Director of Public Prosecutions v Austin

[2020] VCC 614

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA Revised
Not Restricted
Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-19-01700

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

CHRISTOPHER AUSTIN

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GWYNN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	17 February 2020
DATE OF SENTENCE:	14 May 2020
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Austin
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2020] VCC 614

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:                  Criminal law; Koori Court

Catchwords:          Robbery; causing injury intentionally; obtaining property by deception; commit indictable offence whilst on bail

Legislation Cited:  Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic)

Cases Cited:Honeysett v The Queen [2018] VSCA 214; 56 VR 375; Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37; 249 CLR 571; 87 ALJR 1022; 302 ALR 192; 229 A Crim R 337; R v Verdins [2007] VSCA 102; 16 VR 269

Sentence:16 months imprisonment; community corrections order (18 months duration, treatment and programs for drug abuse, mental health and to reduce reoffending, participation in Justice Plan services and referrals); fine of $500

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Ms J. Malobabic	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Mr J. Lavery	Kurnai Legal Practice

HER HONOUR: 

1Christopher Austin, you have pleaded guilty on indictment to one charge of robbery, one charge of causing injury intentionally and one charge of obtaining property by deception.  The offending that gives rise to these charges occurred in the early hours of 9 February 2019.  In addition, you pleaded guilty to one related summary offence of committing an indictable offence, that being robbery, whilst you were on bail.

2When sentencing you for these crimes, I must have regard to the maximum sentences for each of the offences that you have committed.  Robbery carries a maximum penalty of 15 years imprisonment; causing injury intentionally and obtaining property by deception both carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment; and the summary charge of commit an indictable offence whilst on bail carries a maximum of 30 penalty units or three months imprisonment.

3The circumstances of your offending were set out in a document entitled “Summary of Prosecution Opening for Plea”, which was dated 7 February 2020.  It is a detailed document and represents an acceptance by you of the elements of the offences to which you have pleaded guilty and the factual basis on which I am to sentence.

4In short compass, at approximately 5.30 am on 9 February 2019, the victim of your offending, Ms Leong Zhin Yi, was returning home from Melbourne's Chinatown district after spending a night socialising.  Ms Yi was a Malaysian citizen living and studying in Melbourne and was not known to you.  She walked alone for approximately 200 metres to her apartment building and was in fact almost at home.

5You were following Ms Yi at a distance and, as she reached the doorway to her apartment building, you approached her from behind and grabbed her around the neck, holding her against the front of your body.  You then dragged her by the head for a short distance before forcing her onto a bench next to the apartment doorway as you kept hold of her neck and head.

6Ms Yi began to scream and struggle, at which time you forced her into a prone position on the bench.  As she continued to resist you, you dragged her off the bench and onto the ground.  You grabbed her handbag, which had fallen onto the ground during the assault, and retained it for the rest of the incident.

7You then stomped and kicked Ms Yi on the ground, before lifting her and forcing her onto the bench, where you held her down whilst pulling at her hair.  Ms Yi understandably continued to struggle, and you punched her once to the face. 

8Having taken possession of Ms Yi's handbag and Apple iPhone 10, you then walked away.

9Inexplicably, after walking only a short distance from her, you returned to Ms Yi and further assaulted her by grabbing her head in a headlock and forcing her back towards the bench.  You then again forced her into a prone position on that bench, climbed on top of her, and punched her multiple times to the body and face before finally rolling off and running from the scene again, and in possession of her mobile phone and handbag, containing, amongst other items, cash, her Malaysian passport, and bank cards.

10The incident as just described founds the charges of robbery, Charge 1, and causing injury intentionally, Charge 2.

11In terms of the charge of obtaining property by deception, having obtained
Ms Yi's handbag, approximately an hour after this incident, you used her ANZ and Commonwealth Bank cards at various McDonald's and convenience stores in the city, where you purchased food, cigarettes and a mobile phone recharge voucher within a short timeframe, and in the company of a Mr Teina Watson. 

12The use of the stolen credit cards forms the basis for Charge 3, obtaining property by deception.  The total amount obtained was $190.45.

13The robbery and deception charges represent all-too-common offending but not, in my view, at the higher end for offences of their respective type.  The injury charge is in a different category, but I must bear in mind that it has some crossover with the robbery charge.  I must bear in mind at all times the principle of totality across the indictable offences and summary offence.

