Director of Public Prosecutions v Ball

[2022] VCC 866

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

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL DIVISION

CR-20-00520

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JASON BRADLEY BALL

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GWYNN
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	27 May 2022
DATE OF SENTENCE:	7 June 2022
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Ball
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 866

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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Subject:Criminal law

Catchwords:              Arson; intentionally or recklessly cause a bushfire

Legislation Cited: Sentencing Act 1991

Cases Cited:Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169; R v Verdins & Ors [2007] VSCA 102

Sentence:131 days imprisonment & Community Correction Order (2 years duration, 150 hours community work, mental health treatment)

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr F. Cameron	Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Offender	Mr L. Barker	Emma Turnbull Lawyers

HER HONOUR:

1Jason Ball, you have pleaded guilty on indictment to one charge of arson and five charges of intentionally or recklessly cause a bushfire.

2In sentencing you for your crimes, I am obliged to have regard to the maximum penalties which attach to each of the offences you have committed.  All charges carry a maximum penalty of 15 years.  These maximum penalties reflect the seriousness with which Parliament regards these offences.

The offending

3In terms of the offending, the circumstances of your offending were set out in a 'Summary of Prosecution Opening for Trial' dated 8 April 2022.  That is a detailed document and represents an acceptance by you of all the elements of the offences to which you have pleaded guilty, as well as the factual basis on which I am required to sentence.

4Essentially, between 2 November 2019 and 21 December 2019, you lit several fires in the Roxburgh Park/Craigieburn region.  You were residing in Roxburgh Park at that time.  I will go through the details briefly, noting that I have had access to the entire Crown opening.

5Charge 1, intentionally cause a bushfire, occurred on 2 November 2019.  At
12.46 am you attended Tusmore Rise, Craigieburn on foot.  You walked into a mulched garden bed and lit a fire in the native shrubs and bushes.  That fire burnt an area of approximately 24 square meters.

6At approximately 12.50 am, that is, shortly after the fire was lit, multiple residents of Tusmore Rise became aware of the fire and reported it to Emergency Services.  Those residents extinguished the fire using garden hoses and multiple buckets of water.

7Charge 2, criminal damage by fire, occurred on 17 November 2019, some 15 days later.  At approximately 11.15 pm, you left your home and rode your bike north in Balyang Way, Craigieburn where you lit a fire in a wheelie bin.  That wheelie bin was completely engulfed and destroyed by the fire.

8At approximately 11.53 pm, the fire was reported to Emergency Services.

9It was 18 November 2019, that Charge 3, intentionally cause a bushfire, occurred.  At 12.01 am, you attended the Craigieburn Sporting Club located in Craigieburn Road, Craigieburn and parked your mountain bike outside the front entrance.

10At around 1.18 am, you left the Sporting Club and returned to your bike.  You rode to Axminster Drive, Craigieburn and entered the Aitken Creek Linear Reserve.  At the rear of 40 Axminster Drive you lit a fire in native grass clumps located next to a pathway.  The fire burnt a small section of the bushes on an embankment next to walkway, an area of approximately six square meters.

11At approximately 1.56 am, the fire was reported to Emergency Services.

12On 20 December 2019, Charge 4, intentionally cause a bushfire occurred.  At 10.15 pm, you left your home on your bike and at 3.15 am on 21 December 2019, you attended Tiffany Crescent Reserve opposite 14 Wintersun Court, Roxburgh Park.  Tiffany Crescent Reserve is a parkland area consisting of a large lake in the centre, surrounded by grassland and footpath.  The lake's edge is planted with clusters of reeds and water plants.  You stopped at the vegetation bordering lake opposite 14 Wintersun Court and threw a cigarette into the grass area before riding away towards Bridgewater Road.  I correct myself; the date of that offence was 21 December 2019. 

13At 3.28 am, you returned from Bridgewater Road back to Tiffany Crescent Reserve at the same location opposite 14 Wintersun Court, Roxburgh Park.  You ignited a cluster of reeds on the lakes edge opposite 14 Wintersun Court with a cigarette lighter whilst sitting on your bike.  Once the cluster of reeds ignited, you rode away. The fire burnt an area into the lakeside vegetation of approximately 150 square meters.

