Director of Public Prosecutions v Brown
[2017] VCC 77
•8 February 2017
IN THE COUNTY COURT OF VICTORIA
AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL JURISDICTIONRevised
Not Restricted
Suitable for PublicationCR-16-01804
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS v RILEY BROWN ---
JUDGE: HIS HONOUR JUDGE GRANT WHERE HELD: Melbourne DATE OF HEARING: 31 January 2017 DATE OF SENTENCE: 8 February 2017 CASE MAY BE CITED AS: DPP v Brown MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION: [2017] VCC 77 REASONS FOR SENTENCE
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APPEARANCES:
Counsel Solicitors For the Director Ms S. Pillai OPP For the Accused Mr M. Reardon Victoria Legal Aid HIS HONOUR:
1
Riley Brown, you have pleaded guilty on arraignment to 14 charges of theft;
two charges of burglary; three charges of handling stolen goods; one charge of obtaining financial advantage by deception; four charges of attempting to obtain property by deception; three charges of obtaining property by deception; and one charge of blackmail.
2 The maximum penalties for these offences are as follows:
· Theft, ten years' imprisonment;
· Burglary, ten years' imprisonment;
· Handling stolen goods, 15 years' imprisonment;
· Obtaining financial advantage by deception, ten years' imprisonment;
· Attempting to obtain property by deception, five years' imprisonment;
· Obtaining property by deception, ten years' imprisonment; and
· Blackmail, 15 years' imprisonment.
3 You have also pleaded guilty to two related summary offences of drive whilst disqualified. These offences occurred on 8 and 10 June 2016. The maximum penalty for the offence of drive whilst disqualified where, as in this case, the offence is a second or subsequent offence, is 240 penalty units or two years' imprisonment.
4 I have heard a summary of the offending, a very detailed summary. I will not repeat it. It will be appended to these remarks.
5 I make the following points about your offending:
6 First, there are a large number of offences and many of them occur within a few weeks of your release from prison and after entering a community corrections order on 3 May 2016. I will return to this matter later in these remarks.
7 Second, Charge 6 is a course of conduct charge involving the theft of letters, driver’s licences, assorted bankcards, chequebooks, bank statements, Medicare cards, club membership cards, payslips and invoices. You stole the great majority of these items from various letterboxes over a period of ten weeks. This behaviour involved a serious breach of the law. It was sustained and undermined the integrity of our mail delivery system. I have no doubt that the theft of these items would have, at the very least, caused their owners distress, inconvenience and frustration.
8 Third, after stealing property from the vehicle owned by Mr Briggs, you then proceeded to use his visa card in a series of transactions involving deceptions and attempted deceptions.
9 Four, you engaged in a further act of deception by using Ms Fabri’s driver’s licence to set up an online HSBC account.
10 Five, Charge 27 is also a course of conduct charge involving the handling of letters, bankcards, club membership cards, driver’s licences, Medicare cards and licence renewals in the name of other people. Mr Brown, it is often said in courts that if there were not people prepared to receive stolen goods, there would not be so many people engaged in stealing those goods. It is important that you understand that Parliament has seen fit to fix a maximum penalty for this offence that is higher than the maximum penalty that applies for offences of burglary, theft or deception.
11 Six, you drove a motor vehicle whilst disqualified on 8 June 2016, and again on 10 June 2016. You have prior convictions for this offence. On 3 May 2016, you were convicted in the Magistrates Court for offences that included three counts of drive whilst disqualified and eight counts of drive whilst your authorisation was suspended.
12
Seven, you stole the keys to an apartment in Tahara Road, South Yarra, from the owners letter box and you used those keys to effect a burglary at the victim’s property on 10 June 2016. You stole her Apple MacBook computer and
a Mimco watch. When you were subsequently interviewed by the police, you said this at one stage, “I don’t do burgs, I’m too paranoid to do them.” Clearly that was not true in relation to this victim’s home.
13 Having effected the burglary and theft, you then managed to gain entry to the victim’s computer and accessed her PayPal, Facebook, EBay, Gmail and ACER website, the latter website used for her university testing. You discovered photographs of the victim and other personal information and decided to blackmail her. At 1850 on the same day, you sent an email to the victim demanding $5,000 within two hours or you would start posting crude pictures and releasing all her information. At 1948 you sent another email saying that you were not, “fucking around”. At 1957 you sent another email headed, “Call me 0404430927”.
14 Mr Brown, your commission of this offence marks an escalation in your offending behaviour. Blackmail is an offence that is directed personally towards the victim and usually causes great distress to the victim. It did so in this case. The receipt of your emails was profoundly unsettling for the victim, who became extremely anxious and very upset. She was unable to return to her apartment for five days because of severe anxiety. When she returned to her apartment, she suffered psychological distress and required a close friend to be with her. At the time of writing her victim impact statement in November 2016, the victim was still suffering feelings of anxiety when she was home alone at night.