14The assault was captured on CCTV footage and makes for difficult viewing.  Photographs of Ms Yi's injuries were tendered.  I accept that your primary target was Ms Yi's belongings and that the robbery was largely opportunistic, however, you had obtained her belongings at the start of your attack, yet you continued.  You in fact had left the scene but returned to attack Ms Yi in a display of disturbing and gratuitous violence, elevating the seriousness of the intentionally cause injury charge.

15According to the Crown opening, Ms Yi sustained bruising to her face and legs as a result of your attack.  Police who attended observed a graze to the right side of her jaw, swelling to the left side of her jaw, bruising to the left shin, and cuts and bruising near her left knee.  It is certainly more by good fortune than good management that her injuries were not more serious.

16At the time of committing these offences on 9 February 2019, you were bailed to appear at the Warrnambool Magistrates' Court in relation to charges of failing to comply with registered sex offender reporting obligations.  This forms the basis of summary Charge 11, committing indictable offence whilst on bail.

17You were arrested by police and interviewed by them on 15 February 2019, at which time you admitted using the stolen credit cards but claimed not to know how the cards had come into your possession.  At that time, you denied involvement in the assault on Ms Yi.

18A victim impact statement authored by Ms Yi was tendered by the prosecution at the plea hearing.  The purpose of a victim impact statement is to give those affected by your crime the opportunity to participate in the criminal justice process by informing the court about the effects of the crime upon them.

19In her victim impact statement, Ms Yi speaks of her physical injuries and the loss of her property.  She describes feeling fearful of people around her, no matter where she goes, and the extra care she now takes to ensure that she is not attacked again.  I have no doubt she would have been absolutely terrified during your actual attack and that there is likely to have been ongoing difficulties for her since that charge date.  Your attack does little to recommend Melbourne to the international community. 

20You entered pleas of guilty to all charges before me at committal hearing on
22 August 2019 without cross-examination of the victim.  I note that charges before this court were within the jurisdiction of the Magistrates' Court. 

21The Sentencing Act obliges me to take into account the stage at which you entered your pleas of guilty.  In my view, they have been entered at a relatively early stage.  There is clear value in saving the victim the need to give evidence and relive the events of 9 February 2019, and there is utilitarian value in saving the community the time and expense of a trial.  These factors will be taken into account in your favour.

22Your counsel submitted that your plea of guilty is also evidence of remorse.  Considering all of the materials before me, I accept that you are both regretful and ashamed of your offending, particularly of the attack on Ms Yi.  Remorse is a factor which will be taken into account.

23Your plea took place in the Koori Court.  The objective of the Koori Court is to ensure greater participation of the Aboriginal community in the sentencing process of the County Court, through the role played in that process by the Aboriginal Elders and respected persons.  Others, such as family members and supports, are able to contribute to what is referred to as a “sentencing conversation”.  The sentencing conversation is designed to assist the reform of an Aboriginal offender through a blend of customary law and English common law.  Participation in the process can be more burdensome than appearing at a traditional plea hearing because of its confronting nature and the inability to hide behind counsel.

24In Honeysett v The Queen [2018] VSCA 214, the Court of Appeal looked at the Koori Court plea process and determined as follows:

“In our view, in determining the weight to be attached to an offender's participation in a Koori Court sentencing conversation as a mitigating factor, a sentencing court should consider a range of factors, including:

(1)   The fact that participation in the process is voluntary one, may be confronting to the offender, and will likely involve him or her being "shamed."  As noted in Morgan, participation in the process may of itself be rehabilitative.

(2)   The fact that an offender is, rather than ‘hiding behind counsel’, taking the opportunity to personally:

(a)demonstrate his or her remorse for the offending;

(b)demonstrate insight into the reasons for, and the seriousness and effect of the offending; and

(c)express any intention to reform and how that will be done, including by participating in available rehabilitation programs.

(3)   The Court's assessment of the genuineness of the offender's statements during the sentencing conversation.  That assessment should take account of all of the information before the Court.”[1]

[1] At [54]

25Uncle David Farrell and Uncle Walter Harrison were the respected Elders who took place in the sentencing conversation that included you and your mother, Glenda.  Each of the Elders challenged you, and you were respectful towards them.  They reminded you of the importance of your community and what it offers you by way of assistance and connection.  Each of them emphasised that you need to have a plan for a positive future and, quite frankly, to stop using drugs.

