Director of Public Prosecutions v Bidmade

[2022] VCC 664

IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA

Revised

(Not) Restricted

Suitable for Publication

AT MELBOURNE

CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 22-00143

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

SAMANTHA BIDMADE

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JUDGE:	HER HONOUR JUDGE GAYNOR
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	13 May 2022
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Bidmade
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2022] VCC 664

REASONS FOR SENTENCE

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr G. Fitzgibbon
For the Accused	Mr R. Melasecca

HER HONOUR:

1Samantha Bidmade, you have pleaded guilty before me to one charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence, one charge of negligently dealing with the proceeds of crime, one charge of possessing a drug of dependence, namely Alprazolam which is also known as Xanax, one charge of handling stolen goods and one charge of possessing counterfeit money.

2You were also found to be in possession of a prohibited weapon without excuse, namely an electric taser.

3The facts underlying your offending are as follows.  On 26 November 2020 at about 7 am, police went to an apartment in Queens Road, Melbourne to execute search warrants under the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act.  They forced entry to the property and immediately noticed drugs of dependence inside the apartment.

4You, Ms Bidmade, were found ducking behind a couch in the living room and were placed under arrest.  A co-accused who was later arrested, was not at home at the time.

5Police conducted a search of the apartment and located the following items which are relevant to you, that is 7.9 grams of methylamphetamine.  This relates to Charge 1, trafficking a drug of dependence based on the amount that was seized.  Secondly, a driver's licence in the name of another person.  This is part of Charge 4, handling stolen goods.  Forty-four counterfeit $100 notes.  That relates to Charge 5, possession of counterfeit money.  A total of $44,150 in cash was located in the master bedroom in your handbag and this relates to Charge 2 on the indictment, negligently dealing with the proceeds of crime.  An electric taser was also found in one of your bags and this relates to the summary offence of possessing a prohibited weapon.  Finally, seven Xanax pills were located in a wardrobe and relates to you.  This underlies Charge 3, possessing a drug of dependence.  Police also found a Victoria Police issued long sleeved under garment and possession of this also relates to Charge 4, handling stolen goods.

6At the scene you told the police you were a registered nurse who had been on Workcover since April 2019 due to a shoulder injury, were being paid $800 a week by Workcover, had received a $7000 payout from Workcover, paid about $500 for a gram of ice which you said you used at between half and one gram daily.  You said you paid $550 rent, that you had smoked ice at the premises last night and admitted knowing the co-accused in this matter.

7HER HONOUR:  You undertook a no comment record of interview.  Police then executed a search warrant at your home address and whilst nothing was found it seemed as if someone had been there as there was clothing and other items strewn throughout the premises together with five and $10 notes scattered on the floor, furniture being upturned and a safe broken into.

8At the time you were still on a 15 month Community Correction Order which had been imposed at the Geelong Magistrates' Court on 3 September 2020, that is only two months before.

9I now turn to your personal circumstances.  You are now 30 years of age.  You have a limited prior criminal history.  You have only been before the court twice, on both occasions you have received a Community Correction Order but they have been for concerning and drug related offending.  On 29 October 2019 you were placed on a six month Community Correction Order on charges of theft of motor vehicle, dealing with property suspected of being the proceeds of crime, trafficking methylamphetamine, trafficking heroin, trafficking GHB.

10Then on 3 September 2020 as I have said, you were placed on a Community Correction Order for 15 months on charges of possessing methylamphetamine, dealing in property suspected of being the proceeds of crime, possessing a false document, driving a motor vehicle without a licence and committing an indictable offence on bail.

11You have been under the care of drug counsellor Amanda Brown for some time and she, in her report dated 2 December 2020, stated that you were one of two children born to your parents, spending your life until a young adult, in Geelong.  You had a positive relationship with your older brother but had a very difficult environmental domestic situation.  You are well attached to your mother but your biological father was apparently a punitive alcoholic with a profound addiction to heroin.  He was gaoled on multiple occasions and your parents separated when you were about four.  You have had no contact with him since this time.

12Your mother then re-partnered with another man who was alcoholic and misused prescription drugs and you also told Ms Brown that yourself, mother and brother were often subjected to physical and emotional treatment at his hands.  Your mother and this man separated when you were nine.

13You also told Ms Brown that because of this stepfather's physical violence you were often on the run with your mother and brother and lived in a refuge on occasion in Warrnambool.

14Your mother then re-partnered and this man, you described to Ms Brown, as a positive role model and you had a close attachment to him however he died when you were 19. Ms Brown notes that, 'This circumstance appeared to be the antecedence of the decompensation of Ms Bidmade's mental state and the subsequent development of methamphetamine used as a form of self medication.'

15You described to Ms Brown a prolonged sad and intense grief reaction to your stepfather's death which continues to overshadow your life.  You have also told Ms Brown you were subject to periodic sexual abuse but have not described in particular how this occurred.  You apparently suffer ongoing intrusive symptoms from this assault upon you.

16Your mother has had a number of serious difficulties in her own life.  She has had brain aneurisms, bowel cancer, thyroid complications and difficulties with depression, unsurprisingly in the background of the abuse that she has undergone.