15 Mr Brown, given the nature and volume of this offending and the serious nature of the blackmail charge, general deterrence, just punishment and denunciation are all highly relevant sentencing considerations.
16 You also have relevant prior and subsequent convictions. These matters need to be analysed in some detail because they are relevant to issues of specific deterrence, prospects of rehabilitation and community protection.
17 In 2003 you appeared in the Melbourne Children’s Court for a variety of offences and received a good behaviour bond. I attach no weight to that appearance.
18 In August 2015 you were fined in the Melbourne Magistrates Court for the offence of possess amphetamine.
19
On 3 May 2016 you were sentenced at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on charges that included multiple counts of theft, commit indictable offences whilst on bail, obtain property by deception, handle stolen goods, drive whilst suspended and drive whilst disqualified. You were sentenced to an aggregate imprisonment term of 176 days. That period was declared as time served and you were released on a community corrections order for 12 months, with
a number of conditions, including a condition requiring drug treatment and rehabilitation. I note that Charges 8 to 28 on the current indictment were all committed within a few weeks of entering that community corrections order. This is an aggravating factor for these offences.
20 On 8 September 2016 you were sentenced at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for offences of dishonesty, possess drug, drive whilst disqualified and 26 counts of dishonestly appropriate postal messages. You were sentenced to 67 days' imprisonment. Again, that period was declared as time served and you were again placed on a community corrections order with conditions including drug treatment and rehabilitation and judicial monitoring.
21 On 20 October 2016 you were arrested and remanded on other matters.
22 On 12 December 2016 your bail was revoked on the matters that are before me.
23 Mr Brown, given this history, I am guarded about your prospects for rehabilitation. I accept that you have a good work history and a level of support from your family that would potentially assist your rehabilitation. However, in the last couple of years, drug abuse has dominated your life and unless you successfully deal with that problem, you will continue to re-offend. I note that past efforts to support you through Community Corrections have been ineffective. Your criminal history also means that specific deterrence and protection of the community are important and relevant sentencing considerations.
24 I now move to matters relevant to your background and matters in mitigation.
25 You are 28 years old. You were well supported by your parents as a child. They separated when you were 12 years old and you remained with your father. You maintained regular contact with your mother and you still have a positive relationship with both parents. Indeed, your mother attended court to support you.
26
In your early adolescence, you were abusing alcohol and cannabis regularly.
I was told that your introduction to cannabis occurred under the influence of your eldest brother. Drug use undoubtedly contributed to your poor performance at school, where you were frequently in trouble for truancy and misbehaviour.
27 Your counsel told me that you graduated to the use of MDMA and amphetamines when you were 16 or 17 years old. You first used methamphetamine at the age of 18, although you did not become a regular user of that drug until 2013 or thereabouts.
28 Whilst drug use was apparently a part of your life during your teenage years, it must have been contained, because it did not disrupt your ability to work. You left school when you were 15 and commenced an apprenticeship as a baker. You completed that apprenticeship and worked until you were 24 years old at various bakeries. Your counsel said that you proved yourself to be a reliable worker at a number of different bakeries.
29
When you were 24 years old, you sought a change of career and worked in
a printing business for approximately 18 months. This period coincided with an escalation in your use of methamphetamine and you were eventually dismissed from that job.
30
You then moved to the country and worked as a baker in Mallacoota. After
a short time, you commenced making weekend trips to Melbourne, in order to purchase drugs. The bakery closed down at the end of 2014 and you have been unemployed since that time. You commenced offending to support your use of methamphetamine.
31 You have considered your future whilst on remand for the current charges. You feel that there is a drug culture involved with baking that you have been unable to resist and, for that reason, you should make a career change upon your release from prison. Your ambition is to undertake a horticulture apprenticeship. Your ability to act on this desire could only be realised if you were able to do something that you have been unable to do thus far, namely, stop using drugs.
32 You entered an early plea of guilty at a committal mention. Your plea means that no witnesses have been required to give evidence. You made admissions to the police and expressed remorse for your offending. Your plea of guilty is further evidence of your remorse. In relation to charges 8 to 12, you admitted to the police that the property found at your girlfriend’s home, was property that you had stolen. In addition, your plea has saved the community the expense involved in a criminal trial. You will be given credit for all these matters.
33 Your counsel submitted that an appropriate order in this case would be a period of imprisonment followed by a community corrections order. I disagree. Firstly, the offending is too serious, and secondly, you have recently been given the opportunity of two community corrections orders, after serving time in custody, and you have failed to comply with both orders. The appropriate order in this case is a head sentence with a non-parole period.