26I did find your participation in the sentencing conversation to be a genuine one, and I take that and your participation in the Koori Court process into account.

27In terms of your personal circumstances, you are now aged 26 years, having been born on 8 June 1993.  At the time of this offending, you were aged
25 years.  You grew up in Warrnambool and are of Aboriginal heritage. You are youngest of four siblings to parents Glenda and Walter.

28You described your family life as difficult and marked by traumatic experiences of repeated sexual abuse by your father, and by other family members upon you at a young age, as well as exposure to heavy drug use by your parents and others, family violence, a brief placement in foster care, and your own use of inhaled paint fumes as a child and early adolescent to block things out.  Since then, you have abused cannabis, alcohol and more recently, methylamphetamine or ice. Your father passed away in or around 2012 to 2013.

29You experienced suicidal ideation and self-harm from the age of 11 years.  Greater detail of your background is contained in the materials before me, which include the psychological report to which I will refer, and the reasons for sentence of Her Honour Judge Hampel from 3 September 2013 to which I have had access.

30Your education involved many changes to your schooling, absenteeism, and real difficulty overall.  You suffered some bullying and were also sometimes a bully yourself.  You attended Warrnambool Secondary College until partway through Year 8.  You do have a recognised intellectual disability which was not diagnosed until your mid-teenage years.  You have never had employment.

31In a decision of Bugmy v The Queen [2013] HCA 37, the High Court was concerned with an offender who came from an Aboriginal community, surrounded by alcohol abuse and violence when growing up, a lack of formal education, and a long record of convictions and incarceration, including for offences of violence. The High Court determined that deprived or traumatic childhoods of that kind may constitute a mitigating factor in sentencing such an offender, although each case must depend on its own facts in order to ensure individualised justice.

32The effects of profound childhood deprivation do not diminish with the passage of time and repeated offending, such as an offender's deprived background may have relevance to every sentencing decision. 

33In my view, it is appropriate to give this factor weight in what is a complicated sentencing exercise, given your identified intellectual disability.  These factors impact in the reduction of your moral culpability, those factors being your intellectual disability and the Bugmy principles, but also represent factors as to your future risk and the need to consider protection of the community.

34In terms of your criminal history, I understand you have an extensive history in the Children's Court jurisdiction, but that is not before me.

35You have five court appearances within the adult justice system.  You first appeared at Warrnambool Magistrates' Court on 6 September 2011 in relation to charges of theft of a motor vehicle, attempted theft, theft, burglary and unlicensed driving, for which you received 15 months detention at a youth training centre.

36On 23 July 2012, you received an adjourned undertaking for a single charge of possess cannabis at the Kyneton Magistrates' Court.

37You next appeared at the Melbourne County Court on 3 September 2013 in relation to a charge of rape, after which you received a five-year residential treatment order and were placed on the sex offender's register for a period of 15 years.  It seems that this sentence was served within the Disability Forensic and Treatment Unit.

38On 8 November 2015, you received an adjourned undertaking from the Melbourne Magistrates' Court in relation to unlawful assault and affray charges.

39And on 21 December 2016, you were again dealt with at the Moorabbin Magistrates' Court for charges of failing to comply with reporting obligations, burglary, theft, intentionally damaging property, for which you received a term of 19 days imprisonment.

40You were released from the Disability Forensic and Treatment Unit in August 2018 and found your transition into the community challenging.  You were inadequately supported and quickly returned to drug use.

41Your prior history is relevant to the assessment I need to make as to the weight to be given in sentencing to principles of specific deterrence - that is, putting you off - denunciation, and protection of the community.  It is also relevant to the assessment that needs to be undertaken as to your prospects for rehabilitation.

42Tendered on your plea was a psychological report authored by Ms Carla Lechner, clinical psychologist, dated 2 September 2019.  In that report,
Ms Lechner helpfully sets out your personal background.

43Your reported to Ms Lechner a history of heavy drug use from a young age, including cannabis, chroming, speed - in your words, “a lot of ice and a little bit of heroin”.  You also referred to your use of GHB and other drugs.  With respect to alcohol, you stated to Ms Lechner that you drink a lot, but that the ice is the main problem:  “The more ice I use, the more I drink, but I don't feel it.”

44Your offending in February 2019 occurred in the context of your heavy drug use, homelessness, and an inability to cope with the breakdown of your then relationship.  You had not long been back in the community after your release from DFATS, and had returned to an environment where drug use was rife. 