14By 3.41 am, you were riding your bike and stopped on the walkway near the intersection of Hayfield Road, Donvale Avenue and Fairview Drive. 

15At approximately 3.52 am, you lit a fire in a section of bushes located on the western side of the walkway, forming the basis for Charge 5, intentionally cause a bushfire.  That fire burnt a section of the bushes on an embankment next to walkway of approximately 25 square meters.

16The last in time occurred on the same date, Charge 6 intentionally cause a bushfire.  Between 4.10 am and 4.15 am, you then attended at the Fairways Lake Reserve located at the intersection of Fairways Boulevard and Lakes Drive Craigieburn.  That reserve contains a large lake in the centre, surrounded by footpath and grassed areas.  The lake's edge is planted with clusters of reeds and water plants.  You lit a fire on the north-eastern side of the lake amongst the water reeds.  That fire burnt an area of water reeds and plants approximately 80 square meters in area.

17At approximately 4.17 am, you rode your bike in a westerly direction along Lakes Drive and then turning south into Waterdale Rise.

18At approximately 4.25 am, Detective Sergeant Emma Brew and Detective Senior Constable Chris Talbot observed you trying to activate your cigarette lighter whilst stationary on a bike near Waterfall Rise and Broadway Street.  As police approached, you rode off towards Broadway Street and Neptune Street.

19Detective Sergeant Kerry and Detective Senior Constable Carroll were in fact stationary in an unmarked police vehicle parked in Broadway Street.  They saw you ride into Broadway Street and began to approach.  Once the officers began moving their car towards you, you cycled further away from your residence before entering the front yard of 17 Neptune Street.

20You were located there by canine handler Leading Senior Constable Andrew Crouch, Detective Sergeant Kerry and Detective Senior Constable Carroll, sitting on the front step of that address, smoking a cigarette and holding a blue cigarette lighter.  When confronted by them at the scene you denied lighting three fires that morning.

21You were formally arrested and formally interviewed, in which you also denied responsibility.

Gravity of offending

22In terms of the gravity of your offending, the offending occurred over a six to
seven-week period in late 2019, three of the fires were ignited on the same night. 

23The high level of danger associated with bushfires has been tragically demonstrated in Victoria and other places in Australia over the years.  As such, the principle of general deterrence is paramount in the sentencing exercise.  Any person deliberately lighting such fire, being reckless as to the spread of that fire to vegetation and property belonging to others, must, in this context, be well aware of the potential nature and extent of harm that can result.

24Each fire had the potential to cause more harm and damage than actually occurred, a circumstance of good fortune rather than good management by you. 

25I do accept the submission made on your behalf that there is a lack of aggravating features to your offending.  However, in your case, there has to be concern about the repeated nature of the activity, which, as I will come to, remains unexplained.  Whilst relatively unsophisticated, at least by the second fire, there had to have been a degree of forethought on each time you ventured from your home and a fire then occurred. 

26In sentencing, there needs to be balance between the potential for harm and magnitude and extent of actual fire damage.  The fires you started were relatively small and, apart from the wheelie bin, there is no alleged property damage or injury to any person.  Again, this may well be a circumstance of good fortune rather than good management by you, but I accept offending is towards the lower end of the scale for offending of this type, save for the fact that it has clearly occurred on some three separate occasions with three fires being lit on the last occasion in time.

Plea of guilty

27I am obliged to take into account the stage at which you entered your guilty plea.  Your matter resolved through the case conference process which is part of the court's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant backlog of trials.  Case conferences are designed to discuss pathways to resolution where possible or to narrow the issues prior to listing any trial.  Your resolution had a somewhat protracted history for which you do not, in the main, bear responsibility.

28There was a considerable amount of CCTV footage obtained during the police investigation which needed to be compiled and then considered.  In order for you to properly instruct your counsel, the collated footage also needed to be viewed, which could only be practically done in a courtroom. 

29The first case conference was listed on 28 April 2021, at which time you were unwell and the matter could not proceed remotely because of the need for all parties to view the CCTV footage.

30On 24 June 2021, the case conference was listed for the second occasion.  On that occasion, you had injured your back overnight and were unable to attend.  The matter was further adjourned.

31The next listing was on 26 July 2021.  Due to a snap lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the matter could not proceed and was further adjourned to 16 August 2021.  The matter could not proceed on that date either, related to lockdown restrictions.

