Director of Public Prosecutions v Angwin
[2023] VCC 1101
•25 May 2023
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL DIVISION
CR-22-01679
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| TODD ANGWIN |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE MAIDMENT | |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne | |
DATE OF HEARING: | 25 May 2023 | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 25 May 2023 | |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Angwin | |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2023] VCC 1101 | |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:Plea - sentencing
Catchwords: False imprisonment - intentionally cause injury – prohibited person use firearm - commit indictable offence whilst on bail
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:14 months' imprisonment and 18-month CCO
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr N. Hutton | Office of Public Prosecutions |
| For the Accused | Ms B. East | Sarah Pratt & Associates |
HIS HONOUR:
1
Todd Angwin, you have pleaded guilty to three charges on the indictment: one of false imprisonment, for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for 10 years; one of intentionally causing injury, for which the maximum penalty is also imprisonment for 10 years; and one of being a prohibited person using a firearm, for which the maximum penalty is also imprisonment for 10 years.
You have also asked me to take into account and have pleaded guilty to one related summary offence of committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, for which the maximum penalty is imprisonment for three months.
2 You have admitted prior convictions, albeit I note that the convictions are relatively ancient now, the last being in August of 2012. Each of your convictions involves offences of violence of one kind or another, but you did not receive terms of imprisonment for any of those offences. Rather, on the last of them at any rate, you were subject to a Community Correction Order for a period of nine months.
3 The prosecution tendered and relied upon an opening, which we will mark Exhibit A, on the hearing. It sets out the circumstances of the offending, which seem to have arisen from the expenditure by you of some $2,000 for a drug deal, which resulted in a claim by the victim that he had been robbed of the money and a belief on your part and those of your co-offenders that you had been ripped off by the victim. Then followed events which are set out in the prosecution opening involving commission of the three offences on the indictment and the circumstance in which you pleaded guilty to the related summary offence. There is no victim impact statement.
4 Your counsel provided me with submissions for sentence indication which are essentially the same as those relied upon today on the plea hearing, and I shall mark those Exhibit 1. I was also provided with a letter from Junelle Houston of the TaskForce Community Agency in South Road, Bentleigh.
5 The submissions made on your behalf indicate that you were born in Western Australia, came to Victoria at the age of 12, and were the youngest of five children. Your parents returned to Western Australia when you were 16, but you continued to live in Victoria with an older brother aged 21. You commenced a relationship at the age of 18 which continued until you were aged 36. You have a daughter by that relationship who is now 20 years of age. She resides with you and has done so since you were granted bail on 25 August 2022. You have a good relationship with her.
6 When you were 36, you had an accident in which you blacked out and collapsed, hitting your head on sandstone and suffering some severe head injuries which have left you permanently disabled and unable to work. You are on a disability pension and are currently seeking further assistance through the NDIS program.
7 You have never experienced issues with alcohol, but you started abusing speed at the age of 14. After the incident at age 36 which I have just described, you began abusing methylamphetamine to an amount of about a gram a day. You have ceased using that during your period on remand in June 2021, and you have been abstinent since you have been on bail granted in August 2022.
8 You apparently suffer from severe anxiety. You have an acquired brain injury as a result of the accident that I have described, and you have had some psychological treatment since you have been on bail. You have complied with the terms of your bail.
9 You indicated a plea of guilty at the sentence indication hearing, and it is agreed that you were in custody for a period of 430 days before being granted bail in August 2022. You were in custody during the COVID period and subject to the added restrictions that the pandemic imposed, therefore making your period on remand significantly harder than it might otherwise have been. You contracted COVID in custody. You were in hospital for five days. You were taken to hospital on other occasions as a result of seizures.
10 It was submitted that your prospects of rehabilitation are good in that you have a limited criminal history, you have complied with bail conditions, you were remanded for 430 days in custody, you are now clean of illicit substances, you have engaged with the TaskForce Community Agency to which I have referred, you have a stable residential address and you have family support. It is not suggested by the prosecution that that submission is wrong. I accept that submission.
11 These are serious offences, and ordinarily they would attract a quite significant term of imprisonment. However, it is submitted on your behalf that I can deal with the matter by a sentence that does not exceed the period during which you were remanded in custody coupled with a community correction order. You have been assessed as suitable for such an order, with a recommendation for conditions, including unpaid community work.
12 It seems to me that the kind of sentence that both sides accept is open to me to impose not exceeding 430 days' imprisonment needs a further punitive element, and I propose to reflect that in the community work condition of the correction order that I propose to impose upon you. I note that I have also received a Forensicare report which makes certain recommendations for the treatment and rehabilitation component of the community correction order.
13 Given all that material and the submissions made on your behalf and giving you credit for your pleas of guilty, I propose to sentence you to a term of imprisonment involving a total effective sentence of one year and two months coupled with a community correction order.