45You spoke of your shame and regret for your actions and, in Ms Lechner's assessment, expressed appropriate empathy for your victim.

46In her report, Ms Lechner described you as “cognitively, socially and emotionally immature”, with a “limited capacity to reflect on the impact that your actions have on others”.  Your dysfunctional upbringing, early and continued drug use, exposure to criminality from a young age, and genuine cognitive limitations undermine your problem-solving skills.  Your use of substances to cope with emotional distress has heightened your emotional and behavioural dysregulation.

47Ms Lechner states that you present with symptoms of mild intellectual disability, stimulant use disorder against a history of polysubstance abuse, with a history of complex developmental trauma.  I have taken the contents of her unchallenged report into account in its entirety.

48Your counsel properly calls into your aid the principles of R v Verdins & Ors (2007) 16 VR 269. I accept that this case does have application in a reduction of your moral culpability, its bearing on the type of sentence to be imposed, the conditions in which any sentence should be served, and the requirement to moderate both general and specific deterrence. I take into account limbs 1 to 4 of that decision.

49In terms of your prospects of rehabilitation, as already noted, you have expressed regret and shame for your actions and appropriate empathy for your victim.  You have, as I have already outlined, participated in the Koori Court process where, in my view, you also expressed your regret and shame for your actions.

50You have now spent a lengthy period on remand, the longest which you have served in an adult custodial setting.  You obtained a position as a horticultural billet and have completed various artworks and participated in NAIDOC celebrations.

51Your counsel raises today the experience of being in what is described as “the COVID-19 pandemic environment”, where I accept that prisoners have limited access to visits from family and more limited access to programs.  I take this into account in a general sense.

52You report a positive ongoing relationship with your mother and three sisters.  Your mother did re-partner, and you report a positive relationship with her partner.

53It is clear from your history that you need considerable support to transition into the community and to reduce your risk of reoffending. 

54In terms of submissions made as to a proper consideration of the relevant sentencing factors, the prosecution submits that consideration would involve imprisonment with a non-parole period.  The defence position is vastly different - that the relevant sentencing considerations could be reflected in the imposition of a community corrections order without the need to resort to imprisonment.

55Your counsel submitted that your need for assistance and your limited access to supervisory orders in the past supports an outcome that would see you transition into the community under a community corrections order.

56Those submissions having been made, I ordered an extended pre-sentence assessment outcome report and a Justice Plan, given your recognised intellectual disability.  The request for a Justice Plan amounts to a request for a plan of available services for you as an intellectually disabled offender, aimed at reducing your future risk.

57The extended pre-sentence assessment outcome report, dated 27 February 2020, refers to your difficulty returning to the community in 2018.  You returned to a bungalow at the family residence and quickly returned to the use of the drug ice within your family environment.  This raises obvious concerns, should the situation be the same in mid-2020.

58The assessment refers to your shock and shame at your offending, and reinforces what I have already accepted as your remorse for it.  The assessment does assess you as being a high risk of reoffending.  The report notes your preference for culturally appropriate services.

59It is also recommended that you be assessed by a clinician from Forensic Intervention Services to assist in the determination of your suitability for, and the appropriateness of, programs to address your risk and needs.  You are apparently able to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

60Overall, you are assessed as being suitable for a community corrections order, recommending that you be supervised, treated for drug use and abuse, your mental health, programs to reduce your risk of reoffending, judicial monitoring and a Justice Plan.

61A Justice Plan dated 29 April 2020 has also been received.  Whilst of relatively limited content, it recommends that you participate in an assessment and be treated as recommended by a Disability Justice Coordinator, that you meet with that co-ordinator to review your progress with recommended services, that you agree to a referral to DFATS to assess your suitability for programs to increase your skills in the area of emotional regulation and social skills, and to participate in any program recommended by them.  It is also recommended that you be referred to culturally-specific services, and be able to access your NDIS funding.

62Should a forfeiture order be sought, as was outlined today, that order will be made.  I await to hear from the Crown further in relation to that. 

63In terms of sentencing, the basic purposes for which a court may impose a sentence are just punishment, general and specific deterrence, rehabilitation, denunciation and protection of the community. 

64In sentencing you, I must have regard to a range of matters such as the seriousness of the offending, your culpability for it, your personal circumstances and those of your victim.  I am also required to balance the interests of the community in denouncing criminal conduct with the interests of the community in seeking to ensure, as far as possible, that offenders are rehabilitated and are reintegrated into society.  I do express my denunciation of your behaviour.

