Director of Public Prosecutions v Bruce

[2015] VCC 1332

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

AT LATROBE VALLEY
CRIMINAL JURISDICTION

CR 15-00421
CR 15-00422

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS

v

TROY ANTON BRUCE

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JUDGE:	HIS HONOUR JUDGE SMALLWOOD
WHERE HELD:	Latrobe Valley
DATE OF HEARING:
DATE OF SENTENCE:	23 September 2015
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	DPP v Bruce
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2015] VCC 1332

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

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APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the Director of Public Prosecutions	Mr K. Doyle
For the Offender	Ms O. Trumble

HIS HONOUR: 

1Troy Anton Bruce, you have pleaded guilty to one charge of aggravated burglary and two charges of possessing a drug of dependence. The maximum penalty for aggravated burglary is 25 years and in these circumstances the maximum penalty for Charge 2 of possess is 12 months and Charge 3 is five years on the basis that I am not satisfied that it is not for the purpose of trafficking.

2You also pleaded guilty to three uplifted charges, one of possessing a weapon, one of failing to stop and one of dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime.  They carry maximum penalties of one year, six months and two years respectively.

3Firstly pursuant to s.464, I make an order that you provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes.  What that means is that you must in this set of circumstances attend at a police station in the next 28 days and provide a saliva sample for DNA purposes.  I must advise you that should you not provide such a sample, police may use reasonable force to take it from you.

4You are now 30 years of age.  You pleaded guilty at an early reasonable opportunity and must get the utilitarian benefit of that plea of guilty.  You have also expressed, certainly subsequently to this offending appropriate remorse and I take that very much into account.  You do have a criminal history, which is not as bad as it actually looks because a number of those are replicated and that prior history, whilst involving offences of a similar nature, has been relationship based.  Obviously it is a matter of concern and the overall disposition here is to try and deal with that as well.

5The circumstances of the offending are that you come from a very disadvantaged background.  As a child you were a witness to, and the subject of, gross physical and mental abuse.  So was, as I understand it, your mother.  In those circumstances on 11 April 2014, your sister told you that she had been assaulted by her boyfriend.  I understand that he was subsequently charged but the matter was not proceeded with.

6You, having found out about this assault, went with your sister to the address that you believed the assailant was staying.  At that address were one Courtney Stewart and Bradley Prendergast.  Courtney Stewart is the sister of the assailant.

7When you got there, you started banging on the door and the people inside were in bed.  Their six month old daughter was there as well.  As they were getting up, the bashing stopped but you kept yelling.  You were yelling out obscenities and were clearly seeking "Goat" which is the nickname apparently of Mr Stewart.

8In any event, you forced your way in and had with you an axe handle.  You were clearly looking for him and indicating that you were going to, "fucking kill the cunt".  The people in the house were understandably terrified but you did not assault either of them and on my understanding did not aggressively approach either of them.  Clearly when they endeavoured to get you to leave, you were aggressive and offensive but it is an unusual type of aggravated burglary and I take all that into account.

9You then left in a car with your sister.  Police attended shortly afterwards and have indicated the people in the house said that they were terrified.  There is no charge in relation to their fear and accordingly you are to be sentenced for the aggravated burglary alone.

10When you were interviewed you were open about effectively why you went there and told the police that they were protecting a woman beater.  I accept, on the material before me, that you had been provoked by a former girlfriend who said if you did not do anything about it, you would be as bad as a woman beater yourself.

11The next day, police tried to pull you over and you did not pull over.  They followed you and you gave them what is colloquially known as "the bird".  That gives rise to the failing to stop.  When they searched the car, they found a hunting knife which is the weapon that is referred to and amounts of money were found in the vehicle.  You also had drugs which were found on that day and on another occasion which gives rise to Charges 2 and 3.  You have made a statement in relation to those.

12Aggravated burglary is a serious offence by its very definition but it comes in various forms.  Obviously there has to be an application of general and specific deterrence in a situation such as this as well as denunciation and appropriate punishment.  I take into account on your behalf that you would have had a susceptibility to behaving in this way because of what you witnessed as a child.  That certainly does not excuse it but it puts it into a context.  The occupants of the house were pretty much unknown to you.

13In the normal course of events, an active custodial sentence would be imposed in such a situation and the fact of the matter is that you have undergone 89 days pre-sentence detention and obviously I am taking that into account.  It was put to me that a community corrections order to follow that would be sufficient punishment.  I have had you assessed for a community corrections order and you have been found to be acceptable.