34 In imposing sentence, I will take into account that this will be your first lengthy period of imprisonment. I am also required to ensure that the total sentence imposed is just and appropriate for the whole of your offending.
35 Finally, in relation to Charges 1 to 23 and charges 27 and 28, I intend to impose an aggregate sentence of imprisonment, because I am satisfied those offences form or are part of a series of offences of the same or a similar character.
36 Mr Brown, you will be convicted and sentenced as follows:
37 On Charges 1 to 23 and Charges 27 and 28, an aggregate imprisonment term of 21 months.
38 On Charge 24, 18 months' imprisonment.
39 On Charge 25, nine months' imprisonment.
40 On Charge 26, six months' imprisonment.
41 On the summary charges of drive whilst disqualified, three months' imprisonment on each charge.
42 I order one month of the sentence on the first charge of drive whilst disqualified, and eight months of the sentence imposed on Charge 24, be served cumulatively upon each other and upon the aggregate term imposed on Charges 1 to 23 and Charges 27 and 28.
43
This makes a total effective sentence of 30 months. I order that you serve
a minimum term of 18 months before being eligible for release on parole.
44
Had you pleaded not guilty and been found guilty after trial, I would have sentenced you to a total effective sentence of 42 months' imprisonment, with
a minimum term of 30 months.
45 I declare that you have served 58 days pre-sentence detention.
46 I make the forfeiture order sought by the prosecution.
47 I make a compensation order in favour of the victim, Allan Briggs, in the amount of $1,647.92.
1Is there anything else, Gentlemen?
2MR REARDON: No, thank you, Your Honour.
3MR CASEY: No, Your Honour. May it please the court.
4HIS HONOUR: Yes, thank you.
5Mr Brown, you understand what has happened?
6OFFENDER: Yes, thank you, yes.
7HIS HONOUR: Thirty month sentence, with an 18 month minimum, 58 days declared as already served.
8OFFENDER: Right. Thank you.
9HIS HONOUR: Make the most of your time, use it constructively. Be strong in your resolve to stay away from the abuse of drugs. Use the support of the parole service to help you remain drug-free and then hopefully you can rebuild your life.
10OFFENDER: Thank you.
‑ ‑ ‑
Appendix 1:
Indictment No. G11684132
Case reference: CR 16 - 01804
IN THE COUNTY COURT
IN THE STATE OF VICTORIA
AT MELBOURNE
IN THE MATTER OF Section 182 Criminal Procedure Act 2009
THE DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS
-v -
RILEY TOMAS BROWN
Date of document: 26 January 2016
Filed on behalf of: The Director of Public Prosecution
JOHN CAIN Solicitor's code: 7539
Solicitor for Public Prosecutions Telephone: 9603 7666
565 Lonsdale Street Direct: (03) 9603 7407
Melbourne Vic. 3000 Ref: 1603686
SUMMARY OF PROSECUTION OPENING
Background – Identification of Brown
1.On 8 June 2016 the informant, Detective Senior Constable Kurt Bansagi was notified of a theft from a Jeep which was parked in an undercover visitors’ parking bay in an apartment complex in South Yarra. Entry via a large security gate to the complex was required to access the parking bay (p.84). Allan BRIGGS the owner of the Jeep reported that his wallet, credit cards and other personal items were stolen and his credit cards had been used at various locations in the South Yarra and Prahran areas and at online stores (refer Charges 16 – 23).
2.The informant subsequently viewed CCTV footage of the offender within BRIGGS’ apartment complex (pp.153 – 156) and later attended Coles Express in Toorak Road, Toorak and 7/11 in Chapel Street South Yarra to check CCTV footage (refer photograph stills pp.149 – 152 & pp.166 - 171). Checks of the offender’s registration resulted in Riley Tomas BROWN (D.O.B. 23.9.1988) of 9 Mavis Street Footscray being identified as the offender (Bansagi pp. 94 – 95).
3.Searches were executed at Brown’s address at 9 Mavis Street Footscray where Brown lived with his mother (11 June 2016 and 20 June 2016 photographs pp.172 – 221) and a subsequent search was conducted at his girlfriend’s home at 8 St Michel Close, Avondale Heights (Shannon MILLSON pp.95 – 97, Photographs and property seizure record pp.223 - 234). Police searched his bedroom and vehicle that was parked in the driveway of his home at Footscray. Police located a large quantity of stolen mail and identification cards in Brown’s bedroom. There were a few identification documents in the bin in his bedroom (photograph p.196). Police also located an Apple Mac lap top in his bedroom which was ascertained as belonging to a female victim of a reported theft and blackmail. Various stolen items were also located at his girlfriend’s home at Avondale Heights.
