a good father to your daughter, who is now one year old.
31 Other factors in your favour are that you are extremely fortunate to have a loving and very supportive family. Both your mother and father and your younger brother were in Court for the plea hearing. It is plain that they have been deeply shocked and distressed by seeing the dutiful, motivated and loving young man they know turn into an ice addict. Nevertheless, they have stuck by you and, as mentioned previously, your parents have made a very great effort each fortnight to travel two hours from their home in Carisbrook to pick up your daughter, Sienna, from her great grandmother’s house in Werribee and thence to Barwon Prison so that you can forge a bond with her. They have then undertaken the reverse arduous journey. The references speak of the pride you have in your daughter and how she is a very good cause for you to try to mend your ways. In addition, you have a solid and significant work history as a skilled tradesman, as well as at least two opportunities to work upon release. It seems to me that if you can abstain from ice and other illicit drugs, and bad associations, then there is good reason to believe that you can be successfully rehabilitated. In comparison to many other cases that come before this Court, your history of drug addiction is fairly short and you have a significant number of pro-social supports. I consider that all these matters bode well for your rehabilitation.
32 In all of the circumstances, I consider that it is a case where, notwithstanding the objective seriousness of the offending conduct, there are a number of factors which make it appropriate to give a sentencing disposition comprising an immediate custodial component coupled with a Community Corrections Order (for which you have been assessed as suitable). Although some may consider the sentence I intend to impose somewhat lenient on its face, I am of the view that, where there are good prospects of rehabilitation like yours, than a court has an obligation to foster them as soon as appropriately possible, lest they be lost. However, there will be some considerably demanding aspects of the Community Corrections Order which, in combination with the period of time in custody, I consider will meet the sentencing objectives of denunciation, general deterrence and punishment, but also promote rehabilitation which, ultimately, is not only in your best interests but the best interests of the community.
33 Would you stand up, please.
34 On Charge 1, false imprisonment, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 300 days in addition to undertaking a Community Correction Order for a period of 3 years.
35 On Charge 2, intentionally causing injury, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 150 days in addition to undertaking a Community Correction Order for a period of 3 years.
36 On the summary charge of committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, you are convicted and sentenced to be imprisoned for a period of 30 days.
37 The base sentence is that imposed on Charge 1, false imprisonment, namely 300 days. I direct that 45 days of the sentence imposed on Charge 2 and 7 days of the sentence imposed on the summary charge be served cumulatively upon the base sentence and upon each other. Save for such cumulation, then sentences are to be served concurrently. The total effective term of imprisonment is thus 352 days’ imprisonment. I declare a total of 329 days to be time reckoned as already served under the sentence imposed this day.
38 As I have stated, on Charges 1 and 2, in addition to the custodial component of the sentence, you are to undertake a Community Correction Order for a period of 3 years commencing immediately upon your release from custody.
39 The terms of the Community Correction Order are as follows:
(a)You must not commit, whether in or outside Victoria during the period of the order, an offence punishable by imprisonment;
(ab)You must comply with any obligations or requirement prescribed by the Regulations;
(b)You must report to and receive visits from the Secretary during the period of the order;
(c)You must report to the Community Correction Centre specified in the order within 2 clear working days after the order coming into force; Mr Andrews, on my calculation you will be released shortly before Christmas, on the 23rd December, I believe. As that will be approaching the Christmas holiday period, I strongly suggest that prior to being released, you make contact with Bendigo Office of Corrections to make an appointment with them for a time when they are available after the Christmas weekend.
(d)You must notify the Secretary of any change of address or employment within 2 clear working days after the change;
(e)You must not leave Victoria except with the permission, either generally or in relation to a particular case, of the Secretary;
(f)You must comply with any direction given by the Secretary that is necessary for the Secretary to give to ensure that you comply with the order.
40 In addition, the following conditions are attached to the Community Correction Order:
(i)You are required to perform 200 hours of unpaid community work;
(ii)You must undergo assessment and treatment for drug abuse or dependency;
(iii)You must undertake programs to reduce the risk of reoffending;
(iv)You must be supervised, monitored and managed as directed by the Secretary.
(v)You must reside with your parents at 36 Powlett St, Carisbrook unless or until an alternative residence is approved by the Regional Manager.
(vi)You must not be in the vicinity or Werribee or Wyndham Vale save and except for the purpose of having contact with your daughter, Sienna and, only then, if accompanied by a member of your extended family or otherwise, with the specific permission of the Regional Director for work or other purposes.
41 Mr Andrews, I am not able to make a Community Correction Order with those terms and conditions unless you consent to abide by them. Are you prepared to do so?
PRISONER: Yes, I do.