14Tendered on your behalf were a report from Ms Carla Lechner, a psychologist, as well as some CISP reports.  In this situation, Ms Lechner has said that you suffer symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder relating to your experiences of the violence perpetrated by your father.  Your father was apparently a relatively well known local criminal and you have a head injury from the extraordinary prospect of being a teenager watering his drug crop for him.

15The background that was outlined is a sad one indeed.  In the overall circumstances, I accept that you have, as Ms Lechner said, "expressed immense regret and shame for your involvement".  Your father, in that situation, would smoke large amounts of cannabis and would regularly beat you and your siblings.  You would not bring other children home because of the fear of your father.  You were never permitted to go on school camps or excursions and led a very isolated existence as a young person.

16After you eventually left school, having been taken out of it by your father at the age of 14, you went to work and you have a pretty good work record since.  Importantly in recent times you have been able to gain employment with a construction company and that is very much to your credit, and I would be reluctant to interfere with that.  You have children from an earlier relationship and whilst there is DHS involvement in all that, it is really up to you whether you can regain access to and ultimately perhaps custody of those children.

17In recent times, the history is that you were remanded in November of 2012 for earlier offending and were then sentenced in January of 2013.  You were released in May of 2013 on nine months' parole.  Encouragingly you were able to complete that parole.  This offending then occurred in April of 2014 and I have been through the detail of that.  I have before me a number of CISP reports which refer to the time that you have been bailed on these matters after the 89 days and they are very encouraging indeed.  You obviously have a strong desire to rehabilitate yourself.  Whilst you are assessed by Corrections as a high risk of re-offending, it seems to me that at the age of 30, you at this moment in time have all the motivation to turn your life around.

18Accordingly in all those circumstances and bearing in mind the decision of Boulton and its sequelae, I think that the purposes for sentencing are fulfilled by the time that you have already done plus a community corrections order.  That community corrections order  will give you supervision and will give you the opportunity of having people to assist you as you endeavour to rehabilitate yourself.  You have history of drug use from your late teens involving mainly, as I understand it, methamphetamine.

19The recommendation from Corrections, with which I agree, are that there be treatment and rehabilitation for drugs, alcohol, mental health and there will also be programs to reduce re-offending as well as supervision.  Bearing in mind that you have been incarcerated for a period of time, I do not propose to put in place any work hours.

20The community corrections order will be for a period of two years commencing today and will be with conviction which is a punishment in itself.  It seems to me that that period of time gives you the opportunity, despite the extraordinary delays which I am informed exist in the valley, to participate in men's health programs as well as anger management.

21It is really up to you, Mr Bruce, what happens from here.  I am giving you the opportunity to turn all this around and you, I am sure, have the intelligence and the capacity to do that if you really want to.  However, if you do breach this, particularly by re-offending in this sort of a way, I will be left with no options at all.  It will be gaol and a significant one.  All right.

22Any other orders I have to make?  Do not do a 6AAA because it is a cocktail.

23MR DOYLE:  Yes, Your Honour.

24HIS HONOUR:  Any other orders, Ms Trumble?

25MS TRUMBLE:  No, Your Honour.

26HIS HONOUR:  So he is sentenced to 89 days imprisonment on the aggravated burglary and a two year CCO on all the charged.  I direct that 89 days be reckoned as having been served under this sentence.

27MS TRUMBLE:  Thank you, Your Honour.

28HIS HONOUR:  What I might do, Ms Trumble, I do not know whether yesterday - obviously there is a lot of material in your submissions that I have taken into account that I have not actually referred to so I might exhibit your submissions.

29MS TRUMBLE:  Yes, that's fine ‑ ‑ ‑

30HIS HONOUR:  That will be Exhibit 3 as materials that I have taken into account as well as the Lechner and CISP reports.

31#EXHIBIT 3 -    Materials provided by defence.

32MS TRUMBLE:  Thank you.

33HIS HONOUR:  All right, that's all done.  Up to you, all right.  He just walks straight from there, there is 89 days.  Thanks, Mr Doyle.  Thanks, Ms Trumble.  You can talk to him for a minute on the video if you want to.  I will just leave the Bench.

34MS TRUMBLE:  That would be great, yes thanks.

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