32On 22 September 2021, the case conference commenced.  CCTV footage was able to be played and watched in court.  On the viewing of that footage, you and your counsel needed time to consider the future course of the matter. 

33The matter was next listed on 18 October 2021, at which time you contracted COVID-19 and were unable to appear.  The matter was accordingly adjourned to 3 December 2021.

34In advance of that date, the prosecution requested an adjournment in order to obtain their final instructions relating to a plea offer made on your behalf. 

35The matter was also unable to proceed on the next listed date and was further adjourned.  On 14 December 2021, you required further time to provide instructions towards resolution and the matter was adjourned to 3 February 2022.

36On that date, your pleas of guilty were entered to the current indictment.  The matter was listed for plea on 12 April 2022.  It could not proceed on that date as you had not attended an appointment with the psychologist commissioned to provide a report.  Your plea took place on 27 May 2022, slightly over 12 months since the process of the case conferencing had begun. 

37I accept that the considerable period taken before resolution was reached was a period of time which meant you had the stress of these proceedings hanging over you.  In addition, it has provided an extended period in which to assess your prospects of rehabilitation.  I am told there has been no further offending over that period.

38In the context of the chronology, I still consider your plea of guilty to be at a relatively early opportunity.  I note that until the matter resolved between yourself and the prosecution, there were considerably more allegations than what ultimately appeared on the plea indictment. 

39Your decision to plead guilty in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has additional utilitarian value as it provides certainty and finality to all parties in circumstances where the court's operations have been significantly disrupted.

40In the recent decision of Worboyes v The Queen [2021] VSCA 169 at paragraph 39, the Court of Appeal said that, and I quote:

'A plea of guilty entered during the currency of the COVID-19 pandemic is worthy of greater weight in mitigation than a similar plea entered at a time when the community and the courts are not afflicted by the pandemic's effects.  A plea of guilty during the pandemic ordinarily should attract a more pronounced amelioration of sentence than at another time.'

41You of course saved the court the time and expense of those proceedings and the witnesses that need to attend and give evidence.

42Remorse is a little harder to discern but I accept that you have taken responsibility for your offending, even if that decision was a pragmatic one.  These factors will be taken into account in your favour.

Prior criminal history

43In terms of your prior criminal history, you do have an admitted prior criminal history of some 11 court appearances over a 20-year period.

44On 28 May 1991, the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court fined you for charges of damage, resisting police and using threatening words.  This was an ex parte hearing.

45Your next two appearances, also at the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court, related to charges of possessing and using cannabis and failing to answer bail.  For the first in time, on 4 November 1993, you were placed on an adjourned undertaking.  The second in time, occurring on 17 October 1995, you were convicted and fined.

46There was then a gap of some nine years.  You appeared at the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court on 23 November 2004 in relation to a range of driving and dishonesty offending.  At that time, you were convicted and sentenced to six months' imprisonment to be served by way of an Intensive Correction Order.

47You did breach this Intensive Correction Order and appeared at the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court on 20 September 2006 for contravention proceedings.  At that time, the Intensive Correction Order was varied.

48On 9 November 2006, you again appeared at the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court in relation to a range of driving and dishonesty offences and were convicted and fined.  There was again then a considerable gap in your criminal history, some eight years.  

49On 31 January 2014, you appeared at the Broadmeadows Magistrate's Court for dishonesty and driving offences.  You were convicted and placed on a community corrections order for a period of 12 months.  You contravened this order.  

50On 18 July 2014, you appeared the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court for contravention proceedings, as well as for offences of riot, recklessly cause injury and assault with a weapon.  You were convicted and placed on a Community Correction Order for a period of 18 months.  You apparently contravened this order and were fined by the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court on 24 May 2016.  On that same day, you were convicted and fined for a number of weapons based offending and for driving related offending.

51On 13 July 2018, you were placed on an adjourned undertaking for a period of five months in relation to a charge of hinder a police officer.  On 31 October 2019, you appeared at the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court contravening that adjourned undertaking.  The original order was varied and extended until 21 January 2020.  This means that you were subject to this undertaking at the time of the offending on the indictment, which is an aggravating feature to that offending.

