Director of Public Prosecutions v Bawden
[2022] VCC 2082
| IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA | Revised Not Restricted Suitable for Publication |
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION
CR-21-01944
| DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS |
| v |
| MATTHEW BAWDEN BRADLEY REESE KRISTIE WILSON |
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JUDGE: | HIS HONOUR JUDGE M. BOURKE |
WHERE HELD: | Melbourne |
DATE OF HEARING: | |
DATE OF SENTENCE: | 24 November 2022 |
CASE MAY BE CITED AS: | DPP v Bawden & Ors |
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: | [2022] VCC 2082 |
REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES: | Counsel | Solicitors |
| For the Director of Public Prosecutions | Mr B. Nibbs | |
For Accused Bawden | Mr B. Newton | |
For Accused Reese | Ms S. Park | |
For Accused Wilson | Ms E. Strugnell |
HIS HONOUR:
1Matthew Bawden, also known as Matthew Collis; Bradley Reese; and
Kristie Wilson, you are each to be sentenced for one charge of aggravated burglary and one charge of intentionally causing injury. The respective maximum sentences are 25 years and 10 years' imprisonment.2You pleaded guilty before me on 10 October 2022. I stop there to correct that. I think Mr Reese was arraigned and pleaded guilty yesterday.
3MS PARK: Yesterday.
4HIS HONOUR: When interviewed by police in October 2019 you each made some admissions, including your presence at the premises of your victim, Anthony Sultana. I find that you gave a truthful account of the reason you were there. You, Matthew Bawden, also admitted entering Sultana's home as a trespasser.
5There has been considerable delay since your arrest and interview. The committal was adjourned a number of times, it seems because of the
COVID-19 pandemic and its impact upon the judicial system, and was ultimately heard in September 2021.6You were committed for trial on a number of charges, which included that of aggravated home invasion. The trial, originally listed at the
Horsham County Court, was delayed and finally listed to be heard before a jury at Ballarat County Court on 10 October. There had been a case conference on your trial, Matthew Bawden, in March. All three accused requested a further case conference on 10 October. Arising out of that the matter resolved and you pleaded to these two charges. The Crown did not proceed on a number of charges alleged in the trial indictment, including that of aggravated home invasion.7You receive the benefit of your pleas of guilty. Those pleas have facilitated the interests of justice, accepted responsibility and expressed remorse. The utilitarian benefit is the greater, given the effects of COVID-19 restriction upon the system.
8The timing of your pleas must be seen in the light of the resolution of the proceeding I have described. Particularly the serious offence of aggravated home invasion has been withdrawn.
9At your plea hearings, which ran on 11 October and 23 November, Mr Kounnas, who appeared for the Crown on 11 October, tendered a written Crown opening for plea and the victim impact statement of Anthony Sultana.
10Mr Newton, for you, Matthew Bawden, tendered the psychological report of Miriam Latif dated 4 May 2020, a number of medical notes and like documents of your general practitioner, letters of character reference and certificates related to rehabilitation programs in remand custody. Mr Newton provided written submissions on sentence.
11Ms Strugnell for you, Kristie Wilson, tendered a large number of letters of character reference, medical records of your general practitioner, and the December 2021 letter of Rose Knol (a social worker associated with the
Alfred Hospital) concerning a person whom you support named Necia Barut.
Ms Strugnell also provided written submissions on sentence.12On 23 November Mr Nibbs, who was then appearing for the Crown, again tendered the Crown opening and the victim impact statement of
Anthony Sultana. Ms Park for you, Bradley Reese, tendered the psychological report of Paola Piccione, dated 4 October 2021; the letter, dated
22 November 2022, of your NDIS support coordinator, Zara Ahmadi; letters of character reference, including that by your grandmother. Ms Park also provided written submissions on sentence.13The circumstances of your offending are fundamentally set out in the tendered Crown opening, which is Exhibit A. My summary may be relatively short. It is also informed by matters put on your behalf, not challenged by the Crown. I seek to apply the principles stated in such cases as The Queen v Storey, bearing upon finding of fact, for sentence. I find that various witnesses in their depositional statements, are able to give only partial and not necessarily precise or sequentially accurate accounts.
14At time of offending you, Kristie Wilson, were aged 34. You, Bradley Reese, 27. You are brother and sister. Matthew Bawden, you were 28 and a friend of Reese.