Interview
4.The accused was arrested and interviewed on 20 June 2016. During the interview Brown made numerous admissions to theft and handling stolen goods in relation to numerous items located during the searches. He said the items were either stolen by him or obtained by mates and in particular a person by the name of “Tommy” whom he met at the Melbourne Remand Centre. He said that Tommy gave him a folder containing a number of identification documents.
Modus Operandi
5.Brown’s primary modus operandi was to attend apartment complexes predominantly in the South Yarra and Toorak areas and steal mail containing credit cards and identification.
6.Interview - During his interview Brown was initially questioned about the theft from the Jeep in South Yarra. Brown said he was with a friend earlier that night smoking marijuana (Q55 – Q59). He admitted walking around the South Yarra between 1.00am and 3.00am “collecting mail” from letterboxes (Q36 – Q37 & Q64) and looking for cards (Q73). He admitted he was stealing mail (Q65) and taking items from 30 to 40 mail boxes (Q99).
7.He said he chose South Yarra because there are blocks of flats and “…you can hit ... a larger group of people you can target at once” (Q 69). He said he initially took the mail to apply for cards online (Q108 – Q110) and explained that “…you’ve got to find their date of births, all that kind of stuff to get ‘em (cards) activated” (Q115). He said he now questioned what he was doing because he couldn’t get that information anywhere (Q118).
8.Brown said he discarded mail he didn’t want such as bills in bins and on top of letterboxes (Q127 – 130 & Q136).
Charge 1: Theft – Tom Tom satellite navigator
9.During the search at Brown’s home, police located a Tom Tom Navigator in Brown’s car, a Subaru Outback which was parked in the driveway of his home in Footscray.
10.Interview - Brown admitted that he stole the navigator but could not remember where it was from (Q2 – Q4, “2nd interview” p.409).
Charge 2 & 3: Burglary and Theft - Golf items (Schedule A)
11.Alistair PRESNELL stored items in his storage cage in the basement car park of his apartment complex at 73 River Street, Richmond. In June 2016 he was contacted by the informant who advised that gold medals with his name on them had been located by police (p.87). He discovered that his storage cage had been accessed despite the padlock remaining intact.
12.Interview – During the search, six boxes of Titleist Pro V1X golf balls were located under Brown’s bed along with two ‘Footjoy’ brand golf gloves which Brown admitted came from a storage cage in an apartment complex in Yarra Street, Richmond. These items were brand new. Brown also admitted stealing two gold medals inscribed with the name “Alistair Presnall” in velvet boxes and a small wooden trophy (Q1531 – 1533). The medals were located at the foot of his bed.
13.During the interview Brown acknowledged the impact on the victim stating “It’s his golfing career and yeah I feel a bit mean about that one” (Q743).
Charge 4: Theft of Ryobi Drill
14.A Ryobi Drill in a case was located in the top shelf of a cupboard at his girlfriend’s home in Avondale Heights.
15.Interview - Brown admitted that he stole a Ryobi cordless drill in a box in February (2016) and took it to his girlfriend’s home because she needed to borrow it (Q155 – Q162 pp.425 - 426).
Charge 5: Handling Stolen Goods – Driver’s Licence (Alyce Fahri)
16.Police located Alyce FABRI’s licence in Brown’s bedroom with other documentation in FABRI’s name (Cross reference to charge 14 Obtaining Financial Advantage by Deception).
17.During February or March 2016, Alyce FAHRI stayed with Brown’s girlfriend Shannon MILLSON at her home in Avondale Heights. FABRI noticed that her licence was missing about 2 weeks after staying at the house (p.82). The licence was located in Brown’s bedroom during the search of his home.
Charge 6: Theft (Schedule B items)
18.Brown stole numerous items which were located by police in his home in Footscray and at his girlfriend’s home in Avondale Heights (refer Schedule B items).
19.Interview – When Brown was asked about various items located in his room during the search he admitted on occasions if he stole the items (e.g. Q849 & 857 – stolen cheques).
20.Brown admitted stealing bank statements including those belonging to Wilson Mahler and Ryzo Trade Services (Q1127 - Items 50 – 51 Schedule B).
21.Items stolen from mailboxes included an overseas cheque and documents relating to a sale of property belonging to Allan SMEATON (Item 38 Schedule 8). Brown admitted stealing a Canadian cheque in the sum of $4357.00 (Q1002 - 1006).
22.Brown admitted stealing a Commonwealth Cheque Book in the name of Dr Cox (item 10 Schedule C) from a letter-box on a street off Toorak Road. When asked why there was a cheque filled in he said he wrote a cheque addressed to Ross Watson which was an ID he had but never cashed it in (Q811 - Q835). The cheque was in the sum of $812.40 (note: Brown’s admission to filling out details on the cheque does not constitute a charge in itself but is included in the summary to provide a context and explanation as to his proposed intention in relation to possession of stolen items).