42 Pursuant to s6AAA of the Sentencing Act 1991, I state that had it not been for your pleas of guilty, the total effective sentence imposed would have been 5 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 3 years.
43 Upon your conviction on a number of Schedule 1 offences, namely false imprisonment and intentionally causing injury and upon being satisfied that the property referred to in the Schedule is property that is prescribed by the Regulations and any other property that is of negligible value that was used or was intended to be used in or in connection with the commission of the offence or was derived or realised, directly or indirectly, by you or another person from the commission of the offence, I order pursuant to s78(1) of the Confiscation Act 1987, the forfeiture to the State of the property referred to in the Schedule and I further direct that it be placed in the custody of the Chief Commissioner of Police and be held by him until 28 days from this date or the conclusion of any appeal proceedings where it may be tested and/or analysed and then destroyed. There are a total of 6 items referred to in the Schedule of this order.
44 Pursuant to s464ZF(2) of the Crimes Act 1958, I order that you undergo a forensic procedure for the taking of a scraping from the mouth in accordance with Sub-division 30A of Part 3 of the Crimes Act until a sample of sufficient standard is obtained for placement on the database. I consider that this order is justified by reason of the seriousness of the circumstances of the offending and the fact that it is not opposed by you.
45 Mr Andrews, this involves taking a swap of saliva from inside your cheek. You must be aware that if you do not consent to the taking of a saliva sample by an authorised member of the police force, then the police are entitled to use reasonable force to enable that forensic procedure to be conducted. You should undertake that procedure prior to being released from custody.
46 Mr Andrews, you have to be aware that your obligations under the Community Correction Order will commence as soon as you released from prison and they will continue to apply for a period of 3 years. Should you contravene that Community Correction Order by not obeying any of the conditions or committing another offence punishable by imprisonment, then that in itself will constitute a further crime which is punishable by 3 years’ imprisonment. Should that occur, you will be brought back before me and it is highly likely that the order will be cancelled and you will be ordered to serve further time imprisonment instead. You may also be ordered to serve an additional period by reason of the fact of your having breached the order as well.
47 Do you understand that?
PRISONER: Yes, Your Honour
48 Is this your signature on this Community Corrections Order?
PRISONER: Yes, Your Honour.
49 Do you acknowledge by your signature that you understand the terms and conditions of the order and agree to be bound by them.
PRISONER: Yes, I do.
50 Do you understand the consequences of breaching the Order?
PRISONER: Yes, Your Honour.
51 I want to say this to you, Mr Andrews. You have to be very acutely aware that an addiction to ice like yours is never far below the surface. Even people who do not take drugs for years and years, make the mistake of thinking they’ll just have a little bit and the addiction will then quickly come to the surface. You can never ever afford to take ice again. It’s like an alcoholic who can never afford to take a drink again, because your system, your brain, has been altered by the experience of addiction and it will quickly recognise the substance, if it comes into your body again, and the cravings will begin and your life will descend into the mess it became when you offended.
52 I strongly suggest that as soon as you get out of custody that you link up with Narcotics-Anonymous. You need to go there regularly. You need to look in the mirror every day and say “I am an ice addict and I’m going to continue my path of rehabilitation because I’ve been selfish and stupid and I have wrecked my life for a period and hurt those very close to me. You need to remember that you now, not only have yourself to look out for but your precious little daughter. In part I have given the sentence releasing you from custody in time for Christmas out of mercy for that little child. I don’t want her to grow up remembering a father who was in prison. Hopefully she won’t remember that. Hopefully she will, by the time memories form that last, know a loving and caring father. She is entitled to that. You now have a very heavy responsibility for her. Your job is to protect her and provide for her and give her a good example.
53 You are lucky enough to have two wonderful parents and a brother who have stood by you, along with other members of your extended family. Use that support and, if you feel tempted to take even one illicit drug, just think of your daughter and think of how your life will go downwards again.
54 You had achieved really well, had a solid and successful career. You had purchased a house at a relatively young age when everyone knows it is hard for young people to get into the property market. You have thrown away all of that by this hideous addiction to ice. It is, as you will be painfully aware, a nasty master, because all that matters to an ice addict is getting hold of the next ice pipe. If you ever take drugs again, you will be the author of your own misfortune. You will go on being a menace to society and you will go on being returned to prison and your life will be a miserable, wasted one. I sincerely hope that you will now use this opportunity for a community corrections order. You didn’t use it when it was given by the Magistrate’s court, but be in no doubt that if you are brought before me for breach of that order there will be no leniency, there will be no mercy shown next time, do you understand that?
PRISONER: Yes, Your Honour.
55 Well, the court sincerely wishes you well with that rehabilitation.
-------
0
0
0