15The background is a civil dispute which involved Sultana, you, Wilson, your close friend, Simone Sebastian; and also in some way you, Reese. The details and conflicting positions are not necessary to my summary. I accept that there was a genuine belief amongst you that, arising out of loan arrangements, Sebastian was entitled to a boat in Sultana's possession. It had become registered in her name. Sultana had the boat in Marnoo near Horsham, where he had moved. You three lived in the western suburbs of Melbourne. I also accept that Sebastian had unsuccessfully made a number of more orthodox legal attempts to take possession and, upon the discovery of Sultana and the boat were in Marnoo, that you had her permission to take possession of it for her.
16There was bad feeling between Sebastian, you, Wilson and Reese, and Sultana. Matthew Bawden, you did not know Sultana but were asked to help. I find that Sultana had not been cooperative and accept that he had, to your minds, concealed the whereabouts of the boat.
17On 22 October 2019 the three of you drove to Marnoo in a four wheel drive equipped to tow the boat and its trailer away. The trailer belonged to Sultana. It was registered in his name. At Sultana's home there, you attempted to connect the boat and trailer to your vehicle. It was at the front or side of the house. Sultana was at home but in the beginning not aware of your presence. You were unable to connect the boat. The trailer was padlocked. It seems that about 10 minutes passed in this activity before your illegal entry into the home. At one point you, Bradley Reese, were observed and heard to say at the front door that Sultana owed you money and that you were going to take the boat. At another point the three of you were seen to go to Sultana's Holden Colorado parked at the premises. A fire extinguisher was taken out of that vehicle. I find that you had not bought any weapon to Marnoo.
18Charge 1, aggravated burglary, is made out by you forcing entry into the home with the intention of finding and stealing the key to the trailer lock, the purpose being to take away the boat on its trailer. You entered, it seems each of you at various times, as trespassers, knowing or presuming that Sultana was present inside. The front door was later observed to be damaged. This entry is to be seen as the commencement of the offending for which you are to be sentenced. You are not charged with or to be sentenced for at time of entry intending to assault Sultana. However, that is what came to happen and is Charge 2 on the indictment.
19Independent in the way I describe of Charge 1, but soon after entry, Sultana was assaulted and injured. What in the immediate sense brought this about is not made clear by the evidence. I am to some extent guarded about Sultana's whole description of the attack upon him and his injuries. He had gone into his bedroom. He was grabbed. You, Bradley Reese and Matthew Bawden, he has stated, were involved in this. He was struck to the head with an object, probably the fire extinguisher; it is not certain. Sultana has stated a belief that you, Reese, did that. He states that during the assault he blacked out. Findings properly available to me beyond reasonable doubt are that Sultana was assaulted in the hallway of his home. This resulted in the injuries set out in the depositional material. Doubt or uncertainty about what physical acts causing injury are precisely attributable to either of you, Reese and Bawden, is resolved by my finding, consistent with your pleas of guilty to Charge 2, that all three of you (albeit without any physical participation by you, Wilson) assisted and/or encouraged the others to assault and injure. I find that you, Reese, struck Sultana with the object.
20A hammer was later found in the home and was observed at one point held by you, Wilson. However, I do not find that it was used physically against Sultana. It was likely discovered within the house after entry. A broken bottle was later found containing your fingerprints, Reese. Similarly, I do not find that it was used as a weapon against Sultana. You did not locate a key to the trailer. You used a bolt cutter, also, I would find, obtained somewhere in the premises to break the lock. The three of you towed the trailer and boat away. Sultana and others had called “000”. You were not long after intercepted and arrested.
21There was damage caused to Anthony Sultana's home and items within. That is listed in paragraph 38 of the Crown opening and includes damage to a television set, damage to the front door and frame, destruction of a number of ornaments and damage to kitchen furniture. Criminal damage charges against you have been withdrawn. However, the damage described should be seen as a contextual part of the offending event. Anthony Sultana has stated that, upon his discharge from hospital on the day following your offences, he observed a number of items to be missing. They are, as so stated by him, listed at paragraph 40 of the Crown opening. Theft charges against you have been withdrawn and you are not to be in any way sentenced as to those.
22Medical examination revealed the following injuries to Anthony Sultana: bruising to the left side of his face, knee and rib pain, a wound to his left palm and grazes to his knees. As to head injury or concussion, hospital records state that he scored 15 on the Glasgow Coma Concussion Scale and therefore, to that extent, not consistent with a concussive injury.
23The depositional statement and victim impact of Anthony Sultana describes further injury. The Crown does not submit that I find injury beyond the established medical evidence. However, that is significant. Further, his victim impact statement describes emotional and psychological effects upon him. Those include shock, fear and anger at the time; since, loss of confidence in leaving his home and, he states, panic or anxiety attacks. The victim impact found must be taken into account in my sentences of you.