23.Brown admitted that he may have filled out a credit card request form applying for an additional credit card in the name of ‘Sarah Rae McCann’ and included his mobile phone number and residential address being 9 Mavis Street Footscray on the form. He said he used a group email [email protected] which is a group email that he uses with “all the boys”. He requested the additional credit card in the name of “Matthew Johnston” (Q 909 – Q917 refer Item 18 Schedule B). In relation to the name he said he said “I think it was just another I.D. I had it in the folder. I don’t know why I do it. I just like to play around with it all” (Q918). He said he filled it out because he was bored (Q922) and then said he was “too shit scared at the moment after getting out of gaol and that is why it was all sitting there (Q924). (Brown’s admission to filling out details in the application form for an additional credit card does not constitute a charge but is included in the summary to provide a context and explanation as to his proposed intention in relation to possession of stolen items).
A Woolworths Rewards letter was subsequently identified during the interview addressed to Matthew Johnston at Brown’s residential address, 9 Mavis Street Footscray (Q993).
24.Brown admitted stealing a name badge and workplace identification photograph belonging to Kate EDELSTON which Brown explained appeared to have been lost and returned to Edelston but stolen from the mail box by Brown. He said “I’m not proud of it” (Q1048).
Charge 7: Theft of sunglasses (x 3)
25.Three pairs of sunglasses were located by police on top of a bookcase at his girlfriend’s home (p.225).
26.Interview – Brown admitted that he stole 2 pairs of Vans sunglasses and one pair of ‘Raybans’ (interview 2 Q87 – Q95 p.419).
Charge 8: Theft of Stihl blower
27.A Stihl blower was located on the floor of a room of his girlfriend’s home. The room also contained other tools and ‘Visy’ work wear (Photograph p.227).
28.Interview – Brown admitted that he stole the Stihl blower from the back of a garage in South Yarra during the middle of the night. He said he was with another person at the time (Q148 – Q154, 2nd interview p.425)
Charge 9, 10 & 11: Theft of Bicycles
29.During the search of his girlfriend’s home at Avondale Heights police located three stolen bicycles one of which was in a room in the house and two in a shed (Photographs 225 – 226).
30.Interview – Brown admitted that he stole a white, single, speed bike from Alphington. He said it was leaning against a fence and he put in the back of his car (Q118 - Q124). He also admitted stealing an Avanti mountain bike from Flemington or Kensington at night. He said it was sitting the front of house and then he said it was outside some flats (Q129 – Q137). A ‘Giant’ bike was located in the shed at the back of the property. Brown said he thought he stole it from Malvern and put it in the back of his car (Q140 – Q143).
Charge 12: Theft of watch
31.An original ‘Grain’ brand watch in a box was located in Brown’s bedroom during execution of the search warrant.
Interview – Brown admitted stealing it from a letter box in Cromwell street South Yarra (Q1496 – Q1498) and said it was in a postal package.
Charge 13: Theft of staff identification cards belonging to Northpark Private Hospital
32.Staff identification cards from Northpark Private Hospital were located in the glove box of Brown’s car (p.219 photograph of security tags and identification cards).
33.Brown admitted that they were found in a letter-box in an apartment complex in the Flemington area (Q7- Q10, “2nd interview” p.410).
Charge 14: Obtaining Financial Advantage by Deception
34.Between 23 May 2016 and 30 May 2016 Brown used Alyce FABRI’s stolen driver’s licence (refer Charge 5) and used it to set up an online HSBC bank account in FABRI’s name (photographs of HSBC banking records pp.131 – 138). Brown used her name and date of birth but included his address at 9 Mavis Street, Footscray and his own phone number. He ordered an access card which was posted out to his address with a PIN access letter and account documentation (these documents including FABRI’s licence were located at his home during the search).
35.The licence along with HSBC and Suncorp bank statements with Brown’s address at 9 Mavis Street Footscray and a Qantas Frequent Flyer Card in FABRI’s name were located at Brown’s home. FABRI states that she never lived at that address, never had an HSBC account and never had a Qantas Frequent Flyer card (p.82). Significantly she said that she did not know a person by the name of ‘Riley Brown’ (FABRI p.82)
36.Interview – Brown said that Alyce FABRI “must have lived in the house before (Q880) and her mail had been sent to their address for 2 years (Q880 – Q881 – There is no evidence to indicate that FABRI lived at Brown’s home).