17You did fairly well at school and on completion of year 10 went to TAFE and completed a course in personal care, working in that industry between the age of 18 to 25.  You began a Bachelor of Nursing but sustained a chronic back injury whilst working as a theatre nurse.  Your counsel, Mr Melasecca, supplied me with a helpful chronology of the difficulties you have undergone physically.

18You presented to Eltham Physiotherapy in July of 2021 with pain and muscle spasms across the upper thoracic and lower cervical area which was treated with dry needling.  In August 2021 you were dealt with for a troublesome C7 radiculopathy, there was a pain management referral.  Later in the next month, just a few days later in fact, you presented with right posterior pain into your knee for which you were medicated but you had trouble sitting.  You, in September of 2021, developed pain in your upper back after partaking in a volleyball game and a CT scan suggested a muscle spasm and cervical disc degeneration.  That refers to the actual recent medical difficulties that you have had but essentially you have also, as I understand it, undergone two difficult spinal surgeries which have resulted not only in you not being able to work as a nurse but have meant that you have received, as you told police, Workcover payouts. 

19It is quite clear that your capacity to work as a nurse quite apart from the criminal difficulties you have got yourself into has been cut short by your continuing physical debilitation.

20In any event you told Ms Brown that you started drinking when you were 16 and had a moderate pattern of social drinking which escalated when you were 26.  You then began drinking up to four or five mixed drinks a day and that has continued until your arrest in about 2020.  When you were 18 you began experimenting with illicit drugs, mainly speed and ecstasy and that became a regular part of your social life.  You then, at the age of 19, began using methamphetamine.

21You limited use to one point a weekend and when you were 22 you stopped using for about three years but then at the age of 25, possibly in the aftermath of the injuries you were suffering, began using methamphetamine regularly, reaching a height of a three point use per day.  That is a large habit.  You also started using GHB in 2020.  That started off gradually but progressed to daily use of upward 5 millilitres a day. 

22Even though you had been given the opportunity of a second Community Correction Order I do note that you were only two months into this at the time of this offending.  It seems that you simply did not get your head around what you were supposed to be doing, were involving yourself with people who were also drug users and hence found yourself in this situation where for the first time you appeared before the County Court which gives an indication of the escalation of your offending.

23It appears, however, that your arrest in this matter has been of assistance to you.  You began attending upon Ms Brown early in December of 2020.  Ultimately it was her opinion that you had unresolved grief, personality disturbance and a chronic substance misuse problem.  She has also referred you to a psychologist to address mental health issues.

24I have outlined the ongoing physical difficulties that you have had in any event in August of 2021 you went into Odyssey House where you remained for some time.  You attended group therapy sessions, it is noted that you commenced an eight week psycho-educational course.  Since September of 2021 you have attended on Barbagallo Consultancy Pty Ltd, that is Nadia Barbagallo in particular, who is a counsellor and addiction specialist and you have continued to attend upon her and to abstain from drug use.  Indeed it would seem since your arrest for this offending in November of 2020, you have made considerable strides to remaining drug free.

25Originally application was made by your counsel, Mr Melasecca that you be placed on a Drug and Alcohol Treatment Order in this court.  You are now, however, pregnant and due to give birth to your child in November this year.  That alone, in my view, is sufficient to make you an unsuitable candidate for a DATO.  The physical requirements, the appointments you have to attend would be impossible whilst you were caring for a newborn baby.

26Additionally, it is agreed that your offending, although on the face of it including serious charges such as drug trafficking and drug of dependence actually falls at the lower end of the scales although I must say $44,000 of the proceeds of crime - if I can put it this way - is somewhat concerning.  In any event however, your actions over the time since you were arrested in relation to this offending have been commendable and I am prepared to give you another opportunity to take the benefit of a Community Correction Order.  You were found to be a person of some insight by the case manager who assessed you for suitability for a DATO, you talked about needing structure, you talked about a desire to lead a pro-social and a productive life and it certainly would seem that you had the capacity to do this.

27Your pregnancy has been an even greater incentive for you to go down a path which is markedly different to the one you have chosen for most of the years of your 20s in particular.

28You continue to enjoy the support of your mother who came to court to support you and it is your intention to divide your living time between your apartment in Windsor and your mother's home in Geelong.  That is another reason why a DATO would not be suitable for you as you would have to live in accommodation within the gazetted area which your mother's home is not.

29As I have said you have been found suitable for placement on a Community Correction Order.  You were described as engaging politely with the assessor, answering all questions, you said that the ice that was found on you in November of 2020 was for personal use although acknowledged as a traffickable quantity.  You were described as willing and able to comply with a CCO if one was imposed.

30I am therefore going to place you on a Community Correction Order, both because of the strides you have made since your arrest in these matters, secondly because of the relatively low level of this offending when compared to the range of seriousness applicable to offences of this kind.

31Before I can place you on a Community Correction Order as you would well know, Ms Bidmade, I must first outline the conditions which relate to such an order.  They are firstly that you must report to the community correction office within two working days of the making of this order, that is by Tuesday of next week.  The order will last for a period of 18 months.  Whilst on the order you must not commit another offence punishable by imprisonment. 

