Director of Public Prosecutions v Brown

[2014] VCC 1155

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

PAUL BROWN
KRISTY DILLON
JOSH PYE

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	9 July 2014
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Brown
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2014] VCC 1155

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 B. Halpin
For Accused Brown	Ms K. McFarlane
For Accused Dillon	Mr J. Sullivan
For Accused Pye	Mr S. Norton

HIS HONOUR: 

1Kristy Lee Dillon and Paul Anthony Brown: you, Kristy Lee Dillon have pleaded guilty to two charges of trafficking in a drug of dependence and you, Paul Anthony Brown, one charge of possessing a drug of dependence and one charge of trafficking in a drug of dependence.

2The charge of trafficking carries a maximum penalty of 15 years.  In so far as the possession charge is concerned, I am not satisfied that it was not for the purposes of trafficking, and accordingly carries a maximum penalty of five years.  That point was not really pursued during the course of the plea. 

3You, Kristy Dillon, are 25 years of age.  You. Mr Brown, 41 years of age.  Neither of you has a prior criminal history of any significance or indeed at all.  These matters were drawn out over an extended period of time and I take very much into account the concept of delay, as referred to by the President of the Court of Appeal in the decision of Merrett.  I understand that the matter was indeed complex and I certainly attribute no blame to the parties for that delay.  At one stage it came on for a trial and then was adjourned, but in the end it leaves me with sentencing two people who have now had these matters having over their heads for in excess of two years.

4I accept that the pleas of guilty were entered at the earliest reasonable opportunity to obviously a settled indictment.  I accept in the case of each of you that there is appropriate remorse and you must each of course get the utilitarian benefit of that plea.  Those matters all go very much in favour of each of you. 

5Pursuant to s.464Z of the Crimes Act, I make an order that each of you provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes.  That order having been made, I must advise you that should you refuse to provide such a sample, police may use reasonable force to take it from you and those orders are made and handed down. 

6What I am doing in this situation, because of the timeframe involved, is simply annexing the Crown summary, which was not disputed, to these my sentencing remarks to stand in lieu of a summary of my own. 

7The trafficking in your cases is not in the same league as your co-accused, Mr Pye, who has been adjourned for further plea and ultimately sentence.  He faces, for starters, a charge of trafficking a commercial quantity.  However, anybody reading the Crown summary, so far as each of you are concerned, would accept that they are serious matters; that certainly general and specific deterrence are applicable and there must be appropriate punishment and denunciation.  

8The personal circumstances of each of you can be described in pretty short compass and I do not need to go into any detail.  You, Ms Dillon, were in a relationship with the unsentenced Mr Pye.  You have two children and they, as I understand it, regard him as a father-figure.  He assists you in looking after them.  This matter has now been going on for some time and you have been able to maintain, as Mr Sullivan pointed out to me, the custody, unimpeded custody indeed, of those children, and that is very much to your credit.  You became pregnant at a very early age and left school during Year 10.  You have endeavoured to work previously, but in the ultimate have become dependent upon cannabis as a stress reliever.  You consume alcohol daily and sometimes to inappropriate levels.  As I said, you have no prior convictions and in these circumstances, I have had you assessed for a Community Corrections Order and you have been found to be acceptable.  I think the prospects for your rehabilitation, bearing in mind what is contained within that report, are good, and the risk of you re-offending, bearing in mind that you have not offended before, should be, in my view, very low.

9Accordingly, if you agree to be placed on a Community Corrections Order, it will be a significant one because of the seriousness of the offending.  It will be with conviction, which is a significant punishment in itself.  What I will be incorporating are the following conditions:  work hours; that will be over three years and will be a total of 300 work hours.  I make it clear that the other programs, time spend on those, can be set off as against that 300.  In your situation, how much of this becomes necessary is another matter.  There will also be a condition relating to treatment and rehab for drugs, alcohol, mental health and programs to reduce re-offending as well as supervision.  In brief, that is now how that we deal with it and if you agree to sign that, that is the disposition which will be on all the charges.  I make it very clear that this is serious offending, and a repeat of what occurred will be met with rather severe punishment, I feel, Ms Dillon. 