37.He initially denied doing anything with her identity (Q889) and said that stealing identities was not his game (Q899). He was asked about FABRI’s licence being located in his room and he was unable to explain how it got there (Q1022 – Q1030).
38.He said he may have opened up a Gumtree account using her name which he used to sell stolen goods (Q1332 – 1336). He denied changing the victim’s passwords and accessing her account.
Charge 15: Theft of golf clubs, bag and buggy (Victim – Amanda Clements)
39.On 5 June 2016 Amanda Clements parked her car in Cambridge Street, Armadale with her golf clubs in the back of her car. On 13 June 2016 she realised that her golf clubs and buggy weren’t in the car (p.89).
40.A set of Surefire golf clubs, a bag and a buggy belonging to Amanda CLEMENTS were located in the garage at the rear of Brown’s mother’s property.
41.Interview – Brown said he was there when a mate took them from a car in Armadale and he held onto them for his mate (Q1553 – Q1555).
Charges 16 – 23: Theft of watches (Charge 16), Attempting to Obtain Property by Deception (Charges 17, 21 – 23) Obtaining Property by Deception (18– 20) Victim: BRIGGS
42.On 8 June 2016 Allan Briggs reported to police that his wallet, keys, credit card, Medicare card, $200 cash, American Express Card, two Visa cards, a Michael Kors watch, Hugo Boss watch, Canon digital camera and torch were stolen from the car (Charge 16). He had parked the car in the parking bay in the apartment complex at 7.30pm and locked the vehicle. BRIGGS was contacted at 5.24am by his bank regarding transactions made on his credit card. He attended the vehicle at approximately 6.30am and found the passenger car door open. He reported the theft to police and attended the Prahran police station. He provided a list of transactions attempted and made on his VISA card after the cards had been stolen to police which assisted with the detection of BROWN (BRIGGS pp. 84 – 85. Photographs 149 - 156):
At 4.38 am there was an attempt to obtain items valued at $2279.00 on Myer online using BRIGGS’ stolen Visa card (Apple watch Charge 17).
At 5.09am there was a purchase from Coles Express South Yarra in the sum of $51.99 (Two packets of Winfield Blue cigarettes, Charge 18).
At 5.13 am there was a purchase from 7/11 South Yarra (1215) in the sum of $83.90 (two Vanilla pre-paid credit cards Charge 19).
At 5.18am there was a purchase from 7/11 South Yarra (1353) in the sum of $83.90 (Vanilla pre-paid credit card and two packets of Rothmans cigarettes Charge 20).
At 6.30am there was an attempted transaction to purchase clothing on G-Star Online in the sum of $440.00 (Charge 21).
At 6.48am there was an attempted transaction at Super Retail Group in the sum of $271.93 (Charge 22).
At 7.12am there was an attempted transaction on Vodafone Online in the sum of $110.00 (Charge 23).
43.Interview – Brown said the gates were open to the car park and the front passenger door of the Jeep was wide open (Q144 – 147). He said there was $100 cash, I.D., 2 credit cards (Q162) and one debit card (Q 236) in the wallet. He said he didn’t “have a clue” whether he took keys but generally left keys.
44.He admitted stealing two watches and a wallet from the Jeep. He recalled that one of the watches was a black “Hugo Boss” (Q153).
45.He said he walked down Chapel Street past 7/11 and got “a few gift cards” (Q206). He admitted using the cards straight away on 8 June 2016 (Q222). He said that he attempted to use a couple of the credit cards (Q1042). He thought he went into four 7/11 stores but the transactions were declined so he stopped (Q230).
46.He said he might have tried to make an online purchase from Myer using his iPhone which as probably for an Apple watch valued at $430.00 - $460.00 but that was declined as well (Charge 17 Q259 - 266). When advised that the victim reported a transaction for $2279.00 he said it could have been a MacBook but he doesn’t remember. The item was to be picked up in store (Q271).
47.He admitted purchasing ‘Vanilla’ Visa Gift cards and “maybe a packet of smokes” (Charges 19 & 20 Q247 – Q249).
48.In relation to the G-star clothing (Charge 21) he said he knew it but had never shopped there in his life. He said he couldn’t recall the transaction from the G-star online shop. He said he didn’t have a clue about the purchase from Super Retail group (Charge 22, Q331 – 332) and doesn’t deal with Vodafone (Charge 23 Q350). He admitted that it was possible that he “did” those transactions and forgot.
49.He became aware that the cards were all cancelled when he checked the order details the following day (Q275). He used a group email that “everyone uses” (Q291) and a fake phone number (Q296).
50.Brown said he “discarded” the leather wallet (Q202), spent the cash and chopped up the licence and “all of that” in the morning (Q208). He later added that he went to his mum’s afterwards and chopped up the cards by 6.30am because he was paranoid and freaked himself out (Q325).