65I have taken into account the relevant sentencing purposes referred to in s.5 of the Sentencing Act, where relevant to your case.  I have taken into account current sentencing practices for the offences to which you have pleaded guilty, and matters that are particular to you; that is, your disability and traumatic upbringing.

66Taking those factors into account, the time in remand thus far is almost sufficient to reflect the gravity of Charge 2 on the indictment, the charge which I find to be the most serious. 

67You have not been sentenced to a community corrections order in the past.  In my view, it is essential to reducing your risk and thereby protecting the community that your transition into it be supervised, case-managed, culturally appropriate, and address your needs as an intellectually disabled offender.

68In relation to summary Charge 11, committing an indictable offence whilst on bail, you are convicted and fined the amount of $500.

69In relation to Charge 2, that is, intentionally causing injury, you are convicted and sentenced to 16 months imprisonment. Four hundred and fifty-four days are reckoned as having already been served.

70In relation to the remaining two charges, robbery and obtaining property by deception, I intend to impose an aggregate sentence.  In relation to those two offences, you are convicted and sentenced to a community corrections order for a period of 18 months.

71My intention, given the time you have already spent in custody, is that this order be therapeutic in nature as this best supports your return to the community and thereby protects it.  During the period of that order, you are to participate in the Justice Plan dated 29 April 2020.

72Other conditions of the corrections order include treatment for drug use and abuse, treatment for your mental health, as well as supervision and programs to reduce your offending.

73I request that the referral to Forensic Intervention Services, as recommended in the extended pre-sentence assessment outcome report, be undertaken.  It is clearly also my hope that you be supported to access all that would be available to you under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

74I do intend to commence the corrections order with the requirement that you be judicially monitored by me.  That will not require your physical attendance in Melbourne.  If available, you can attend any judicial monitoring from the Warrnambool community corrections office.

75I can only place you on such an order if you are prepared to sign documents to that effect, so in a moment I will give you the chance to speak to Mr Lavery about that.

76You should know that in addition to the conditions that I intend to impose, there are standard conditions.  First and foremost of those is that you must not commit any other offences during the 18-month period of the order which can be punished by imprisonment.  You will need, upon your release onto this order, to report within two working days to your nearest community corrections office.  You will be required to advise your corrections officer of any change of address of where you are living or working, and you must do so within two clear working days.  It is a term of all community corrections orders that you must submit to visits as directed, and you must obey all of the instructions and directions of the community corrections officer.  You are not able to leave the state of Victoria without their prior permission. 

77In my view, the order presents you with a chance to change your life in a positive fashion, should you choose to take up that opportunity and the supports that should be made available.  I note that in terms of judicial monitoring, it will also be my mechanism to make sure that those interventions do take place.

78This order can be breached if you do not comply with it in terms of the conditions, or if you reoffend whilst it is in place.  If you do, you will come back before me for breaching the order.  I may need to resentence you on the original charges as well as for any charge of breach.

79Before I go on to deal with s.6AAA, I will give you the opportunity to speak to Mr Lavery, Mr Austin, so you can unpack what I have just said.  So I will leave the courtroom shortly, and Ms Malobabic, I will put you in what is called the “waiting room” so that Mr Lavery and Mr Austin can have a discussion, and then I will come back to everybody.  So I will stand down temporarily.

(Short adjournment.)

80HER HONOUR:  Thank you.  Mr Lavery, have you had enough time to speak with Mr Austin?

81MR LAVERY:  Yes, Your Honour. 

82HER HONOUR:  Mr Austin, it will take some time for the corrections order to come through.  And if you were physically here and Mr Lavery was physically here, I would get him to go through that document with you.  But I just cannot do that today because of the way things are.

83OFFENDER:  Yep.

84HER HONOUR:  So I just want to make sure that you understand that, firstly, the order will start as soon as you get released from custody.  On my maths, you have got about a month to go.  All right?

85OFFENDER:  Yep.

86HER HONOUR:  So that should give you time to make sure everything is ready for when you do get out.

87OFFENDER:  Yeah.

88HER HONOUR:  And the order will have you popping into the Office of Corrections pretty much as soon as you get out.  That is the first thing you need to understand. 

89OFFENDER:  Yep.