24Kristie Wilson, you are a 37 year old woman without prior convictions. You were raised and educated in the Melton area. Your parents separated when you were five. You stayed with your mother. You have a younger brother and a number of both maternal and paternal half-siblings, all younger.
Bradley Reese is one.25Your childhood was affected by the abuse of your mother by an alcoholic stepfather. He is deceased. Your mother has suffered serious mental health problems. She is diagnosed with schizophrenia. As the eldest, you took up much responsibility for the younger children. You have a good relationship with your natural father. You left school during Year 11 to care for younger siblings when your mother was again placed into psychiatric care. Since school you have worked for your father in his trucking business, in car detailing and, more recently, for a food manufacturing company.
26Your maternal grandmother has been an important figure in your childhood and now at adult life. She is in her early 80s and suffers poor physical and mental health. She can only walk with mechanical assistance. You are her full time carer and receive a carer's pension.
27You suffer your own health conditions, epilepsy from age 18 and the residual effects of a serious motorcycle accident in 2013. Injuries included facial fractures and a still symptomatic shoulder injury. Your epilepsy has become worse in recent years with marked increase in seizures. This has led to you not being licensed to drive.
28Ms Strugnell pointed to no significant drug or alcohol problem.
29Upon arrest for these matters you were remanded for 48 days before being granted bail.
30Matthew Bawden, you are a 31 year old man. Upon arrest for these matters you were remanded and remained in custody for 197 days until granted bail. That bail has had stringent conditions including report to police and particularly for a period of 16 months a nightly curfew.
31I find that your early life has been dislocated, disadvantaged and traumatic. You were raised in the Melton area. Your parents separated when you were very young. Your mother was drug and alcohol dependent. Child Protection intervened by age five. There was a period of foster care placements. During this there was sexual abuse of you. Your father was a drinker. However, he and his family seem to have stepped in and supported you. You have no relationship with your mother.
32Your paternal grandparents were particularly supportive. Your grandfather died in 2016, which had a strong impact upon you. You now live with your grandmother and act as her carer. She is in declining health. However, she attended court at your plea hearing.
33You left school at Year 9. Since you have been quite consistently employed. This has included in roof trussing and scaffolding work, as a tradesmen's labourer, various positions in warehousing, as a spray painter and as a plasterer. In more recent times you have been in casual work. Since being released on bail in May 2020 you have done unpaid work proof reading for a community newspaper. The editor, Nathan Quilty, attended at court and has also written a letter of character reference.
34Tendered medical and psychological evidence states diagnoses of depression and anxiety. I find that they would likely make imprisonment more difficult for you. Psychologist, Miriam Latif, also diagnosed alcohol use disorder. You seem to have abused alcohol since late teenage. You have attempted to address this and have reduced your drinking. As to your physical health you presently have a cyst on the brain causing headaches. There is pending treatment. Ms Latif, applying relevant tools, assesses your risk of violent reoffending as at least low to moderate.
35Your criminal record states between June 2009, when you were 17, and
August 2019, nine court appearances. In large part there are early
Children's Court matters. Between 2017 and 2019 there are three appearances. They are essentially for driving related offences. Earlier offending is predominantly theft and dishonesty related. Your period of remand in this matter is your first period of custody. You have not reoffended in any way whilst on bail, now a period approaching two and a half years. It is now over three years without offending since your offences.36You have two children aged eight and five to different relationships. I was told that you have contact with both.
37Bradley Reese, you are now aged 30 years, being presently placed in remand custody for charges alleged to have been committed after and whilst on bail for these before me. You were remanded after arrest on my matters for a period of 274 days. Ms Park told me that there is a context mention hearing in the Magistrates' Court listed in mid-January for the subsequent alleged offending. You remain on bail for my matters. In a helpful and candid way, Ms Park advised the expectation of a prison sentence for the subsequent matters. However, given that they are not formally admitted, I do not treat them as a relevant, adverse factor. It is alleged that you violently offended against your ex-partner and carer.
38You suffer intellectual disability and seem to be a client of both
Disability Client Services in Victoria and the NDIS. That is reflected in your criminal record. Consistent with the personal history of your older sister, Kristie Wilson, your early life, was damaged by instability and exposure to abuse. Your father, presumably her stepfather, was alcoholic and violent to your mother. Despite this you kept a close relationship with him until his death when you were 20. That appears to have had a major impact upon you.39In the context of this childhood you also suffered intellectual disability, diagnosed at 14, ADHD, and later Acquired Brain Injury arising out of a motor vehicle collision at 19. You receive a disability pension. School was not successful and ultimately you attended a specialist school until Year 11. Employment has been sporadic since. You have abused drugs, particularly since your father's death.