32I want to make that clear that you do not have to do much to do that.  You do not have to be gaoled subsequently whilst you are on the order, you just have to commit an offence for which theoretically you could be gaoled.  So, if you committed a small shoplifting such as knocking off a box of matches of Woolworths, that would breach the order.  You would be brought back before me and I would resentence you on the order. 

33Whilst you are on the order you may not leave Victoria without the permission of the community corrections office.  You must report any change of address or employment within 48 hours of the making of that change.  You must report to and receive visits from the community corrections office as directed.  You must not attend upon the community corrections office under the influence of drugs or alcohol and you must obey all lawful directions of the community corrections office.

34I am going to order special conditions that you undergo treatment and rehabilitation for substance abuse issues.  You are also to undergo treatment and rehabilitation for mental health difficulties.  You will be under supervision and there will be judicial monitoring.  The first judicial monitoring will take place in three months' time.  All right?  Now, the better you do the less I will be seeing you, Ms Bidmade, but if you are not travelling too well we could be seeing each other weekly if I think that is necessary, all right?

35Thank you so the first judicial monitoring will be three months from today which would be 15 August, all right?  It is a Monday, thank you very much, Mr Brennan.  That will be the first judicial monitoring.  Are you prepared to enter this order?

36OFFENDER:  I am.

37HER HONOUR:  We will just print it out for you, thank you.  Do I have to do a s6AAA?  I do not, do I? 

38MR MELASECCA:  You have the Federal offence.

39HER HONOUR:  The Federal offence, thank you.  In relation to the charge of possessing counterfeit money I am fining you $500, that will be a conviction and I will give you three months to pay that.  A sensible way to go about that is to pay it off at the registry of this court in instalments.  If you have done that and the three months runs out before you have paid the $500 then they may give you more time.  If you have not, and you turn up at the end of three months saying, 'I haven't got the money' that can be turned into community work.  All right?  So we take out Charge 5 from the Community Correction Order.  Thank you for that reminder, Mr Melasecca.

40MR MELASECCA:  Your Honour, if I can just confirm, it's an aggregate CCO across the balance of the charges save for the ‑ ‑ ‑

41HER HONOUR:  Yes, it is an aggregate CCO and in my view it is appropriate, essentially all this offending has arisen in the context of what has been found at the premises which were raided by police so is an appropriate aggregate, thank you.

42MR MELASECCA:  Is Your Honour making any order in relation to the time served, the 22 days?

43HER HONOUR:  I was going to make a combination but in fact I do not think it's actually worth it.

44MR MELASECCA:  Yes, Your Honour, I was just wondering ‑ ‑ ‑

45HER HONOUR: Sorry I don't mean to put it in that way. I do not think - the prohibition arising from s5 of the Sentencing Act as to the imposition of the term of imprisonment if I think CCO is sufficient is one that has led me to that decision.

46MR MELASECCA:  Yes, Your Honour, thank you.  I just wanted to be clear, thank you.

47HER HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  Yes, thank you.  Yes, she signs it first.  All right, I will see you in three months, Ms Bidmade, good luck.

48OFFENDER:  Thank you, Your Honour.

49HER HONOUR:  You seem perfectly capable of changing your life and can I say this and it is not something I am saying to make your life harder but there is nothing worse for a child than having a drug addicted parent.  That is because they are so inconsistent.  One minute loving, gorgeous, looking after their children, the next minute screaming at them.  The inconsistency of that parenting is extraordinarily damaging.  I really want you to bear that in mind, all right?

50So you do not make up for the screaming sessions with the 'I love you session'.  A child just learns that they have to walk on egg shells, treat you with kid gloves, they lose any sense of stability in the world and any sense of self esteem, all right?  You will not be able to parent properly or consistently if you are using drugs at any sort of serious level.  Are you quite clear on that?  The court has seen this over and over.  Mr Melasecca, I am sure, will bear out what I am saying to you once we leave court.  It is almost worse than having someone who is consistently horrible because at least then you can turn around and say, 'That's that person I reject them.'  But you will have a child who wants you to love them, will blame themselves for any anger you might unleash as a drug affected parent.  That is what children do, it is heartbreaking.  They will blame themselves for ill treatment dolled out by their parents.  And then they will just hope for the good times so you can just see how damaging that up and down, am I making absolute sense to you?  Is that very clear?

51OFFENDER:  Yes.

52HER HONOUR:  It is the emotional damage that is so concerning, all right?  Thank you very much.

53MR FITZGIBBON:  Apologies, Your Honour, I don't mean to - there's been an oversight on my part in relation to the ancillary orders that you requested.

54HER HONOUR:  Yes, the ancillary orders, disposal and forfeiture orders?

55MR FITZGIBBON:  Yes, Your Honour, I will have them drafted and forwarded to chambers.

56HER HONOUR:  No problem at all, just send them along and we will sign them.

57MR FITZGIBBON:  Thank you, Your Honour.

58HER HONOUR:  Thank you very much.  Thank you, I thank counsel for your assistance.  We will adjourn to 9.30 Monday morning.

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