90HER HONOUR:  You will be supervised by them, and with any luck, they will organise treatment for drugs so that you can stay away from them hopefully this time. 

91OFFENDER:  Yep.

92HER HONOUR:  Get a mental health treatment in for you as well, that is my intention, work out whether there are other things that they can do to help you.  And of course, it will involve the Justice Plan, which hopefully will mean that you will have services there that can assist you better than they have in the past because they will cater for your intellectual disability.

93So that is what you need to be aware of before you indicate to me whether you are prepared to sign a corrections order document confirming that you are prepared to do it.  So did you have any questions for me about any of that?

94OFFENDER:  Ah, no.  No, I don't.

95HER HONOUR:  And are you prepared to sign a document confirming that you will do the corrections order?

96OFFENDER:  Ah, yes, I am.

97HER HONOUR:  All right.  Well, that will have you coming back to me a couple of months after you get out.  As indicated, you can do that from the Warrnambool corrections office.

98OFFENDER:  Yep.

99HER HONOUR:  And that is for me to keep track of how you are going, but also to make sure that the services that I want are actually happening.

100OFFENDER:  Yep, okay.

101HER HONOUR:  So we will just pick a date - 19 August at 10 am?

102OFFENDER:  Yep, okay.  Yep.

103HER HONOUR:  And what happens with the judicial monitoring is, I get a report from the Office of Corrections that updates me on what has been going on ‑ ‑ ‑ 

104OFFENDER:  Yep.

105HER HONOUR:  ‑ ‑ ‑ and you and I have a chat about it. 

106OFFENDER:  All right.  Sounds good.

107HER HONOUR:  All right?

108OFFENDER:  All right. 

109HER HONOUR:  Is there anything else that you wanted to add or ask?

110OFFENDER:  Nup.

111HER HONOUR:  I am required to give what is called a s.6AAA.  That really just tells me what I would have done had you been found guilty as opposed to pleaded guilty - if you had run a trial.

112OFFENDER:  Yep.

113HER HONOUR:  So if not for your pleas of guilty, I would have sentenced you to two years with a minimum of 16 months before you would get out on parole.

114OFFENDER:  Okay.

115HER HONOUR:  That is just so that you have got some understanding of the discount that attached to the plea.  In your circumstances, it is a little bit more complicated than that because there have been other factors that I have taken into account.

116OFFENDER:  Yep.

117HER HONOUR:  All right.  Anything further, Mr Lavery?  He is either frozen or I have scared him stiff.  Anything further, Mr Lavery?

118MR LAVERY:  No, Your Honour. 

119HER HONOUR:  All right.  Anything further, Ms Malobabic?

120MS MALOBABIC:  No, Your Honour.  My instructor will mostly likely file the forfeiture order.

121HER HONOUR:  Well, if she does, or he does, I will sign it.  If they do not, I will not.  Simple as that.

122MS MALOBABIC:  Thank you, Your Honour. 

123HER HONOUR:  All right.  Thank you to each of you for your assistance. 
Mr Austin, I will see you in August.  I want to read good things.

124OFFENDER:  Yep.  I've just got one question for you.

125HER HONOUR:  Yes?

126OFFENDER:  During this time of the lockdown, do, um, if my BND days come on, what happens with that?  Will they become ‑ ‑ ‑ 

127HER HONOUR:  If you get out earlier - which could happen, you are right, you might get days taken off because of the lockdown - you still need to show up at the Office of Corrections within two days of release.

128OFFENDER:  Okay.  Yep.

129HER HONOUR:  So let us just say, just for example, just for the purpose of answering your question, even though my maths would indicate you have got about a month to go, let us just say you found out you were due out in two days.

130OFFENDER:  Yep.

131HER HONOUR:  You would need to rock up at the Office of Corrections pretty much - well, within two days of getting out.  All right?

132OFFENDER:  Okay, yep.

133HER HONOUR:  If you do not do, you will be at risk of breaching straight away, and you certainly do not want that.

134OFFENDER:  No.  No.  All right. 

135HER HONOUR:  The only reason I want to see you is for judicial monitoring. 
I want to read good things.  I do not want to have to deal with a breach.

136OFFENDER:  Yeah, okay.

137HER HONOUR:  And neither do you.

138OFFENDER:  No.

139HER HONOUR:  All right.  Well, thank you very much.  I will close the court now until 9 o'clock tomorrow morning.  Thank you. 

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