40You have a son, now eight. The relationship with his mother failed, leading to further drug abuse and homelessness. However, you keep regular contact with your child.
41Your criminal record states a number of prior court appearances between December 2011 and June 2018. As is not unusual, there is some duplication; for example, return to court upon a failure at a community corrections order imposed in 2017. Driving related offences predominate. There are also offences of dishonesty and related to drugs. There is some offending of violence. There have been custodial sentences.
42Ms Park raised the so called Verdins principles as relevant. I agree that they are, albeit there is not psychological evidence specifically stating causal connection between a mental health condition and the offending. Ms Park, in a telling way, quotes the High Court case of Muldrock as follows:
'A question will often arise as to the causal relation, if any, between offenders' mental illness and the commission of the offence. Such a question is less likely to arise in sentencing a mentally retarded offender because the lack of capacity to reason as an original [sic] person might as to the' - - -
43I just wonder whether the word, 'original', is a typographical error but I will state it as it is. I will go back:
'Such a question is less likely to arise in sentencing a mentally retarded offender because the lack of capacity to reason as an original [sic]
might' - - -
44Perhaps that should be, 'ordinary':
'- - - as to the wrongfulness of the conduct will in most cases substantially lessen the offender's moral culpability for the offence. The retributive effect and denunciatory aspect of a situation as appropriate to a person of ordinary capacity will often be inappropriate to the situation of a mentally retarded offender and for the needs of the community'.
45I find that the developing circumstances of the offending events here are consistent with such an assessment. The relevant principles stated in Verdins and associated cases have some application. As to additional hardship in prison, it is sad to reflect upon the insightful remarks of your grandmother, now aged 81, in her tendered letter:
'Bradley told me prison life is better than outside. He is safe, gets three meals a day and has somewhere to sleep and be drug free. As a grandmother hearing these words breaks my heart. He needs help out of prison. He keeps falling between the cracks with support agencies. Prison is the only place he can go to survive. Because I know it's not where he wants to be'.
46Relevant to all three of you, this remains and is serious offending, despite the mitigating features I have identified; for example, that you went to the victim's premises in the genuine belief of a right to take possession of the boat stored there, that you did not enter with the intention to assault. However, it came to be that Anthony Sultana was assaulted, injured and badly frightened in his home. Sentencing considerations of the moral culpability of what you did, deterrence, denunciation and proportionate punishment are relevant. General deterrence is particularly important. Belief in the right of what was originally intended does not much diminish that.
47However, there are moderating factors which should be taken into account.
48Applicable to all of you are the following.
(1)Your pleas of guilty and cooperation;
(2)To some extent the circumstances of the offending. As to the aggravated burglary you committed, I accept a lesser moral culpability than is often or even usually the case. I have found, as stated, a genuine belief in the right to take the boat. Entry was to take or steal the key and therefore take the trailer. I bear in mind that in practical terms taking the boat required the trailer. That does not excuse but it is still a relevant factor.
(3)Delay is an important consideration in this case. It is now three years since the offending. Delays for the proceeding have not been caused by you, beyond exercise of your right to trial. As I have said, resolution of the matter entailed withdrawal of serious offences. Each of you has been on bail for prolonged periods after time in remand. As stated, your bail, Matthew Bawden, had a condition of curfew for over a year. You, Kirstie Wilson and Matthew Bawden, have not offended in the time since. I accept that both of you have moved towards rehabilitation in that time. Sentences beyond what you have served will mean the particular hardship of return to prison after that time and in such circumstances.
(4)Additional hardship will be the impact upon prisoners brought about by COVID-19 and it's required regulation, restriction and other effects. The extent of that into the future can be said to be now less clear. However, I also bear in mind that your remand periods were placed in intensive periods of the pandemic and such impact upon those in custody.
49There are also moderating factors more individual to each of you. As to you, Kristie Wilson, they include these matters.
(1)Your otherwise good character. At 37 you have no other offending. Further, the evidence of your character before me speaks highly of you. For example, it is notably to your credit that you have supported Necia Barut and her children in the way her tendered letter describes. That Ms Barut is a vulnerable person in many respects is made clear in the letter of social worker, Rose Knol, also tendered.