10I have taken into account the material that was provided on your behalf, including a report, obviously, from a Mr Cecchelvick, who has outlined your history and I will simply direct that that remain on the court file as I have no need to go into it further.  You do have stable accommodation and a stable lifestyle, and I trust that I will not see you again.

11You, Mr Brown, are 41 years of age.  I have a number of references that have been tendered on your behalf and your counsel did a succinct and thorough plea for you.  I also have a report from Dr Aaron Cunningham, who is well known to me, and I have taken all those matters into account.  You have had a very good work record and I have seen a report from your former employer, prior to all this happening, which speaks highly of you.  I have a reference from your wife, with whom you had a separation around about the time of all of this offending, and I take those matters into account. 

12You have three children.  You have been married for something in excess, as I understand it, of 20 years.  In and around 2011 and into 2012, you had a significant number of stressors in your family circumstances, including one of your daughters, as you described it, being "lost".  That situation has now been resolved and I understand that she has gone back to school and has almost completed a diploma in social work at Gippsland TAFE.  She is no longer in that negative peer group and that will assist you. 

13That report from Dr Cunningham again goes through your work history, which I do not think I need to do..  You are clearly a very capable man and have indeed been to Papua New Guinea for work and you are working with Briagolong engineering where you had originally done your apprenticeship.  You started using amphetamine in 2011, a period of time over which this offending occurred and it escalated to use on a daily basis.  In so far as the trafficking of the cannabis is concerned, it is hard to judge the quantities thereof, and you have simply been sentenced simpliciter.  It can be said that it certainly was not a one-off and it was over a period of time. 

14You are described as having a prior diagnosis of an adjustment disorder, but I do not understand that the principles involved in Verdins apply.  You are reunited with your wife and family and I accept that you are now over that hump, if it can be called that, that occurred around the period of 2011/ 2012, and there is no reason why your rehabilitation should not be adequately effected.  Bearing in mind you have no prior convictions, the risk of you re-offending if you do not use amphetamine, should be very low.  It has been made clear to me that you simply stopped looking after yourself during this period of time and went into what would appear to have been a sense of helplessness that involved having been put on long service leave at work and basically leaving that job so a younger person could have your position.

15I have taken all those matters into account and, again, had you assessed for a Community Corrections Officer.  You have been assessed as acceptable and there will be such order made if you agree.  I understand that you may have difficulty doing work hours, but this is a serious matter and you will just have to.  Three hundred community service hours over three years, with conviction, which is a sense of punishment in itself, treatment and rehab for drugs, treatment and rehab for mental health, supervision and, as I have indicated, I think the treatment hours can be set off against the work hours that have been imposed.

16Bearing in mind that I have not as yet sentenced Mr Pye and there may be further submissions as to the facts put to me, I am deliberately not buying into the nature of relationships and who did who to what and who led who into doing anything else; it would be unfair to Mr Pye in the long term.  I am simply working on the basis that I think, left to your own devices, you two would not have done this.

17If you agree to those, they can be entered into.

18MR HALPHEN:  Section 6AAA, Your Honour?

19HIS HONOUR:  Not with CCOs. 

20MR HALPHEN:  Sorry.

21HIS HONOUR:  Counsel go down with them.  Those two Corrections Orders are put in place, there are no other orders I have to make about anything?

22MR HALPHEN:  No, Your Honour.

23HIS HONOUR:  I make it clear to each of you, breach this and you are in serious bother, all right.  With trafficking or charges of this seriousness in this jurisdiction, you get the one chance and that is it.  If either of you get brought back for drugs, you are in, kids or no kids. 

24Mr Pye's matter is adjourned and that matter is dealt with so I will just stand down and then come back and we will deal with the initial Morwell array. 

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