14 I cannot make that order without your consent, and I have no doubt that you have discussed this all with your counsel, but I need to go through the terms of the proposed order and seek your consent.
15 The order would be for a period of 18 months which would commence today and would end on 24 November of 2024. The mandatory terms of the order, which apply to all community correction orders, are that:
- you must not commit an offence for which you could be imprisoned during the term of the order;
- you must comply with any obligation or requirement prescribed under regulation 17 of the Sentencing Regulations, which include conditions such as not turning up for your supervision hearings drunk or drug affected;
- you must report to and receive visits from the Secretary of the Department of Justice or his or her delegate;
- you must report to the community corrections centre at 431 Nepean Highway, Frankston, Victoria, within two clear working days after commencement of the order, which I believe would be Monday at 4 pm;
- you must let a Community Corrections Officer know within two clear working days of you changing your address or job;
- you must not leave Victoria without first getting permission to do so from the Secretary of the Department of Justice or his or her delegate; and
- you must obey all lawful instructions from and directions of the Secretary of the Department of Justice or his or her delegate.
16 In addition, you will be required to complete 200 hours of unpaid community work during the 18 months in which the order is in force, but I order that 100 hours of that can be offset against treatment and rehabilitation hours satisfactorily undertaken - up to 100 hours are to be counted as unpaid community work for the purposes of the unpaid community work condition. If you fail to comply with this order as to the unpaid community work component, the Secretary of the Department of Justice may give you a direction to perform additional hours of unpaid community work in accordance with the Sentencing Act.
17 During the period you are subject to the order, you must also be under the supervision of a community corrections officer, you must undergo assessment and treatment, including testing, for drug abuse and dependency as directed by the Regional Manager, you must undergo any mental health assessment and treatment that may include psychological, neuropsychological, or psychiatric or treatment in a hospital or residential facility as directed by the Regional Manager, and you must participate in programs and/or courses that address factors relating to the offending as directed by the Regional Manager.
18 Also, you will be the subject of judicial monitoring, so you must reappear at this court for a review of your compliance with the order as directed by the court. The first attendance will be on 24 August of 2023 at 9.30 am in this court.
19 Do you understand the terms of that order?
20 OFFENDER: Yes, Your Honour.
21 HIS HONOUR: Do you realise that if you do commit an offence punishable by imprisonment during the term of the order you will be brought back before this court, and probably before me, and you could be resentenced for these offences, which would almost certainly be an increased term of imprisonment, as well as being subject to being sentenced for the breach with up to three months' imprisonment just for that offence. Do you understand those consequences?
22 OFFENDER: Yes, I do.
23 HIS HONOUR: And do you understand the risks that you take if you commit a further offence?
24 OFFENDER: Yeah.
25 HIS HONOUR: All right.
26 OFFENDER: I promise I won't be.
27 HIS HONOUR: Are you willing to comply with the terms of this order?
28 OFFENDER: I certainly am, yeah.
29 HIS HONOUR: All right. Do you want a moment to just go through it with him, Ms East?
30 MS EAST: No.
31 HIS HONOUR: You're happy that he understands?
32 MS EAST: I'm happy, Your Honour.
33 HIS HONOUR: Well, you'll be asked to sign the order - my associate will supervise that - and once you've signed it I'll sign it and then that order is in force.
34 I will now pronounce sentence upon you given that you have indicated that.
35 For the offence under Charge 1 of false imprisonment, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for one year and two months.
36 For the offence of intentionally causing injury, the subject of Charge 2, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of one year and two months.
37 For the offence of being a prohibited person using a firearm, the subject of Charge 3, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for one year and two months.
38 For the related summary offence of committing an indicatable offence whilst on bail, you are convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of one month.
39 All of those sentences will run concurrently. The total effective sentence is therefore one year and two months.
40 I declare 430 days of pre-sentence detention as time to be reckoned as served on the sentences that I have imposed and deducted accordingly, and I order that those facts be noted in the records of the court.
41 I declare that but for your pleas of guilty I would have sentenced you to imprisonment for a period of three years and six months with a non-parole period of two years and three months.
42 I make the forfeiture order in the terms of the draft which I have been provided.
43 Are there any other orders I need make?
44 MR HUTTON: Just in the way Your Honour announced the sentences as I listened to them, Your Honour announced the imprisonment component but not the combination.
45 HIS HONOUR: In addition, on Charges 1, 2, and 3 on the indictment, I order that you be the subject of a community correction order for a period of 18 months in the terms that I have already read out to you and in the terms of the document that you will now be asked to sign. Perhaps, Ms East, you would supervise that - - -
46 MS EAST: Certainly, Your Honour.
47 HIS HONOUR: - - - and make sure that you're happy with the terms of the order reflected in that document and that your client is then happy to sign, and I will come to sign it, and then the order will be in force.
48 MS EAST: As Your Honour pleases.
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