(2)Related to such evidence is that you should be seen as having good, really high prospects of rehabilitation;
(3)I take into account your personal history and circumstances, including the difficulty and responsibilities of your earlier life.
(4)I accept that further imprisonment will mean particular hardship for you in the way of concern and anxiety, given your role in caring for your grandmother, a person to whom you are close.
50As to you, Matthew Bawden, I take into account these additional matters which will go to moderate your sentence.
(1)Your plea and cooperation. I accept that there was a particular level of candour in your record of interview. You admitted both entry into the premises and did not deny a role in assault of Anthony Sultana’
(2)Your personal history and circumstances. This includes the difficulties and hardship of your earlier life. These are matters that should not be understated;
(3)In all the circumstances of your case I see genuine prospects for rehabilitation.
51These are sentences which raise difficult and, to some extent, unusual issues.
52I agree with the remarks of Mr Kounnas that, despite the respective maximum sentences, Charge 2 (causing injury) can be seen as the more serious offence.
53As to you, Wilson and Bawden, I have come to the view that return to prison, given all factors, is not necessary to meet the relevant sentencing purposes. As to you this is a case in which the combination of time served, a punitive and rehabilitative community corrections order can meet those. You are both found suitable for such an order. There should be differences consistent with your specific roles and, particularly in your case, Wilson, that you have no criminal history. I bear in mind that it is the whole sentence (time served and the community corrections order) which should be considered and assessed.
54Bradley Reese, the sentence for you must be seen differently. You are in remand custody and that will continue until at least mid-January. Your role in individual terms can be seen as more serious or, at least, prominent. However, your disability and mental health is also relevant. Ms Park, for you, put that a straight sentence is appropriate, one moderated by Verdins and other personal factors. Perhaps sadly and at first instance I agree or agreed with that. However, I have decided to set a minimum term. Parole release will be a matter for the Adult Parole Board. Support upon release from prison will be important to your rehabilitation and therefore the community interest. You should be given the possibility of that.
55I take into account the principles of totality in your case and also to some extent that of parity. They should also moderate your sentence.
56I have also decided that aggregate sentences of imprisonment are appropriate in this case.
57I sentence you as follows. Stand up.
58Kristie Wilson, on Charges 1 and 2 I impose an aggregate sentence of 48 days' imprisonment. I declare under s18 48 days of pre-sentence detention. I also impose, as to both charges, a community corrections order of two years' duration. The usual terms apply. The additional conditions are that you perform
250 hours of unpaid work, that there be supervision of you, that there be assessment and treatment for mental health and that you participate in programs specifically related to this offending. Had you not pleaded guilty I would have imposed a sentence of imprisonment of two years with a minimum term of 16 months. Take a seat.59Matthew Bawden, on Charges 1 and 2 I impose an aggregate sentence of
197 days. I declare under s18 197 days of pre-sentence detention already served. I also impose on both charges a community corrections order of
two and a half years' duration. The usual terms apply. The additional conditions are that you perform 300 hours of unpaid community work. Sixty hours of therapeutic or program work can be set off against that. Further, it is a condition that you be under supervision, that there be assessment and treatment for alcohol abuse, that there be assessment and treatment for mental health conditions. Under s6AAA had you not pleaded guilty I would have imposed a sentence of two and a half years with a minimum term of 22 months. I omitted to state in relation to your - sit down, Mr Bawden.60I omitted to state in relation to your community corrections order, Ms Wilson, that 50 hours of participation in program work can be set off against the community work of 250 hours.
61Bradley Reese, on Charges 1 and 2 I impose an aggregate sentence of
15 months' imprisonment. I set a minimum term of nine months before eligibility for parole. Under s18 I declare 274 days of pre-sentence detention already served on that sentence. Under s6AAA had you not pleaded guilty I would have imposed a sentence of three years with a minimum term of two years. Take a seat, please.62Are there any other matters that I need to - we need to print out the community corrections order and they need to be put personally to each of the two people who received those. Will that take some little time or not?
63ASSOCIATE: No, not very long.
64HIS HONOUR: All right. Yours has come out first, Mr Bawden. You can come out of the dock and stand near Mr Newton, please. Come out and take a seat behind Mr Newton. We need to make an adjustment. Good, thank you. Would you stand up, please, Mr Bawden? I need to read out to you what the conditions and what this order means. It runs for 30 months. You must attend at the Ballarat Community Correctional Services in Ballarat. Do you still live down there?
65OFFENDER BAWDEN: No, Melton.