51.Later in the interview when asked if he tried to mask the way he looked when he attended at Copelen Street (where the Jeep was located) he said he had his hood on (Q386). He was then shown CCTV video footage stills that identified him (Q388 – 398) and admitted that the images depicted him. He was then shown an image of himself attending a 7/11 on Chapel Street near Commercial Road (McDonalds). When informed that a $50 Vanilla Visa card and two packets of Rothman cigarettes were purchased there he agreed that he got that brand (Charge 20). He said he would have tried two other 7/11 stores near High Street after that and then went home (Q484). (Two unopened packets of Rothmann’s cigarette were located at Brown’s house during execution of a search warrant. Refer Q1085).
52.Brown said he doesn’t recall much of what happened that night as he was pretty stoned (Q198 & Q348). Later in the interview when it was alleged he was driving that night he said “I wasn’t driving at all…I’m absolutely dead set positive I was on foot” (Q497 – 498), however, after being shown still CCTV images of him at Coles Express driving his car he admitted that he was confused about how he got about that night (Q508 – Q523).
53.He said he was “broke as a joke” (Q426) in the context of briefing a private lawyer.
Charge 24: Blackmail, Charge 25: Burglary and Charge 26: Theft (Tahara Road Toorak)
54.On Sunday 5 June 2016 one of the two female residents of an apartment in Tahara Road, Toorak left her keys in the letterbox for her housemate to collect. On 6 June 2016 she found that the apartment keys were missing. Brown had taken the keys from their letter-box (photographs pp.113 – 115).
55.On 10 June during the middle of the day Brown entered the apartment at Tahara Road Toorak (Charge 25) and stole an Apple MacBook laptop and Mimco watch (Charge 26) belonging to a 23 year old female who lived there (Whitney Styles). During the afternoon, the victim received emails from Facebook stating that someone had attempted to access her account. She changed her password, however, she subsequently received emails saying that there had been a number of requests to re-set her password. She also received notification from Gmail and ‘ebay’ that her personal information was updated (pp.75 – 75 & pp.127 - 129).
56.The laptop contained all her personal photos, emails, university assignments and identification such as a copy of her passport and licence. In addition, as she was working at a secondary school there was information regarding teachers and students on the computer including their email addresses (pp.77 – 78).
57.Brown accessed the victim’s Paypal, Facebook, Ebay, Citibank, Gmail and ACER website used for her University testing (Styles’ statement p.80 & computer images 20 July 2016 pp.142 - 146).
58.Brown discovered photographs of the victim in her underwear on the computer (photographs 124 – 125) and other personal information. He then sent her an email which was purported to be from “Govinda Vanjinath” from [email protected], stating as follows (pp.120 & 122):
“whitney r stiles….. I have all your details and copys of your license…i know where you work and who your friends are….i know where you live! I will start posting crude pics of you and releasing all your info unless you transfer me $5000 within the next 2 hours… I will make your future hell!
DON’T IGNORE THIS WHITNEY
TRANSFER DETAILS TO HSBC
Acc: 185021412
Bsb: 342095
do it tonight before your life is at risk whitney r stiles”.
(Refer p.122)
Brown subsequently sent another email stating:
“Hey….:P
These 2 are only the beginning…im not fucking around…” (p.123).
Impact on Victim
59.The victim (Styles) states “When I started receiving these emails I was extremely anxious and very upset. I was crying and distraught and did not sleep that night at all”. She described feeling violated that a male had seen the pictures of her and may have sent it others. She said she felt a “real invasion” of her privacy. She feared that the photographs of her in her underwear may be sent to teachers and students where she worked and that this would be “extremely detrimental to her career”. She was concerned for the welfare of her family members whose addresses were on the computer given the threats that were made and also concerned for teachers and students whose email addresses were on the computer (pp.77 – 78). Also refer Victim Impact Statement.
60.Interview – Brown admitted that he found keys in a letter box to an address in Toorak and entered the house in the middle of the day. He admitted stealing an Apple MacBook lap top and Mimco watch from the house (Q1135 – Q1136). He said he located photographs of the female owner in her underwear on the computer and sent her about 3 emails threatening to post pictures on the internet and ruin her life unless she transferred him money in the sum of $2000 or $5000 (Q1203 – Q1228). He admitted that he sent her two photographs of her and said he had information and photographs of her (Q1228). He said that he sent account details but claimed that he had no access to the account (Q1299).
61.Brown claimed he was only on the computer for about an hour looking through it before he put a USB in it and started wiping it (Q1340). He said he wrote down passwords but had burnt them (Q1356).