52Whilst you are not to be punished for this history again, it is relevant to the assessment of the weight to be given to the principles of specific deterrence (that is, putting you off further offending), denunciation, and protection of the community.  It is obviously also relevant to an assessment as to your prospects for rehabilitation.

53It would appear from this history that you have never received a term of imprisonment to be actually served.  In relation to the offending, the subject of the indictment, you were remanded into custody on 21 December 2019 before being bailed on 29 April 2020.  I am told you served 131 days before your release.  That period you served on remand was therefore your first exposure to the prison system, apart from a previous seven-day remand, and I accept is capable, to some degree, of acting as, firstly, a sanction and, secondly, a deterrent into the future.  

54A small period of this remand would have been during the Corrections response to the COVID-19 pandemic when there was greater restriction on prisoner movement, less access to therapeutic and educational courses and to personal visits.  I take this into account.

55You have also obviously had considerable gaps in your offending history when it would appear that you have been capable of complying with community's expectations of you.  I note that you do not have a prior history for the type of offending which appears on the indictment.

56With those matters in mind and with reference to other matters to which I will shortly refer, you would appear to have reasonable prospects for rehabilitation. 

Personal circumstances

57I do now turn to your personal circumstances.  You are now aged 50.  You are the fourth of five children born to your father Robert and your mother Janet.  You have two older brothers and one older sister.  You have one younger sister.  Your father worked as a car detailer and your mother was employed in auto parts, doing packing and deliveries in periods where she was not raising the family. 

58Yours was a difficult upbringing.  You were initially raised in the Sunbury region.  Your father was an alcoholic.  Your parents would fight regularly and ultimately separated when you were nine years of age.  Your mother re-partnered.  At that point in time, the family life became a transient one and you recall moving house many times and needing to attend some seven different primary schools.   Education was not prized in the family unit.  Your stepfather was reportedly a violent man who beat you regularly.  Your family home is described as dysfunctional, unhappy and turbulent.

59School life brought you no additional joy.  As earlier described, you moved primary schools regularly, meaning you had no stability and had difficulty forming lasting friendships.  At secondary school you became the victim of bullying.  You left school after attempting to complete Year 8 on two occasions.

60On leaving school, you obtained a job plastering and then commenced a roof tiling apprenticeship.  This apprenticeship took you many years to complete before you obtained work in demolitions, where you worked for approximately 10 years.  You continue to perform minor work in the construction industry.

61Each of your parents are now deceased.  Your father died when you were 26 years of age through complications arising from his alcoholism.  Your mother had the misfortune to suffer of Alzheimer's Disease and even more unfortunately, died whilst you were on remand for the matters the subject of the indictment.  Whilst you were able to attend your mother's funeral, you did so in handcuffs.  I consider this to be an additional burden during your remand period.

62You are fortunate to have a stable and supportive relationship with Sonia Guerra, who you met when you were 16 years of age.  You have been together some
34 years.  Ms Guerra has a daughter aged 33 years, who I am sure you accept as your own.  Together, you have six children with an age range of 12 years to
26 years.  You continue to reside with Ms Guerra in Roxburgh Park.  Three of your children and two of your six grandchildren reside in the same premises.

63Your youngest child, a daughter named Hermione, suffers Smith-Magennis Syndrome and is reliant on family for most aspects of her daily life.  She is unable to bathe or clean herself, requires assistance dressing and with basic tasks.  Yours is a close relationship.

64Your closest sibling relationship is with your older sister Debbie.  She unfortunately suffers respiratory failure secondary to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.  Her prognosis is poor and you play a carers role, assisting her with an array of day-to-day tasks which include shopping, home maintenance and attending medical appointments.  Documents tendered confirm that your sister is a registered life-support customer with AusNet.  Medical documents confirm the diagnosis of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

65Your care for your sister and your daughter therefore takes up much of your time on a daily basis.  Your ability to work is partly restricted by this predicament, your relatively limited education and the fact that you yourself have suffered a series of three injuries which have compromised your physical capacity.

66The first of those was in 1996 when you were assaulted by a group of men and beaten.  In 2003 you were involved in a collision as a passenger on a motorcycle and sustained fractures to both your arms and a head injury.  In 2020 you were involved in a motor vehicle collision where a stolen car ran into the back of the vehicle you were in and you suffered a fracture of your right leg.