66HIS HONOUR: Melton. I think Ballarat's the closest, isn't it?
67VOICE: No, there's one in Melton.
68MR NEWTON: There's one in Melton, Your Honour.
69HIS HONOUR: There is an office at Melton, is there? We will have it changed. Just take a seat. Ms Wilson, where do you live?
70OFFENDER WILSON: I live in Braybrook, Sunshine.
71HIS HONOUR: Braybrook. So the Sunshine - - -
72OFFENDER WILSON: Yes.
73HIS HONOUR: All right. So we're in - Ms Wilson's order needs to be the Sunshine Community Corrections Office. Thank you. All right, now, stand up, please, Mr Bawden. No, you stand. Take a seat. No, no, Mr Bawden. You sit down, Ms Wilson.
74OFFENDER BAWDEN: I'll stand?
75HIS HONOUR: All right. Thirty months is the duration. You must attend at the Melton Community Correctional Services - the address is here and you will get the document - within two working days. The usual terms are these. You must not commit another offence for which you could be imprisoned during the time. You must comply with a regulation which prohibits you from attending any appointment, program or work site affected by alcohol or drugs or in possession of any unlawful drugs. You must report to and receive visits from
Commit Corrections. You must let Community Corrections know within t
wo days of a change of address or job. You must not leave Victoria without first getting their permission to do that. You must obey all lawful instructions of Community Corrections.76The special conditions are these. You must perform 300 hours of unpaid community work over the period. Sixty hours of the program work can be set off against that. You must be under supervision of a Community Corrections officer. You must undergo assessment and treatment for alcohol abuse. You must undergo mental health assessment and treatment and must participate in programs that particularly address factors related to this offending. Do you understand all of that?
77OFFENDER BAWDEN: Yes, I do, Your Honour.
78HIS HONOUR: And you agree to it?
79OFFENDER BAWDEN: Yes, I do.
80HIS HONOUR: Yes, I will get you to sign it and then I will sign it. Whilst that is happening you can come out of the dock, Ms Wilson, and stand near
Ms Strugnell. All right, just stand there. I need to explain your order to you. It will run for two years. You must attend at the Sunshine Community Corrections office within two days of today. The usual terms beyond that are you do not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment during the period. You must comply with the same regulation that I explained to Mr Bawden. That is you do not attend any program, appointment or worksite affected by alcohol of drugs or in possession of unlawful drugs. You must report to and receive visits from Community Corrections. You must let them know within two days of a change of address or job. You must not leave Victoria without getting permission to do that from them. You must obey all lawful instructions of Community Corrections.81The additional or special conditions are that you perform 250 hours of unpaid community work. Fifty hours of your program work could be set off against that. That will be explained to you. You must be under supervision of a
Community Corrections officer. You must undergo mental health assessment and treatment and you must, as directed, you must participate in programs specifically addressing factors related to this offending. Do you understand all of that?82OFFENDER WILSON: yes, Your Honour.
83HIS HONOUR: And do you agree to it?
84OFFENDER WILSON: Yes, Your Honour.
85HIS HONOUR: All right, I will get you to sign it. And if Mr Bawden has signed his order. That can be copied. Once that has happened there is nothing else I need to do but there is something I want to say to Mr Reese. You are going to do it later, are you?
86VOICE: Yes.
87HIS HONOUR: You are about to be taken into custody, Mr Reese. Is your grandmother in court?
88OFFENDER REESE: No.
89HIS HONOUR: She is not.
90MR NEWTON: Mr Bawden's grandmother is in court, Your Honour.
91HIS HONOUR: Yes, thank you. You heard that part of her letter I read out. She strikes me, I have not met the lady, as a pretty wise woman and I can see that she is worried about where you are going to go. I agree you have been dealt a pretty bad hand in life but you are aged 30 now and the next few years of your life will be very important. Unless you listen to people, those people who want to help you, you may end up being in and out of gaol until you are in your 60s, if you last that long. So you need to think about that, and my advice to you would be to do this. You can start applying for parole now. It is not easy to get but it might be something you want to think very hard about doing. All right, well, I wish you the best. People have come here to support Mr Reese. They can briefly speak to him before he is taken into custody. It has got to be brief though. If you could supervise that, Ms Park.
92MS PARK: Yes, thanks, Your Honour.
93HIS HONOUR: You can approach him and speak to him briefly. All right,
Mr Reese needs to be taken into custody. All right, yes, nothing else to do?94MR NIBBS: No, Your Honour.
95HIS HONOUR: All right.
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