Director of Public Prosecutions v Brown

[2018] VCC 77

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

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR-16-02153

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

JOEL ASHLEIGH BROWN

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	8 February 2018
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v BROWN
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2018] VCC 77

REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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Subject:
Catchwords:
Legislation Cited:
Cases Cited:
Sentence:

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Office of Public Prosecutions	Mr A. Sim	The Office of Public Prosecutions
For the Accused	Mr P. Bloemen	Pica Criminal Lawyers

HIS HONOUR:

1Joel Ashleigh Brown, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of causing injury intentionally and one charge of theft.  Those crimes carry maximum penalties of five years and ten years respectively.

2You pleaded guilty at the earliest reasonable opportunity, in my view, having made a plea offer at committal.  You must get the benefit of that plea, both in the sense of – potentially at least, remorse though that is not what you indicated in your record of interview and obviously the utilitarian benefit of it.  Whilst the offending may seem fairly trivial to be in this jurisdiction, I fully understand that it is as a result of a settled indictment and accordingly, I do not want to buy into that, any way shape or form, or for this to be seen in any way shape or form, as a criticism.  It is not.

3You do have a prior criminal history dating back to 2007 and earlier.  I notice within that, there are certainly findings of guilt for stalking, which is a little bit concerning in terms of what happened here.  The circumstances of the offending can be described in fairly brief compass.

4You and the complainant had both worked at the Moreland City Council for a number of years.  For approximately eight years of that time, the pair of you worked on the same garbage truck run.  The complainant in the matter has obviously had had issues with post-traumatic stress disorder and had significant periods of time off work because of it.  At one stage, in September of 2012, he was off for approximately eighteen months.  He returned in March 2014 and had, he says, noticed a change in you.  From late 2014 on, the relationship between the two of you deteriorated and the complainant took a further period of time off work.  He returned to work at the council in July of 2015, at which stage you resigned. 

5On 16 December 2015 at 4.50 am, he arrived at the depot and took out a truck, arrived in Pallett Street, North Coburg, to pick up a recycling bin from outside a commercial site.  As he pulled up, there were two women in their twenties on the other side of the road, they asked to use a phone.  He left his keys in the ignition and the driver's door open, while he was assisting them making a phone call.

6They obviously saw you coming.  He turned around and saw you coming as well.  You swung at him and he put up his arm to shield himself.  He was hit in the arm.  He hung onto an adjoining mesh fence and you were attacking him, pulling at his hair.  He then recognised you as - well obviously as you.  You punched him in the head several times and you then stopped and let him be.

7The truck, as I have said, the key was in the ignition, it was still running.  You, for the purpose of this sentence, jumped into the truck simply to get away, you went a relatively short distance and jumped out of the truck and into a tram.  The truck was not damaged and it was found relatively shortly thereafter.  I accept that the theft is, for the sentencing purposes that I sentence you, are incidental to the assault.

8An ambulance was called.  The complainant suffered some bruising, superficial abrasions and realistically in physical terms, is about the extent of it.  He obviously would have received a terrible fright in all of these circumstances and there is a victim impact statement which has been filed, as is been properly conceded, the victim had had psychological and psychiatric treatment in the past for a post-traumatic stress disorder and I am not about to embark on a serious injury disentanglement exercise.

9In those circumstances, I simply sentence you for what you did, but obviously take into account, the psychological impact of all this, as well as the physical on the complainant.  You attacked a man in the early hours of the morning who was simply going about his job.  In the normal situations, would call for the application of general deterrence, specific deterrence.  I just realised this one would appear to be situational and an appropriate punishment.  Submissions were filed on your behalf and effectively they are that you look after a daughter.  Your mother is ill and you have to look after her.  You are gainfully employed.  You appear to have always had - pretty much always had a very good work ethic and you are not like many of the young men who come before this court.

10You are 35 years of age.  You, as I have said, look after your mother.  You still have contact with the rest of your family and it seems to me that overall, despite this unfortunate incident, your prospects for rehabilitation should be good.  You completed Year 12 at school, so you are obviously not unintelligent.  You have seen a psychologist a number of times after this offending.  You have now been on bail for something in excess of two years, with no offending since, and I take all those matters into account.  You obviously have stable accommodation and it is my view that a community corrections order, is the appropriate disposition and that is not opposed by the Crown.

11In your situation, I see no reason to have you assessed for any of the other conditions, other than a simple work component.  I have taken into account the references that have been tendered this morning on your behalf and you would appear, in the normal course of events, to be a worthwhile member of the community.

12What you must understand is that if you breach this community corrections order, you are brought back before me.  If it is breached by reason of any violence, this disposition will be very very different, let me assure you.  As I say, it is up to you, but it does seem to me that the offending was situational and unlikely to be repeated.

13All right, in the circumstances, I direct you to be placed on a community corrections order. It will be with conviction which is a punishment in itself. It will be for a period of two years and in that two years, you will do 150 hours of community service work. Insofar as your driver's licence is concerned, pursuant to s.89(4) of the Sentencing Act, I suspend any licence to driver a motor vehicle for a period of one day.  That period to commence from one minute past twelve this morning. 

14MR SIM:  Your Honour, the only other matter was the application for a forensic sample order.  I don't know whether that's opposed or not?

15HIS HONOUR:  Not opposed?

16MR BLOEMEN:  It's not opposed.

17HIS HONOUR:  No, no, I've signed that, yes.

18MR SIM:  Yes.  Thank you, Your Honour.  My instructor has completed all the blanks. 

19HIS HONOUR:  Yes, in a situation like this, I will, yes.  Which is the nearest Community Corrections Centre for him?

20OFFENDER:  Reservoir, Thomastown.

21MR BLOEMEN:  Reservoir I think will be the nearest.

22HIS HONOUR: Reservoir? Yes, all right. All right, yes, I'll just sign it if you don't mind. All right, pursuant to s.464ZF of the Crimes Act, I make an order that you provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes.  That order having been made, I must advise you that if you refuse to provide or fail to provide such a sample, police may use reasonable force to take it from you and your counsel will explain to you what you need to do about that.

23MR BLOEMEN:  If I might approach the dock, Your Honour?

24HIS HONOUR:  Yes.  Yes, Mr Bloemen you will perhaps explain to your client what to do about the forensic sample, but also explain to him that the sooner he gets the work hours done, the sooner the order stops.

25MR BLOEMEN:  Yes, Your Honour.

26HIS HONOUR:  Once he's done that, the hours, it's all over, all right?

27MR BLOEMEN:  Yes, Your Honour.

28HIS HONOUR:  Tell him not to do anything silly with that car tonight.  So if he's parked at Reservoir Station, it is probably not there anymore, see how his luck holds.  All right, thank you very much for that gentlemen.

29MR BLOEMEN:  Your Honour pleases.

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