62.When the email blackmailing the victim (p.122) was read to him he said “I’d never fuckin’ hurt a woman, never in my life. I don’t know what I was thinking…” (Q1327). He said, “I feel so guilty it’s fuckin’ killing me” (Q1361).
Charge 27: Handling Stolen Goods (Refer Schedule C)
63.A number of items were located as a result of the search warrant executed in Brown’s bedroom at his mother’s house which are detailed in Schedule C. Amongst the items was a blue folder containing plastic pockets with various mail items and identification documents.
64.Interview – Brown acknowledged having “stacks” of cards on his bed. He said that “Tommy” a Vietnamese guy that he was with at MRC handed him a lot of cards (Q643 & Q666). When asked why he took the cards from him he said, “I don’t know I wouldn’t have a clue“ (Q654).
65.In relation to the blue folder containing plastic pockets with various mail items. Brown said he may have stolen the mail from “South Yarra, Armadale, Footscray, Toorak and Hawthorn” (Q789). He said he was given the folder in mid May 2016 by “Tommy” and the folder then contained 5 driver’s licence renewals and a couple of statements (Q792 – Q793). He claimed that the items in the name of ZITA, GLOSSOP, WATSON, BERESFORD and BROZ were given to him in the original folder (Q800 – 802 refer items 2 – 6 Schedule C). When he was asked why he was given these items he said it was because he is quite good with computers (Q803).
66.He claimed there was nothing that you can do with them at all (Q804). Brown denied committing burglaries to obtain various documentation in the folder stating “I don’t do burgs, I’m too, way too paranoid to do them” (Q1388).
67.During the interview it was alleged by police that the NAB Visa Card in the name of James Tregear was stolen from a car in Caulfield North on the Thursday night or Friday early hours of the morning before the warrant was executed on the Saturday. Brown said he probably got the credit card from one of his mates (Q631 – 633). Brown said he might have been given a wallet with two credit cards (Q641).
68.Brown admitted that he had an ANZ bank cheque in the name of Gu Yong Quan (Item 8 Schedule C) for $1054.41 but said he couldn’t cash it in as it had a “heat thing on them” that prevented them being cashed in.
69.When questioned about a tax office letter containing a cheque made out to Kylie Crawford (item 10, Schedule C). He said there was no way to alter them or cash those cheques so he didn’t go down that track (Q852).
70.Later in the interview when asked why he held onto the cards he said, “I don’t know. No reason at all. I’ve got some bad psych problems and I’ve got to get them fuckin’ sorted and it has something do with collecting it all. I don’t know. I don’t know why I collect it. I just do” (Q1124). He referred to having OCD and a habit stating that “I can’t stop myself”. In relation to various items found in his room he said they would have been stolen in the mail by him (Q678 – Q679).
71.When asked his reason for handling stolen goods he said, “Don’t know, Act of stupidity. Pure act of stupidity” (Q 663).
Charge 28: Theft of Registration Plates
72.Stolen Victorian number plates were located in the boot of Brown’s car, a Subaru Outback.
Interview – Brown said Tommy handed them to him a few days before (Q1580) and he took them to get Tommy out of the way and because he had to go home (Q1588). He admitted that he knew that they were stolen.
Summary Offences - Drive whilst Disqualified (x2)
73.Brown was disqualified from driving from 3 May 2016 for a period of 6 months (s.84(1) Road Safety Act 1986 certificate p.148). On 8 June 2016 Brown drove on Toorak Road whilst disqualified. On 10 June 2016 Brown drove on Tahara Road whilst disqualified.
Interview – Brown admitted that he had been driving whilst subject to a 6 month licence disqualification (Q548 – Q549).
Interview – Additional Reasons for Offending given by Brown
74.In addition to reasons details above, Brown gave the following explanation for the dishonesty offences - “ ’cause I am having incredible financial problems at the moment and I owe a lot of money to the banks and to the Sheriffs and everything so I’m just in (a) bit of a – stuck in a corner, in between a rock and a hard place (Q 560). He said he owed $89,000.00 to the Sherriff which was mostly Citylink (Q569 - Q572). He also said “Drugs have put a big debt over my head” (Q562) and said it not that he owed money to drug dealers but had been using ice for so long (Q564 – 656). He explained that he was struggling to get work (Q561)”.
Victim Impact Statement
75.A Victim Impact Statement was completed by victim Whitney Stiles on 3 November 2016.
Forfeiture Order
76.A Forfeiture Order is sought and was served on the accused’s solicitor on 16 January 2017.
Compensation Order
77.A Compensation Order is sought in the amount of $1,647.92 payable to victim Allan Briggs.
Pre-Sentence Detention
78.As at 31 January 2017 the accused has served 50 days pre-sentence detention on this matter.
Shivani Pillai
Counsel for the Prosecution
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