67You have a history - and I say history - of drug abuse.  You used cannabis daily from the age of approximately 14 till 44 years.  You have also been a user of amphetamine after your motorcycle accident in 2003.  You have not used this drug for some 10 years and have not used any drugs for a period of some five years.  You associate your criminal history with your drug use.

68Tendered on your behalf was a psychological assessment of you conducted by
Ms Gina Cidoni.  You denied your offending to her, which impacts on the value of part of her assessment as it relates to any diagnosis and risk.  In terms of where Ms Cidoni’s report does have a role in the sentencing exercise, she does report your intellectual function as being in the borderline range with a full scale IQ of 77.  Otherwise, your presentation to her was consistent with a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder with transient psychosis.

69Ms Cidoni is of the opinion that you would find prison onerous without your supports.  Your depressive condition would be exacerbated and you would suffer anxiety and distress.  She assessed you were at risk of self-harm. 

70In those circumstances and in the context of her unchallenged report, I am satisfied that limbs 5 and 6 of the decision of R vVerdins & Ors are enlivened.  That is, your mental illness would mean that any sentence would weigh more heavily on you and there is a real risk that your mental health would be severely adversely affected by your incarceration.

Prospects for rehabilitation

71I turn now to your prospects of rehabilitation.  In terms of your prospects for rehabilitation, your counsel points out the period of time it has been since there has been an allegation of fire lighting.  This is of limited assistance, other than the fact itself, given your approach to the psychological assessment.  Your offending does remain unexplained, as do its triggers and an assessment of your risk of offending in a similar way.  Be that as it may, you have a relatively limited history of any serious offending and with significant gaps in your offending behaviour.   More importantly, as I have already mentioned, there has been some sanction and deterrent in the presentence detention you have been required to serve before a grant of bail. 

72Your partner Sonia Guerra has provided a reference in which she details how your youngest daughter relies on you for everything.  It is only you that she allows to help her shower and dress and get her ready for school.  Ms Guerra describes you as her lifeline and noted the negative impact on family life whilst you were on remand.

73Your personal circumstances in the role that you play as a father, partner and carer for both your sister and daughter were placed in jeopardy through your actions.  I am sure that simple fact is not lost upon you, nor is it one that you wish to repeat.  It is important, however, that you consider treatment for your mental health and wellbeing in order to best place you in your carer's role and minimise any future risk of reoffending.

Submissions

74Both parties submitted that the circumstances of your offending could be adequately addressed in the imposition of combination sentence; that is, a term of imprisonment in combination with a Community Correction Order.

75Accordingly, I did have you assessed as to your suitability for a Community Correction Order.  An assessment outcome report dated 31 May 2022 tells me that you have been subject to some form of corrections order on three occasions, one of which was completed, one of which was varied and one of which was confirmed.  That is at odds somewhat with your criminal history but, in any event, you engaged in the assessment process in a polite manner and were assessed as suitable, in light of your limited involvement with Corrections and the range of protective factors you have through familial support and accommodation you were deemed as a suitable candidate.

76You also undertook a Mental Health Advice and Response Service screening.  I will use that loosely because according to the report, you were difficult to engage or to obtain information from.  It was recommended that any Community Correction Order contain a mental health condition in order to promote your wellbeing and reduce the likelihood of reoffending.

77Now, I am about to turn to the sentencing process, so I am just going to check with Mr Cameron that there were no issues or no factual matters of concern.

78MR CAMERON:  No factual matters of concern.  I might need Ms Enright to take my spot in a few minutes' time because I'm required next door at 10 past four. 

79HER HONOUR:  Why don't you do that now. 

80MR CAMERON:  As Your Honour pleases.  May I be excused?

81HER HONOUR:  Yes.   Thank you, Ms Enright. 

82MS ENRIGHT:  Thank you, Your Honour.

83HER HONOUR:  Anything from you, Mr Barker?

84MR BARKER:  No, Your Honour. 

85HER HONOUR:  All right. 

Sentencing

86In terms of the sentencing process, the basic purposes for which a court may impose a sentence do include punishment, general deterrence, that is, sending a message into the community, specific deterrence, that is, sending a message to you, rehabilitation, denunciation and protection of the community.  In sentencing you, I must have regard to a range of matters which do include the seriousness of the offending, your culpability for it, your personal circumstances and those of any victim.

87I must also balance the interest of the community in denouncing criminal conduct, with the interest the community clearly has in seeking to ensure, where possible, that offenders are rehabilitated and are safely reintegrated into society.

88I have taken into account the sentencing guidelines referred to in section 5 of the Sentencing Act where relevant to your case.  I have taken into account the current sentencing practices for the offences to which you have pleaded guilty and the important principles of both totality and proportionality.

89Courts do have more discretion in terms of choosing a sentencing disposition which does enable all the purposes of punishment to be served simultaneously in a coherent and balanced way and in preference to the option of imprisonment, which is skewed towards retribution and deterrence, factors which still have weight, but maybe less weight, in the overall sentencing mix for you.

90In my view, a Community Correction Order can be punitive, can achieve deterrence and may be suitable, even in cases of relatively serious offences such as these, which might have otherwise attracted a medium term of imprisonment.

91I do propose to impose an aggregate sentence, as I am satisfied that the offences are founded on the same facts or form or are part of a series of offences of the same or a similar character.  In so doing, I also bear in mind, again, the principles of totality and proportionality.

92Accordingly, Mr Ball, you are convicted and sentenced to 131 days imprisonment which I reckon as already served.  This is in addition to a Community Correction Order of two years' duration.  I have impacted on the duration because of the torturous process of finally getting to the resolution of this matter.

93You are to be supervised by the Office of Corrections.  That means you are going to see a case officer regularly. 

94You are to complete 150 hours of community work. 

95You are to undergo assessment and treatment for your mental health and I note the recommendation for offence-specific programs through the Forensic Intervention Service.  Fifty hours of treatment is offset against the community work.  More treatment, less community work. 

96In addition to the conditions I have imposed, there are standard conditions, you may well be familiar with them.  The first and foremost of those is that you must not commit any other offences during that two-year period which could be punished by imprisonment.  You must also report within two working days to your nearest Community Corrections office, which I understand, can occur by way of telephone to the Coolaroo office.  You are also required to advise your supervising Corrections office of any change of address of where you are living or working and that you must do so within two clear working days.  It is a term of all Correction Orders that you must submit to visits as directed and obey all of the instructions and directions of a Corrections officer.  You cannot leave the State of Victoria without their permission.

97In my view, Mr Ball, this order does presents you with a chance to continue to change your life in a positive fashion, should you choose to take up the opportunity and the supports that I intend be made available.  The order can be breached if you do not comply with it in terms of the conditions or you reoffend punishable by imprisonment whilst it is in place.  If you do, you are back here.  I am going to have to deal with contravention proceedings.  They mean I may need to sentence you for the actual offence of contravening the Correction Order, as well as to resentence you for the matters for which I have just imposed sentence. 

98Section 6AAA of the Sentencing Act requires me to state the sentence I would have imposed, had you not pleaded guilty.  If not for your pleas of guilty, you would have received a sentence of two years with a minimum of 12 months before being eligible for parole. 

99Now, you may have picked from the conversation I had with Mr Barker at the start that I can only place you on a Correction Order if you are willing to sign documents to that affect.  They will be provided to Mr Barker in just a moment and he will approach the dock and see if whether you are happy to sign those.

100MR BARKER:  Thank you, Your Honour, I'm grateful. 

101HER HONOUR:  Just take your time to have a look at that, Mr Barker, and then take Mr Ball through it. 

102MR BARKER:  No worries, thank you, Your Honour.  Thank you, Your Honour, that's signed.

103HER HONOUR:  I think somebody else needs to sign it too, Mr Barker. 

104MR BARKER:  They do indeed, Your Honour. 

105HER HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  All right, Ms Enright, thank you for stepping into the breach and thank you for the obviously hard work that you were involved in with Mr Cameron in getting the matter to this stage.  Mr Barker, it was a long haul for you too and I appreciate your efforts.  Mr Ball, in the nicest possible way, I don't want to see you again, so get through this order, okay? 

106OFFENDER:  Yep, thank you.

107HER HONOUR:  All right, thank you.  I'll close the court till 10.30 tomorrow. 

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